Clipmarks | humanizingme's clips

Creating A Real BACK Button with Server Side Includes!

Mon, 25 May 2009 18:08:39 GMT

clipped by: humanizingme

The Apache Environment variable, HTTP_REFERER is used above to show you the full URL of the page that brought you here. In the example above, Extended SSI (XSSI) logic was used to see if there was a value in the HTTP_REFERER variable. This allows you to handle situations such as bookmarks or browsers that do not report a value for the HTTP_REFERER. Let's look at the source code:

<B>You came from </B>  <B>I don't know where you came from</B>

I don't have XSSI, Can I still have a back button?
Of course. With any SSI compatible server you can simply do this:

Tags: web, webserver, webdesign, ssi, html, website, howto, apache, referer

BigNoseBird.Com's Server Side Include Page (SSI)

Mon, 25 May 2009 18:05:20 GMT

clipped by: humanizingme

Clip Source: bignosebird.com

WHAT IS SSI?
You may have noticed as you browse this site, that our pages end with the shtml extension instead of the more familiar html or htm. This is because we use Server Side Includes (SSI). Used properly, the SSI can help make your pages more responsive and can even help make maintaining your site an easier task.

SSI also seems to be one of the better kept secrets around. In any web related book, they seem to get about 1 page for every 200 pages on CGI and FORMS.

THE SSI TUTORIALS & REFERENCE PAGES Here they are, a collection of information on SSI that you will surely want to bookmark this page for.

Performance Considerations. Nothing good in life is free (usually), and so it is the same for SSI. Here is some food for thought on server performance.

The INCLUDE Directive. Discover how to make your pages very simple to maintain. Use this directive to merge text files in with your pages. Great for those side bar type menus.

Tags: web, webserver, website, html, ssi, links, webdesign

Considering Performance with Server Side Includes

Mon, 25 May 2009 17:59:46 GMT

clipped by: humanizingme

Clip Source: bignosebird.com

Before venturing further into the world of SSI, we must take something into consideration- performance. When a regular HTML page is requested, the server only has to handle sending that page to the person requesting it.

However, with SSI, the server must first read the SHTML file, process any directives (which can also be program output or files to be merged in) and then deliver the fully assembled page to the reader. Whew! That is a lot of work.

If you are expecting thousands of hits per minute, you might want to use SSI sparingly. On the other hand, keeping your pages trim will more than make up for the SSI performance cost. (hint-hint) In a typical setting, the productivity gains you will enjoy will greatly outweigh any potential performance problems.

Tags: web, webserver, webdesign, website, ssi, html

.shtml/.html/.htm File Extensions For Your Information

Mon, 25 May 2009 17:52:10 GMT

clipped by: humanizingme

Clip Source: www.hwg.org

Your Webmaster decides what the default file is, but it's usually index.htm OR index.html. For security/utility/convenience reasons though, many sites are configured to look for one specific file name as the "primary" file in a Web directory. This is the file that the server displays first when someone links to your URL. If it requires a specific file name, this is usually either index.htm OR index.html (but not both).

.shtml extensions.

If an html document contains "Server Side Includes" that means that it includes special commands for the Server to process. This is normally how things like counters are done on basic web pages.

On some websites, the webmaster sets up the server to parse, or read through every .html or .htm file to see if it contains server instructions. However, this WILL slow things down when people link to the pages.

Webmasters who are concerned about server performance commonly use the .shtml extension for an .html file that must be parsed.

Tags: web, html, ssi, webdesign, website, webserver

Using Client Side Includes instead of Server Side Includes

Mon, 25 May 2009 17:30:34 GMT

clipped by: humanizingme

Clip Source: articles.techrepublic.com.com

Takeaway: Reducing processing overhead can improve the performance of Web sites with heavy traffic patterns. Using Client Side Includes to perform functions on the client side is one technique developers can use to reduce overhead. Here's how it works.

SSI files themselves can have any extension, but by default a page that uses one or more of them has the extension .SHTML to signify to the Web server that this page needs to be handled differently to a standard HTML file.

A Client Side Include (CSI) is usually a short JavaScript function or routine contained in an External JavaScript file and is called in the same place as the SSI would be. CSIs can be contained either in a stand-alone file or included within a global JavaScript file which contains other useful client side JavaScript functions that the site may require.

The JavaScript version is much, much faster, and it places no more load on the server than an ordinary Web page.

Tags: web, webdesign, ssi, javascript, webserver, website

IS HTML5 READY YET?

Mon, 25 May 2009 17:12:49 GMT

clipped by: humanizingme

Clip Source: ishtml5readyyet.com

Only 4603 days to go.

I'll set a reminder in iCal.

Back to the future yet?

2022? Don't they know the apocalypse is 10 years before that? No one will be left to enjoy it!

Nice. Some of us will certainly be dead by then.

HTML 5 in action http://atag.accessiblemedia.at/

With the 4735 days currently to go, that statement still sounds both sadistic and masochistic. It’s probably not a bad idea to point out that some parts of HTML 5 can already be used ;)

Anyone want to party when it reaches 444 days?

I'm sure websites will be 3d environments before this is complete

I'll be 37 by the time HTML5 is released? I'd best start planning my retirement now.

I'm pretty sure humans will have learned to fly by then, and websites will be the last thing on our minds.

This time table is not relevant to web workers. We will all rely on HTML5 in just a few years. It is right around the corner. Self delusion? Yes!

Wait, but... Isn't the world ending in 2012?

Tags: web, html, html5, webdesign, opinions

Add a little HTML5 to your websites

Mon, 25 May 2009 17:00:46 GMT

clipped by: humanizingme

Clip Source: kilianvalkhof.com

It will be a while before we can start using real HTML5, but because HTML5 is as much about defining current behaviour as it is about adding new, there is already a very large part available to us today. Here are the parts you can use today.

<!doctype html>

The simplified doctype is ierhaps the most iconic idea in HTML5. It turns out, the above code is all that’s needed to trigger standards mode. The validator understands it as well. Quite a change from the humongous HTML4 or XHTML doctype declarations, no?

<meta charset="utf-8">

<script>
 //your javascript
</script>

<style>
 // your css
</style>

HTML5 introduces a bunch of new elements that allow you to better describe your document:

<header>
<footer>
<nav>
<section>
<article>
<aside>

Tags: html, html5, web, webdesign, article

Google Chrome ads coming to TV

Mon, 25 May 2009 16:55:51 GMT

clipped by: humanizingme

Clip Source: news.cnet.com

Google plans to make its first foray into the old-fashioned world of television advertising with spots promoting its Chrome browser this weekend.

Google Japan had already released a 30-second video promoting Chrome on YouTube, but the company will distribute that video through the Google TV Ads network this weekend as an experiment to see if it can drum up interest in Chrome, its new browser. Google said it's using the research it has done on measuring the relevance of television ads in order to place the Chrome ad appropriately.

For a consumer brand of its size, Google does relatively little advertising. It put Chrome ads on YouTube in January, but "house ads" are a little different than network television exposure. Likewise, T-Mobile advertises the "G1 with Google" in hyping up the Android-powered G1, but that's not exactly the same as making Google the focus of the ad.

[Video]

Tags: news, google, advertising, chrome, tv

A List Apart: Articles: A Preview of HTML 5

Mon, 25 May 2009 15:46:56 GMT

clipped by: humanizingme

Clip Source: www.alistapart.com

To give authors more flexibility and interoperability, and enable more interactive and exciting websites and applications, HTML 5 introduces and enhances a wide range of features including form controls, APIs, multimedia, structure, and semantics.

The div elements can be replaced with the new elements: header, nav, section, article, aside, and footer.

<body>
  <header>...</header>
  <nav>...</nav>
  <article>
    <section>
      ...
    </section>
  </article>
  <aside>...</aside>
  <footer>...</footer>
</body>

<video src="http://www.alistapart.com/articles/video.ogv" controls poster="poster.jpg" 
width="320" height="240">
    <a href="http://www.alistapart.com/articles/video.ogv">Download movie</a>
</video>

<audio src="http://www.alistapart.com/articles/music.oga" controls>
    <a href="http://www.alistapart.com/articles/music.oga">Download song</a>
</audio>

Tags: web, html, html5, webdesign, article