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Lesson 13- Tools for the World Wide Web. Overview. Web servers. Web browsers. Web page makers and site builders. Plug-ins and delivery vehicles. Beyond HTML. Web Servers. The functioning of the Web involves communication between a server computer and a client computer.
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Overview • Web servers. • Web browsers. • Web page makers and site builders. • Plug-ins and delivery vehicles. • Beyond HTML.
Web Servers • The functioning of the Web involves communication between a server computer and a client computer. • A Web server is a computer that delivers a file when a client computer sends a request. • Web servers vary in strength and capacity for a variety of platforms meeting the HTTP requirements.
Web Browsers • Web browsers are applications that run on the client side (user’s PC) on the Internet. • They provide an interactive graphical interface. • This interface is used for searching, finding, and viewing text documents, sounds, and multimedia resources on the Web.
Web Browsers • Web browsers differ in features, performance, and cost. • Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer are the most popular Web browsers.
Web Page Makers and Site Builders • HTML documents are simple ASCII text files without any formatting. • Active Server Pages, ColdFusion, or PHP are the programming environments needed for building dynamic sites. • HTML translators are built into many word processing programs.
Web Page Makers and Site Builders • HTML translators export a word-processed document with its text styles and layout converted into HTML tags. • Many HTML editors and Web page-making applications offer to shortcut HTML learning curves and working effort.
Web Page Makers and Site Builders • Dedicated editors are usually WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) word processors. • Microsoft FrontPage provides WYSIWYG support for many of the latest HTML formatting extensions. • It also provides extensive Web site management support through its FrontPage extensions.
Web Page Makers and Site Builders • Adobe Pagemaker saves pages as HTML documents and as Acrobat PDF files. • Adobe GoLive and Macromedia Dreamweaver MX are WYSIWYG HTML editors. • GoLive allows a user to create and edit text pages, import images, and link to other documents.
Plug-ins and Delivery Vehicles • Plug-ins allow end users to view and interact with new types of documents and images. • Helper applications (or players) display or run files downloaded from the Internet.
Plug-ins and Delivery Vehicles • Text. • Images. • Sound. • Animation, video, and presentation.
Text • Text and document plug-ins overcome the display limitations of HTML and Web browsers. • Adobe Acrobat provides special fonts and graphic images embedded as data into the file.
Images • Most browsers read only bitmapped JPEG, GIF, and PNG image files. • Plug-ins that enable the viewing of vector formats (such as Flash) are useful. • Vector graphics are device-independent. An image is displayed at the correct size and with colors supported by the computer.
Sound • Digitized sound files in MP3, WAV, AIF, or AU formats may be sent and played on a user’s computer from Internet. • MIDI sound files are more compact, but they depend upon the computer’s MIDI setup for quality.
Sound • Speech files can be encoded into a token language that is a shorthand description of the speech components. • Sound elements may also be embedded into projects made with various authoring tools. • Some sounds can be multicast to allow multiple users to listen to the same data streams without duplication.
Animation, Video, and Presentation • The most data-intense multimedia elements are video streams containing images and synchronized sound. • Video streams are commonly packaged as Apple’s QuickTime, Microsoft’s Video for Windows (AVI), and as MPEG files. • The trade-off between bandwidth and quality is ever present when designing, developing, and delivering animations or motion video for the Web.
Beyond HTML • CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is a standard for interfacing external applications with information servers. • Web-enabled 3-D environments promise compelling and interactive multimedia experiences.
Summary • A Web server delivers a file when a client requests for it. • Browsers are applications that run on a user’s PC to provide an interface for downloading and viewing documents and multimedia. • Many HTML editors and Web page-making applications require less HTML skills and working effort. • Plug-ins allow users to view and interact with new types of documents and images.