To continue the weekly series reviewing, exploring, and living Web 2.0…
Okay, okay, so I’ve not really given you any juicy stuff on this Web 2.0. You are probably wondering where the content is, the applications, the useful stuff, and what will make your life easier (or harder).
Lets first consider Web 2.0 through the two things that make it possible.
1. Client-side software - The software and know-how of your computer that allows the most difficult processing to be done locally andrelieve the complicated back-end from the servers you are accessing. In other words, it is still an internet connection and not the speed of the insides of your computer. Much like the old terminal to server networks, but reversed. You have the power they have the fancy views and clever workings.
What you need:
The must haves…
-Java
-Flash
-Silverlight
Often times if you have the most updated version of your browser, your in. So find that ‘check for update’ option now.
Even so, there are some browsers known for being more Web 2.0 friendly and I suggest you try them out.
Firefox vs. Internet Explorer - Mozilla’s Firefox wins. IE is known for being finicky with Web 2.0 apps and just clunky in general. Also certain Web 2.0 content can cause memory leaks (which means a eventual need to restart as your computer slows to a halt).
Apple’s Safari is now out on both operating systems and so recently is Flock (based on a . Both are worth a try. Safari has a great reputation as being stable and not released if otherwise. It also, until recently, shakily handled Web 2.0 content. Simplicity guaranteed as always. For a loaded baked potato of Web 2.0 browsers, try Flock. It’s what I use and it’s built to use the web browser as your Web 2.0 hub. Recently released as 1.0 (out of development), it’s much more usable, but still crashes (albeit a basic amount now) and mysteriously leaks memory (but instead of quickly like before you have to leave the browser running for days and days on end to notice the drag).
The browsers…
-Flock
-Mozilla Firefox
-Safari
2. Server-side software - The server, accessed usually through an internet connection, tells your computer what to do and how to make it pretty. Running heavily off of advanced databases and other structured data formats, the structure allows for organized access. You can now take advantage of this by knowing the internet’s limitations and only updating tiny portions of content at a time, often resulting in very frequent but small data requests.
What they generally use, lay men’s terms, if you want to get all tech-y about it…
-AJAX is used to created interactive web applications that is responsive and interactive by exchanging those small bits of data constantly.
-HTML, DHTML, XHTML, and XML is used to code the pages that support the Web 2.0 content building on stricter rules to create interpretable standards.
-Special HTML (or microformats) are additions to the above code formats that allow for simplifications in Web 2.0 content and processes for specific web software.
-Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) creates standard layouts for a set of pages/site that can rely on color scheme or more specifically defined traits allowing them to be stored in one place and not separately on each page.
-Web APIs (application programming interface) are a machine (client) based interaction that moves away from read-only web sites.
-mashups are something you will see more and more and is the precursor to Web 3.0 as it takes unique information and attaches it to another pocket of unique information in way that connects data where the other’s ends.
-wiki or forum software is the growing user driven and edited content online.
-Atom or RSS are simple, standardized, and low memory ways to present constantly updated information in a readable format.
-Flash is interactive content gone graphically pleasing web application.
-Java and JavaScript are versatile and semi-related programing languages that have added complexity to web content when embedded.
Many of these are used together and you often don’t have to worry about what is being used as long as it work. I do hope that the simple vocabulary lesson will be useful in the future.
Next week and in the weeks to come, we will begin to talk about access to this content and the things that can help manage it. I hope from here on out the lessons will be shorter and the solutions will be longer. We have a foundation, now it is time to build on it.
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