About web development

Sup guys, my site project is reaching its final stage before launch, so I got lots of hard technical problems to solve.

Can anyone recomend me a good webdev site? with guides and such.

Or a dedicated forum/community, that would be great:nod:

 

what's your hard technical problems?....whats your project...is it mainly html, or java, php or python?...is it flash or a new flex based app? Is it green, or is it red, and does it come with a sock?!!!!

Some more info would be greatly appreciated

 

Wow, well honestly I was expecting just some links since this is a gaming forum.

The problems are mostly on the template, lots of bugs like for example I cant get the avatars to align with the designated area, etc...

The site is mainly PHP, no flash nor flex.

 

hmm, sounds more like some formatting issues than anything. anyways try these:

http://www.phpfreaks.com/

http://www.codeproject.com/


Ryan

 

Yeah, sounds like some CSS formatting issue.
Ahhh, I do miss the times when we used tables and forms to make the alignments haha

Anyway, those sites Ryan recommended are pretty good.

 

Bah, thats still the best way, screw css, if it can't be done with a stiff drink and a set of tables, then it ain't worth doing it.

 

Amen :clap:

 

^has suffered through many web sites, and knows, the simpler they are, the better.

IMO Flash reigns king for more visually appealing sites. good old html with some css on the side is also really good....but i never did understand people using css to build the entire page, why bother with the hassle of all that when i can build the same page in half the time using traditional html, when i could use css as a good content finishing detail, clean things up, and keep them alike and what not.


i *shudder* if i have to use java ever again


Ryan

 

Yeah java is a pain in the ass, and this AJAX trend is only hurting the industry IMO.

I'll love to use flash but if I start now not only I'll be throwing away a lot of work, but I'll have to postpone the launch.

Thx for the links!

 

:clap:

 

I'm of the opinion that Flash should not be used for anything other than cartoons/videos.

I used to think the same way, so can understand where you're coming from. But the real power of CSS is that to reskin a site (one built "properly", at least ), all you need to do is change the CSS file(s). No HTML needs to be touched, which means it can -- in theory* -- be left to more arty people who are more likey to break the structure of the page.

http://www.csszengarden.com/ is a really cool site which nicely demonstrates my point. There was another site somewhere (I forget the URL) which listed in clear points why you should use CSS over tables. I'll see if I can find it again, because reading it was the turning point in my tables -> CSS transition.

Having said all of that, I should mention that I suck at CSS/design and still usually use at least some tables (then again, most of what I build displays tabular data, so it is legitimate). Heh.

* I've never seen proof of this, though.

Using Java for web applications/sites is indeed horrible... Never again!

 

I'd like to see that article. As for flash, stuff like http://www.mstudio.com/, and www.wishart.net i don't think are very do-able in other formats besides flash.

Don't get me wrong, i like css too, though i still believ you can accomplish it easier with tables. Most always, once we hit upon a chosen look for the site, then it rarely changes, sure, extra menu's, buttons and pages may be added, but the look usually stays the same. Even then, as long as the layout stays the same, you can easily re-skin it by replacing the images.

As for Java, we've had to use it in replacement to not being allowed to touch a database or any php code, its come in handy, but i still find it to a be a pain in the rear

 

Infrid's web design rules

1. Make a website is a typhographic work

For this reason God give you tag like <p>, <h1>, <em> and not <text_here>, <text_bigger_for_title>, <nice_effect> ​

2. Css give you possibility to split content and representation

Because authors should be able to focus on the meaning of what they are writing without being distracted by the visual presentation of the information.​

3. Tables exist for only display tabular data

For same typhographic reasons.
​

 

Annoyingly, I can't find it. This site seems to cover the same stuff, though: http://www.hotdesign.com/seybold/everything.html

I wasn't being entirely serious, hence the smilie.

I agree that it is certainly easier and quicker to build sites with tables. But it's not better.

Infrid put it quite well; especially point two. Keeping design away from the structure ("separation of concerns" - think MVC) makes things so much easier in the long run - especially if working on medium to large projects (not so much on smaller projects, I'll admit).

 

BTW, anyone knows how to implement those little icons in firefox's tabs?

Whats the max. size?

 

16x16 i think...

called favicon's, add it into your header

"
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />

"

image needs to be called "favicon.ico"

 

edit, if you need an ico maker: http://www.kgreene.com/favicon.php


Oh, and I'm bringing back up the topic of css. I recently had the pleasure of working on a site which was built and controlled using CSS. While it worked brilliant in Firefox 2/3 IE 6/7 and safari/opera it seems it goofs up in Internet Explorer 5 and earlier.

No big deal right? Here's where my beef with it, you don't, never, ever tell a client that its their problem, never, it just doesn't happen. You don't dare tell them that they should upgrade, or that their pc needs fixing, Moral of the story, work from the lowest common denominator, start off with the most basic of code, if it works, then great, if the client requests all this fancy stuff then so be it, otherwise, the simpler the better!

 

Ughh I get what you say Ryan, dealing with clients is the worst part of it :banghead: Most of the time they don't even really know what is it that they want...

Or they think a website can be coded and up and running in a couple of days OH:

This reminds me of once working for a client in Miami, I was hired to work at their office while making the website and reorganizing all the mess they'd made with their database, and they wanted some stupid fancy flash thingies and to be connected with php. Their stupid slideshow took me like 2 days and I left it half done as the third day I was working on that, the guy told me "Hey haven't you finished with that? Come on dude, I don't wanna pay you if you are gonna be doing scribbles all day!" (refering to my work on the slideshow in Flash and Fireworks, and by saying it in that way, degrading my work). Dude, I yelled the hell out of him and told him he could shove the scribbles up his ass. Took my paycheck and got the hell out of there, stuff like that has happened before to me and I got really tired of it.

Now I try to foresee if the client is not a total asshole, if he isn't, I go on with business, if not, I resell the project to some colleagues from another company (so they deal with the sucker :lol.

 

Our view is that if it works in a Real Browser™ but not IE, then it's the client's fault for using broken software and they have to upgrade. I like that policy - it saves having to mess around with IE-specific rubbish.

Also; people are seriously using IE 5 (and earlier)?! They need to be shot. Then hung. Then shot again.

 

Hahaha, yea, quite a few are, actually from what i've seen most are still on win2000 and earlier. I know of one who complained the site was too large for their monitor, meanwhile their resolution was 640x480!!

Tchoin, hahah, yea everyone seems to believe that you can put a site out in like 5 minutes!!!...gosh i hate that