Kravendaven

Dreamweaver October 17, 2006

I am one person who started to learn HTML on his own.  It was about six years ago when I decided that since all my friends had webpages, I was going to make one for myself.  I wanted to do it right, so I used the internet and searched for self HTML tutors.  I learned it pretty quickly and since then, I have always used Notepad to edit HTML files.

Recently, The College of New Jersey required me to use Dreamweaver to edit a website for an entry level course.  After using it, I have formulated some opinions on the software.  Overall, it is a very useful program but have some little flaws in my eyes.

Dreamweaver MX has the design and coder views.  This allows you to see what the site looks like in a browser as well as shows the code.  Since I write mainly in code, I tend to keep the coder section almost maximized, only glancing at the design section from time to time to make sure I typed things correctly.  In addition to these views, you can see your webpage in an external browser that is installed on your computer. 

Dreamweaver MX also allows you to download and upload things from the server where your information was held.  This beats notepad simply because I didn’t have to get an external FTP client to upload my site.   Another feature would be the capibility of dreamweaver to understand the difference between HTML files and other files such as CSS and PHP.  It will even help you code in these languages.  It would suggest code as you type it which helps if you generally know the language.  Dreamweaver can even help you do more complex things like XML, ColdFusion, Java, VB, and preformatted designs. 

Some little flaws would include its lack of a virtual server.  PHP is server side technology and becoming more popular in various web applications.  When I was experimenting with it, I had to either upload it to a server or download a program that would use my computer as a virtual server and mimic a real one. 

Another flaw that I could see would be when you are typing code.  It tries to autocomplete code.  When you type a tag out, it will automatically close the tag.  When I create a webste, I tend to type out the content first, then go back and format the text.  This made things complicated since I would have to copy and paste the end tag where I wanted it, which often times would be much farther in the text.

Overall, Dreamweaver is a good program that I would recomend to edit webpages.  It can organize, upload, download, and format you site with just the click of a few buttons.  It may take a little while to get used to, but after you learn the program, it becomes very easy to edit anyone of your webpages.

Threat: Hackers October 9, 2006

Hackers are people just like the rest of us, except their definition of fun is using a computer to gain access to other computers and take information or leave their mark.  The problem is that they have gotten more numerous and malicious recently.  It has been proven that no matter what computer is hooked up to the internet, where it is located, what security it is behind, or how many firewalls you have to go through, any computer can be hacked.  It is just a matter of time. 

Recently, the BIS (Bureau of Industry and Security) was attacked and caused them to disconnect from the internet.  They are in charge of U.S. exports and have connections with the military.  These computers were hacked and then the hackers installed rootkits and other applications.  These applications would transfer information from the computer to the hacker.   Formatting and deleting the rootkits are not enough, sometimes the applications are embedded in the BIOS.  The government has decided to replace the infected computers with brand new ones.  They have also installed new security measures and now it is just a waiting game before they get attacked again.

Website Design Mistakes: October 6, 2006

1.  Font problems:  You should have high contrast between the font and the background.  People tend to strain their eyes in order to see whats on the page, or just go to a diferent page when there is low contrast.  Also size you text accordingly.

2.  Flash:  Flash is seen all over the place and can get very annoying and cumbersome to load for narrow band connections.  To make your website look better, avoid using flash and try color, font, and design changes.  These are more pleasing to the eye because they don’t flash or blink and load much quicker.

 3.  Links:  You should keeps links like they were originally designed.  Linked text is usually underlined and a different color.  Also try to differentiate between links and visited links.  Opening pages in new windows can get very annoying.  Try to avoid this whenever possible.

4.  Size:  Webpages with a lot of media tend to take a while to download even on broadband connections.  People are in a hurry these days and do not want to wait to view content.  Some remedies would be limiting the use of large pictures by using thumbnails, but still provide a link to the larger picture if the use desires.  Also link to videos rather than putting them in without warning the user that they are going to be there and take time to load up. 

5.  Confusing navigation:  Make sure that people can easily navigate through your site.  The best sites are the ones that are very simple.  This provides all the content on one page, so that people don’t have to scroll, and makes it easy for a non experienced web-user to go about your site.

 6.  CSS usage:  CSS is a powerful tool that will help anyone create a website that is pleasing to the eye and simple.  Use CSS to format your websites rather than tags inside the HTML that code for the font.  This makes it easier for you to go back later and change your site with the press of a few buttons.  This way you can keep your users interested becuase of the color, font, and design changes that only cost you a few moments of your time.

 7.  Target audience:  Targeting your website to please 7 year old children with little bunnies won’t work on adults if you are trying to sell blood pressure medication.  Make sure that you keep your target in mind.  Try to think about what would attract them to your site, what would please them.  Often most web designers want to put what they want in a site and never think about who they are trying to communicate with.

 8.  Amount of material:  Too much on one page may make user confused.  Most people don’t want to have to search through a page to get what they want and often will leave without really looking if the infomation is not right in front of them.  For this reason use links at the top and bottom of the page.  Also, if you can try to split up a page that you would normally have to scroll through into many pages or use anchor tags to help users find what they want.

Most design flaws tend to come from people just not thinking and just making the website.  Before you actually make one, just sit down, relax and use that brain of yours.  Think about your audience, content, color scheme, font, organization of content, and multimedia.  Plans things out and your site in the end will come out much better and more organized.  Also use your friends to find out how things look or sound as you progress.  What is pleasing to your eye might seem discusting to someone else’s.

Security flaws: October 5, 2006

Hackers are prodding more and more into popular web browsers such as Firefox and Internet Explorer. They exploit these flaws to gain valuable information such as credit card and bank account numbers. It was often thought that Internet Explorer had the most flaws, but recently it was discovered that Internet Explorer only had 38 flaws while Firefox had 47 and 12 in Apple Safari. Using these flaws, hackers are concentrating more on home computers and end users knowing that they are easiest to attack. If this continues, it might lead to a decrease in online banking and purchasing.

Hello world! October 5, 2006

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