Chapter 13 Tools for the World Wide Web

Chapter 13 -Tools for the World Wide Web

Overview n Web servers. n Web browsers. n Web page makers and site builders. n Plug-ins and delivery vehicles. n Beyond HTML.

Web Servers n The functioning of the Web involves communication between a server computer and a client computer. n A Web server is a computer that delivers a file when a client computer sends a request. n Web servers vary in strength and capacity for a variety of platforms meeting the HTTP requirements.

Web Browsers n Web browsers are applications that run on the client side (user’s PC) on the Internet. n They provide an interactive graphical interface. n This interface is used for searching, finding, and viewing text documents, sounds, and multimedia resources on the Web.

Web Browsers n Web browsers differ in features, performance, and cost. n Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer are two of the most popular Web browsers.

Web Page Makers and Site Builders n HTML documents are simple ASCII text files without any formatting. n Active Server Pages, Cold. Fusion, or PHP are the programming environments needed for building dynamic sites. n HTML translators are built into many word processing programs.

Web Page Makers and Site Builders n HTML translators export a word-processed document with its text styles and layout converted into HTML tags. n Many HTML editors and Web page-making applications offer to shortcut HTML learning curves and working effort.

Web Page Makers and Site Builders n Dedicated editors are usually WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) word processors.

Web Page Makers and Site Builders n Adobe Go. Live and Macromedia Dreamweaver MX are WYSIWYG HTML editors. n Go. Live allows a user to create and edit text pages, import images, and link to other documents.

Plug-ins and Delivery Vehicles n Plug-ins allow end users to view and interact with new types of documents and images. n Helper applications (or players) display or run files downloaded from the Internet.

Plug-ins and Delivery Vehicles n Text. n Images. n Sound. n Animation, video, and presentation.

Text n Text and document plug-ins overcome the display limitations of HTML and Web browsers. n Adobe Acrobat provides special fonts and graphic images embedded as data into the file.

Images n Most browsers read only bitmapped JPEG, GIF, and PNG image files. n Plug-ins that enable the viewing of vector formats (such as Flash) are useful. n Vector graphics are device-independent. An image is displayed at the correct size and with colors supported by the computer.

Sound n Digitized sound files in MP 3, WAV, AIF, or AU formats may be sent and played on a user’s computer from Internet. n MIDI sound files are more compact, but they depend upon the computer’s MIDI setup for quality.

Sound n Speech files can be encoded into a token language that is a shorthand description of the speech components. n Sound elements may also be embedded into projects made with various authoring tools. n Some sounds can be multicast to allow multiple users to listen to the same data streams without duplication.

Animation, Video, and Presentation n The most data-intense multimedia elements are video streams containing images and synchronized sound. n Video streams are commonly packaged as Apple’s Quick. Time, Microsoft’s Video for Windows (AVI), and as MPEG files. n The trade-off between bandwidth and quality is ever present when designing, developing, and delivering animations or motion video for the Web.

Beyond HTML n CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is a standard for interfacing external applications with information servers. n Web-enabled 3 -D environments promise compelling and interactive multimedia experiences.

Summary n A Web server delivers a file when a client requests for it. n Browsers are applications that run on a user’s PC to provide an interface for downloading and viewing documents and multimedia. n Many HTML editors and Web page-making applications require less HTML skills and working effort. n Plug-ins allow users to view and interact with new types of documents and images.