News & Articles

• Advantages of Script Libraries
• Web site vs. Website: Which...
• Why Validate Your Mockup
• Syosoft Assists An Award
• All News & Articles

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News And Articles

Advantages of Script Libraries

Ask any developer what they dread most about their job. My guess is the same things most people dread: redundancy and their boss. Thankfully, the former is much easier to correct.

The advantages are probably too numerous to name, I'll outline the few I see as the most important.

Clients want, need, and deserve reliability. This means time tested code and a development team knows that code as if they wrote it (and hopefully they did). Developers need well written, thought out, and profitable code they can present to clients with confidence. Enter code libraries.

Finding code is easy - code repositories are everywhere. It seems people are posting their works as a service (and possibly bragging rights) to their colleagues. Unfortunately, this creates uneducated developers who are more familiar with ctrl+c & ctrl+v than they are working through a problem using the various research channels available to them.

Right, back to the point: advantages.

The single biggest benefit is speed. Script libraries jump start an application. They allow developers to quickly setup shop and get down to the creative part of the project. This alone is enough to stop reinventing the wheel and build your own reusable code base - even if it is collecting and analyzing various freely available scripts.

Second, reliability. The reason I think speed trumps reliability is because code can always be improved. Once that jump start has happened, design flaws in the library will stick out like a sore thumb and can be readdressed. As a script library matures, the original code becomes much more robust and if all goes well, more reliable. Very few, if any, pieces of code can be defined as "perfect," however, many scripts can be considered usable, scalable and "bug" free.

Lastly, knowledge. Becoming familiar with several scripts, functions, and classes is crucial in quickly identifying the best suited angle of attack, or at what point a script might be bottle-necking. One of the worst feelings in the world is to revisit a web site or application you've previously developed only to find yourself lost in the code. Contrast that with the feeling of revisiting a web site or application you've devloped using a framework you've actively worked with for years. Freeing.

Web site vs. Website: Which wins?

The first thought that might pop into your head is: "Who cares?" You're right, it's really not that big of a deal. This is a short one sided discussion regarding new verbage on the Internet, as well as some links to others who have sipped coffee pondering the same.

My stance is purely grammatical. "Web site" is the winner, hands down. Others, however, see this two word phrase as a single new word that should be recognized as such. The only thing to argue about concerning this non-arguement is which is more beneficial from a SEO (search engine optimization) angle.

Others have put more thought into it, you're invited to read their piece:

• Wordbiz.com's discussion
• Barbara Feldman's take and user comments
• "Ask Kalena" - May 15th 2007
• Google results for "Web site vs. Website"

Another such word is E-mail. I've seen it written as E-mail, eMail, email, and a few variations of each. Which is correct? Yes, it's another moot point, but people do debate these things and once again, I favor the classic, e-mail.

Why Validate Your Mockup

At first, web page validation may seem trivial and even unnecessary. However, if you think about its purpose a little further you begin to see how important the rules and guidelines are.

Consider for a moment that automobile manufacturers followed no guide lines, no best practice rules, and simply ignored the standards set for their industry.

What value could consumers put on testing or safety ratings? Prices would sky rocket as the manufacturers would have to develop their own systems for every aspect of assembly. Want to buy some new rims? They'll be far more expensive as well because the company manufacturing them cannot create them in bulk knowing that the specifications could change at any time. I think you get the idea.

A system like that would be a complete mess and cost everyone a lot more time and more importantly, money.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was founded in October of 1994 by Tim Burners Lee (the inventor of the internet, by the way) with the goal of creating a standard for web page markup, among other things. The standard then became the outline for how browser development companies should interpret web page markup and render display.

Some web sites carry the label: "Best viewed in <browser name>." While it is clearly easier to develop for a single browser, doing so will present a percentage of visitors with a sub par (and somewhat unusable) version of the web page.

The problem with this standard is that it's only a standard. Companies can choose which rules they wish to follow or ignore when developing their browsers or worse, they can make up their own markup ("This web site is best viewed in Internet Explorer" and more recently "Best viewed in FireFox"). This hasn't become too great a problem as any company who is out for market share, must follow most of the W3C standards so web sites are presented mostly correct.

Still wondering why you should validate? Validation is the simplest way to insure your web site will appear as intended across as many browsers and devices as possible.

Syosoft Assists An Award

On June 28th of 2007, Chico Web Design, of Chico California, received the "Excellence in Web and Graphic Design" award presented by the Chico Economic Planning Corporation.

Syosoft has had the privilege of working very closely with Chico Web Design for several years and we were thrilled to hear how appreciative the Chico, California business community is.

Jeff Sierra, the heart and soul of Chico Web Design, is an amazingly talented designer and we look forward to many more years of successfully meeting the development needs of his clients.

Read more at ChicoWebDesign.com