Web Site Architecture

Paul Boag from Boagworld discussed a tool for mapping sites that he found quite simple and handy. The site is www.writemaps.com , in the comments section, the following tools were also mentioned gliffy and mindmeister. Mindmeister is more for doing mind maps but can be used to outline site architecture as well.

Have a look at the DOJO toolkit for the fisheye widget. This is the cool icon expansion thing that Apple’s do. I like!!! Looks like you can create these expanding icons in your web page using javascript.

http://dojotoolkit.org/

Tips For Creating Great Web Forms (some very good tips, especially those added in the comments section)

http://css-tricks.com/tips-for-creating-great-web-forms/

CSS PNG Image fix for IE

http://komodomedia.com/blog/index.php/2007/11/05/css-png-image-fix-for-ie/

Nested lists in Menu Navigation hot tip:

Use document.write() to write the styles that hide the nested ULs. That way without script support, these rules do not style the sub menus.

Great technique for protecting your mailto link (email address) from SPAM BOTs and email harvesting BOTS, involves Apache and PHP4 scripts. aListApart article: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/gracefulemailobfuscation

Some very interesting tutorials, designed in Visual Studio 2005:

The tutorials are as follows:

A.P.I. Method Documentation

MSHelp2 Conversion and Integration

Using Dynamic XSLT

Creating Accessible Tabular Data Tables

Creating Auto-line Numbered Code Blocks

Calling Accessible Context-Sensitive Help

Building Accessible Static Navigation

Here is the link: http://frank.helpware.net

Great tutorial on creating CSS drop down menus (I gave it a go and got it to work): http://www.projectseven.com/tutorials/navigation/auto_hide/index.htm

Client Side Load Balancing for Web 2.0 Applications

by Lei Zhu (in Articles)

It’s time to put away your copy of Photoshop and delve deep into

the murky depths of DNS configuration this week, as new author Lei

Zhu investigates an ingenious way to handle load balancing for web

applications. It’s not just required reading if you’re about to

launch the next Twitter or Facebook–what would happen if your

site went down today?

http://www.digital-web.com/articles/client_side_load_balancing/

Excerpt: Accelerated DOM Scripting with Ajax, APIs and Libraries

by Jonathan Snook (in Articles)

The abundance of JavaScript libraries available to developers can

be both a blessing and a curse: it’s great to have variety, but

how do you know which one to choose for which purpose? The

venerable Jonathan Snook makes it look easy with an excerpt from

his upcoming book, Accelerated DOM Scripting with Ajax, APIs and

Libraries.

http://www.digital-web.com/articles/dom_scripting_and_libraries/

 

jQuery Crash Course

by Nathan Smith (in Articles)

When it comes to the thorny subject of JavaScript libraries,

picking the right one for you can be a difficult decision. File

size or features, animations or AJAX, global namespace pollution

or… whatever the opposite of that is. Digital Web columnist

Nathan Smith thinks he’s found his ideal partner in jQuery, and

takes to the sky to prove it.

http://www.digital-web.com/articles/jquery_crash_course/