How to Do It

This collection of Web Development articles tends to be more hands-on and step-by-step than in the other sections of the Web Developer's Journal.

 New Stuff

• Site User Logon with XML, Java Beans and JSP
  During this tutorial we will use XML and Java Server Pages to verify a user's logon - and then store the results in a session Java Bean for easy access.
  
  
• A Solution to the User Privilege Challenge
  Defining user access privileges for an application with a small number of users is straightforward. But as new groups of users are added, it can become messy. Here's a solution in ASP, outlining principles which can be applied to other set-ups as well.
  
  
• Hover Buttons in FrontPage 2000
  Hover Buttons allow you to create animated buttons that change form or color when the mouse pointer is moved over them. Hover Buttons can give life to your web pages. They can be a little tricky to master, but once you've read this fine tutorial you'll be hovering all over the place.
  
  
• Calling Stored Procedures From Active Server Pages
  With a low-level database, offering only basic data storing functionality, SQL code often needs to be embedded in Active Server Pages. With a more sophisticated database, stored procedures can be far more effective. Here's a case study.
  
  
• Cross-browser JavaScript
  A problem that many designers face is that some JavaScript works in Internet Explorer but not in Netscape Navigator, and vice versa. Cross-Browser code is code that works in both, and preferably other less well-known browsers too.
  
  
• Flash 4 - Adding Sound
  Here we build on the knowledge and examples from our Flash For Beginners and Flash For Intermediates tutorials. In this final tutorial we give life to our Flash 4 movie by adding sounds.
  
  
• "The Resolution's Too Low"
  If you've never heard this expression, then you've probably never tried to get a screenshot or graphic from the Web printed in a brochure or magazine. "No, sorry, we can't print that, the resolution's way too low. It's only 72 ppi and we print at 100% dpi." Oh dear. If you want to get your precious screenshot/Web-graphic into print, you've now got about twenty minutes of explaining to do.
  
  
• Flash 4 For Intermediate Users
  In this article we build on the knowledge and examples from our Flash For Beginners tutorial. The original example was very straightforward. Now we add on the fancy bits and deal repeatedly with motion tweening and tinting. The end result is a suitably flashy movie.
  
  
• Serving Dynamic WAP Content with Java Server Pages
  Let's start at the deep end. Here's how to create dynamic content for WAP-enabled mobile phones using the Wireless Markup Language (WML) and Sun Microsystems' Java Server API. Our Java Server Pages application displays regularly updated appointment data for someone on the move, such as an appliance engineer making house calls. This application was created on Windows NT using the Java Server Web Development Kit (JSWDK) 1.01.
  
  
• Create an Image Swap in Fireworks 3
  Macromedia Fireworks 3 is an excellent program for creating advanced graphics and adding a little pep to bored Web pages. For rollover buttons and other image swaps you don't even have to write the HTML or JavaScript. Fireworks does it for you. Here's how.
  
  
• Maximize Your ASP Performance
  Active Server Pages give great performance, but you can make them even faster with a few tweaks to your code and database connections. Here's a detailed tutorial on how to refine your scripts and ASP features for maximum speed.
  
  
• Getting Started with VRML in 3D Studio MAX R3.1
  A full tutorial on creating your own 3D and Virtual Reality files in Discreet's 3D Studio MAX R3.1. The program has a built-in VRML exporter that translates MAX files into VRML files.
  
  
• JavaScript Tutorial: Functions and Classes
  So far we have met variables, objects, operators and flow controls. These constructs form the basis of JavaScript and are capable of producing all common programs.
  
  
• JavaScript Tutorial: Variables and Operators Explained
  A JavaScript tutorial aimed at beginners, or intermediate users with a hangover who suddenly forget how to turn numbers into strings and increment their variables. Includes working code examples for comparison, logical, compacted and other operators.
  
  
• Events And JavaScript: Part 3 - The Event Object
  Whenever an event fires, the computer places data about the event into the Event Object - for example, where the mouse pointer was on the screen at the time of the event, which mouse buttons were being pressed at the time of the event, and other useful information. This opens up possibilities for creating very intricate and complex programs.
  
  
• Advanced JavaScript Event Handling
  Our second JavaScript event tutorial looks at Advanced Event Handling. The three sections we cover here are Cancelling Events, Event Bubbling, and Mouse Capture. If your JavaScript skills are at an intermediate level and you want learn more, this is a fine place to start.
  
  
• Flash 4 For Beginners
  This small cluster of articles takes you through the creation of a simple animation and is aimed at people very new to Flash. When you've finished reading, you'll have a basic understanding of how the program works and how to use its principal functions. You'll also be able to test your movie and mount it on a Web page.
  
  
• Speeding Up Your Web Server CGI
  Many Web sites use CGI. For simple installations with modest usage levels, the efficiency of scripts is of little interest. But where script use is heavy and many dynamic pages are built on the fly, the resources used by scripts and the time it takes them to execute are critical. Here, we look at ways of making CGI run faster and more efficiently.
  
  

 Java and JavaScript

• Using JavaScript To Control Forms
  HTML forms can easily be enhanced using JavaScript.
  
  
• Using JavaScript To Control Forms - Part 2
  
  
• Using JavaScript To Control Forms - Part 3
  
  
• JavaScript Dynamic Document Creation
  Dynamic Document Creation is the creation of a Web document from within JavaScript.
  
  
• JavaScript Dynamic Document Creation in New Windows
  A second article on JDD, explaining how to open and close a new browser window and how to create dynamic content for a new window.
  
  
• Non-Graphical Rollovers for IE5
  How to use CSS and inline JavaScript to create non-graphical rollovers for Internet Explorer 5.
  
  
• Applets That Read Parameters From HTML
  
  
• Using the Javascript Image Object
  
  
• Netscape-Flavored Servlets
  
  
• Java Beans
  Reusable Components for Java

 CGI and Perl

• Adding A Dealer Locator To Your Site
  Many large corporate Web sites have a "dealer locator" feature that lets a user enter a zip code and get a list of the closest locations to them. If you're interested in adding a similar feature to your site, you're in luck, because it turns out to be both cheap and easy to do.
  
  
• Signed Scripts
  
  
• A Beginning Tutorial for CGI and Perl
  
  
• To Boldly Poll Readers with a CGI Script
  
  
• Create a Mailing List Using CGI

 Web Graphics

• Creating Your Own Favicon.ico Icon For IE5
  If you're in Explorer right now and pull down your Favorites menu, you'll find some custom logos lined up next to the site names. This little icon is called a "favicon". For very little effort, you can have the same thing next to your own site name on a million Favorites menus around the world.
  
  
• Creating Image Maps with Corel Xara 2
  Xara is a great tool for creating Image Maps. It can not only create the Image Map and the associated links, it can also write the required HTML code.
  
  
• Creating Tiling Background Images with Corel Xara 2
  Creating tiling background images in Xara is a piece of cake.
  
  
• Creating Animations with Corel Xara 2
  There are dozens of Web animation applications that can create animations. What sets Xara 2 apart, however, is Xara's full complement of drawing tools and awesome fountain (gradient) transparency capabilities.
  
  
• Let's build an ad banner with Photoshop!
  
  
• The ABCs of Web Graphics
  
  
• Creating Web Animations
  A step-by-step tutorial on creating animated images for Web pages. You'll learn how to use the most popular tools, and how to optimize your animations for minimal load time.
  
  
• Image Maps
  An Image Map on a Web page is a way to create interactivity without the use of plugins or applets.
  
  
• Pixel Anatomy 101
  This 3-part tutorial gets down to details about optimizing graphics for the Web. You'll learn which format to choose, as well as how to minimize file sizes and maximize quality.

 Web Commerce

• Getting a Credit Card Merchant Account
  Guides to getting set up to accept credit cards on your Web site.
  
  
• Shopping Cart Programs Compared
  Need a shopping cart? Here's an overview of your options, from homegrown JavaScript to easy-to-implement turnkey solutions for merchants.
  
  
• Ecommerce Tutorial
  A detailed, three-part tutorial about how to set up a simple ecommerce Web site.
  
  
• Ecommerce on a Budget
  A simple, dependable, and inexpensive ecommerce solution for small businesses is proposed.
  
  
• Building a Simple Ecommerce Web Site
  
  

 Web Technologies & Tools

• Create Your Own ActiveX Components For ASP
  ActiveX components on the server-side have a lot to offer. ASP is great, and the ability to effectively roll-your-own ActiveX components is a highly flexible benefit. It really permits unlimited functionality in an ASP page.
  
  
• Direct Animation And The Structured Graphic Control
  DirectX from Microsoft can certainly do some jazzy things. Here we explore some of the many possibilities of Direct Animation.
  
  
• Direct Animation And The Structured Graphic Control - Part 2
  More on the SGC element of DirectX.
  
  
• More Apache Configuration
  
  
• Converting XML to HTML using XSL
  To view an XML document you need to format or style it. In practice, this often means converting the XML file to HTML. Our detailed guide takes you through document conversion using XSL.
  
  
• Inserting Flash Movies in DreamWeaver
  
  
• Document Headers in Dreamweaver
  
  
• Easy Cascading Style Sheets Using Dreamweaver
  Cascading Style Sheets are not very difficult to write and use and CSS editors can be a big help. Dreamweaver was one of the first to offer this functionality.
  
  
• Setting up a Web Development Shop
  So you want to go into business as a Web developer? Here's a step-by-step guide to how to do it. The first step is to make an emergency appointment with the mental health professional of your choice, and beg them to talk you out of it.
  
  
• How to Sell Your CDs Online
  
  
• Amateur Web Sites - the Top Ten Signs
  The ABCs of Building Web Sites is a beginner's tutorial in Web design for businesspeople. This latest installment clues the beginning Webmaster in on how to avoid being instantly recognisable as such.
  
  
• How to Do Easy, Cool Transitions (wipes, dissolves) in IE
  Wipes, fades, pop-ups, up-pops, dissolves, transitions. All those good things. One simple line of code pasted into a HTML page lets you add easy special effects to your Internet Explorer pages.
  
  
• The ABCs of Building Web Sites - This beginner's tutorial will take the clueless newby through the entire process of building a Web site.
  • Chapter 1 - Hosting Your Site
  • Chapter 2 - What the Heck is HTML?
  • Chapter 3 - The Domain Name Game
  • Chapter 4 - Web Graphics Basics
  • Chapter 5 - Top Ten Signs of an Amateur Site
  
  
  
• Designing for Good Navigation
  
  This Web site navigation tutorial is in three parts:
  
  
  1. Basic Principles of Web Site Navigation
     
     
  2. Using Navbars, Frames and Site Maps
     
     
  3. Contact Pages and Off-site Links
  
  
  
• SQL in Action
  
  
• Simple SQL, Part II
  
  
• Simple SQL
  
  
• Cookie D'Oh
  
  
• The ABCs of Building a Web Site
  
  
• The Design Dilemma
  Custom Design or Template Web Sites?
  
  
• You Must Be Master of Your Own Domain
  
  
• A Do-It-Yourself Web Kit
  
  
• A Virtual Recording Studio on the PC
  
  
• Making Gifs Transparent

 Web Site Promotion

• The ABCs of Promoting Your Web Site
  In this ongoing column for the beginner, we build a small business Web site one step at a time. In fact, now we've got the site built and are ready to promote it. Here are the basics of search engines, link exchanges, mailing lists and other traffic-building tools.
  
  
• Setting up Your Own Mailing Lists
  Starting your own mailing list is one of the best things you can do to boost traffic to your Web site, but it isn't the easiest thing in the world to do. Here are links to articles that will show you how to set up and promote both email newsletters and discussion lists.
  
  
• Guaranteeing an Increase in Your Site Traffic
  
  
• Maximizing Search Engine Positioning
  
  This Web site promotion tutorial is in three parts:
  
  
  1. Maximizing Search Engine Positioning
     
     
  2. Doorway Pages Go Mainstream
     
     
  3. How to Avoid Spamming the Search Engines
  
  
  
• Promoting Your Web Site
  
  

 Corporate Webmaster

• Sell ads on my site?
  Practically any Web site can sell advertising. The question isn't whether you can, it's whether you should. We look at traditional ad agencies, ad networks and affiliate programs.
  
  
• Banner Ads Eat St. Louis!
  Personalisation is going to make Internet advertising huge. Laser-point personalisation is going to spawn a whole new advertising industry. There will be a bit of a premium charge for this of course.
  
  
• The More Things Change...
  
  
• How to Write a Request for Proposal for a Web Project
  The big problem Web development shops are having isn't production chaos - it's trying to respond to poorly written RFPs.
  
  
• Traffic Analysis Software
  Bruce Morris explains how to analyze your Web site traffic, and compares the different software packages available.
  
  
• Controlled Chaos Is the Key
  
  
• Managing Commercial Web Sites
  Here are a few items a smart Web manager should think about.
  • Community Building
  • Move to Open Standards
  • Online Demographics
  • Building Loyalty
  • Incremental Revenue Streams
  • Improving Performance