my $.02 -
There are three things (in my option) that make a
good web page.
HTML - This handles what the site looks like. Makes it pretty and such thought style sheets and stuff like that. Also, any 'static' (or non-changing) stuff for the page will be here. File extentions: *.html *.htm - BTW: XML or xhtml or dhtml are all 'new' html like code. The problem with current html is that all browsers display the code differently. So... a web developer is forced to decide how much to rely on 'eye-candy' when some browsers won't support it. This all stems from the problem that back when (Al Gore built the web j/k
) the web began, the people that designed some of the first code never thought that the web would be used for what it is today. (IE: They thought it would be a text type network thing that schools/goverments would use to share data. NOT, where every person in the us would be viewing it with tons of graphics and 'eye-candy')
Client-side scripting - This is mostly JavaScript (JS). This will allow the client (or computer viewing the site) to run some script (or program
) to do a task. Example: (I'm using this because i see it right now) When you go to post a message on CD, it will run some checks using JS to see if you have enough or too much info. Some JS will check to see if you have a subject (in a new post) or some text in the post/reply box. Also, the vB code inserts the tags using JS. Main point: Client-side scripting is done on the computer viewing the site.
Server-side scripting - PHP, Perl, ASP This is a script (or code) that runs on the server BEFORE it is sent out to the client. This allows web developers to have 'dynamic' (or changing) data among other things. CD uses it because this way people can put up data, and others can view it and such. It is also used with on-line 'shoping carts' (with SSL (a secure connection)) and other things that require data to change. The advantage to this is because otherwise, the user would have to download ALL of the data and then have their client side scripting do all the sorting/other work. Not a good idea
Hope this helped all. (PS: Learning computer programming is easy
- I didn't know php 3 months ago, and now i'm writing a major mod using it for my site
) - HTML is also very easy. It has a simple syntax. However, when you want to start to have cool looking things, then it gets a little harder with CSS and things like that)
Jack
BTW: Flash is also becoming big. However, flash is just a type of animation that is integrated into websites. Not really a programming language.