Web Languages & Design Challenges

Languages

I am intrigued and amazed by the vast number of languages one can learn for web applications.  Here is a list on Wikipedia.  It seems there may be as many computer languages as there are human languages.  I had no idea.  They do share two things in common: syntax (arrangement) and semantics (meaning).  From there the differences are astounding.

I think Perl, C, PHP, Java and JavaScript would be essential languages to learn if one wanted a good foothold in the web design world.

Design Challenges

I am still struggling with learning how to model and layout the divs and blocks of text and images on a web page.  I understand the theory but lack the confidence in implementing the CSS and HTML to accomplish the layout without flaws.  I will keep at it though!

Banners, Sideboards, Text Sizing and Main Body

Well the time has come.  I have learned strict XHTML.  I know some designing via CSS and I have plodded through theoretical text about user design and structure.  Now I think I know how I want my page to look (the group graphed it) but putting all those CSS commands to work is the real crux of the issue.  It takes a lot of tweaking.  And when you have the page looking just how you want you find changing the size can mess up the layout!  Sighh....

I focused on the banner and navigation bar today and made some headway.  Here's the code this week:

body {background-color: beige;}
h1 {color: orange;}
h2 {font-stle: sans-serif;}
#banner {
background-color: beige;
width: 100%;
margin: 0px;
}

#logo {
padding: 5px;
float: left;
}

#bannertext {
height: 100px;
font-family: ariel;
padding-top: 8px;
margin-left: 400px;
}

#navmenu {
width: 100%;
height: 80px;
margin: 0px;
background-color: blue;
}

#navmenu ul {
list-style: none;
padding: 0px;
margin: 0px;
}

#navmenu li{
width: 180px;
text-align: center;
float: left;
}

#navmenu a:link {
text-decoration: none;
line-height: 50px;
}

#navmenu a:visited {
text-decoration: none;
color: orange;
line-height: 50px;
}

#navmenu a:hover {
text-decoration: none;
display:block;
width: 180px;
line-height: 40px;
background: yellow;
}


Next week let's see what improvements I make and if I get the side menu created and some work on text size options for visually disabled.

Whither Intellectual Property?

Good, Bad & Ugly

The internet and digital media converses the rather archaic notions of copyright intellectual property.  The law has been slow to respond to the ever-changing and fast-paced digital realm.  Thus came about the open access and creative commons paradigm. 

This free access vs. creative rights debate rages on. 

I personally feel it is largely the result of a generational shift in society.  People have become accustomed to free and instrant gratification without understanding the true nature of the work and creativity needed to produce the items they are pirating.  And this applies to coporations as much as individuals.

Services like Napster and BitTorrent as well as other sharing services and freeware and open access have been the thorn in the side of publishers and media kings but now may be actually hurting the actual creators of the content.  Where's the money?  Time will tell if this new model will survive.