((((((((((((((((( WEBREFERENCE UPDATE NEWSLETTER ))))))))))))))))))
MAY 22, 1998
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Now with over 29400 subscribers
http://www.webreference.com
http://www.webreference.com/new/ <- archive, subscribe/unsubscribe
New this week on WebReference.com and the Web:
1. ANNOUNCING: E-Commerce Watch
2. FEATURED ARTICLE: XML: Old Whines in New Battles
3. DYNAMIC HTML LAB: Hierarchical Menus Version 2
4. DOC JAVASCRIPT: JavaScript Animations, Part II
5. NEW SERVICE: GIFCruncher
6. SITE REORGANIZATION: Make room for more content
7. NEW LINKS: HTML Style Guides, HTML Converters, Commerce
Service Providers, ActiveX
8. PORTAL PARTY: Web hubs in play
Spread the word! Feel free to send a copy of this newsletter to
your friends.
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1. ANNOUNCING E-COMMERCE WATCH
E-Commerce Watch is an ongoing summary of the most important issues
in the area of electronic commerce for Web site developers. Its aim
is to provide you with vital information to help you choose the
best tools available for building e-commerce enterprises.
Mark Merkow will guide you through the rapidly changing ecommerce
landscape, including the seemingly endless maze of three letter
acronyms like SET and OBI, and give you the information you need to
make the decisions necessary to accomplish your corporate goals.
Mr. Merkow, a Lead Systems Analyst in the Electronic Commerce Center of
Excellence for a Fortune 100 financial services company, has worked in
the field since 1975. He has authored "Breaking Through Technical
Jargon" published by Van Nostrand Reinhold, and another book due out
July 98 entitled "Building SET Applications for Secure Transactions",
published by John Wiley and Sons. Cash in at:
http://www.webreference.com/ecommerce/mm/
First up, Electronic Keys For A Digital Tomorrow.
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2. FEATURED ARTICLE: XML: Old Whines in New Battles
In the rush to learn, implement, and profit from XML, many of the
questions being asked are the same ones which came up when HTML was
new. Can we learn from the lessons of HTML and make the Web a more
productive and reliable resource for providers and users alike? You
decide. By Peter Flynn.
http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/xml/questions/
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3. DYNAMIC HTML LAB: Hierarchical Menus Version 2
If you thought Peter Belesis did a great job creating cross browser
hierarchical menus that went 3 levels deep, just wait until you
see how to extend them to more levels (infinite) while improving
compatibility and stability: knock your client's socks off!
http://www.webreference.com/dhtml/column20/
Also in DHTML Lab:
>DHTML Diner: Element Page Coordinates
Today's special shows how to find the page x-y coordinates of any
element, positioned or not. A must for overlaying DHTML over static
content. By Chef Peter Belesis.
http://www.webreference.com/dhtml/diner/
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4. DOC JAVASCRIPT: JavaScript Animations, Part II
Blast off into the universe of JavaScript animation. A vast cosmos
of possiblities awaits. With you at your keyboard, and Doc
JavaScript on board you'll explore new worlds and dare to code
where no one has coded before. This week's second sequel sports our
new, improved animation engine. By Tomer Shiran.
http://www.webreference.com/js/column19/
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5. NEW SERVICE: GIFCruncher
Shrink your static and animated GIFs from your hard drive or the
Web with GIFCruncher's HVS technology. Best of all, it's free for
single images. Another free Web-based service for webmasters
brought to you by Digital Frontiers and Mecklermedia.
http://www.webreference.com/services/graphics/gc/
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6. SITE REORGANIZATION
We reorganized the links database this week to make room for more
expert columnists. We expanded our subject-oriented classification
system to include the following major Web development topics:
Directory Name
--------------
* authoring
Covers the design and creation of Web sites. includes
design, graphics, authoring languages (HTML, XML...), etc.
* ecommerce
Links and tutorials about the most important issues in the
area of electronic commerce for Web site developers.
* internet
Covers information specific to the Internet, history, FAQs.
* multimedia
Audio, video, etc.
* programming
Perl, Java, ActiveX, Javascript...
To see an overview of the new site architecture see:
http://www.webreference.com/index2.html
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7. NEW LINKS: HTML Style Guides, HTML Converters, Commerce Service
Providers, ActiveX
>HTML Style Guides
Is your HTML source code a little unreadable by the outside world?
Get with the program and check out a style guide off our fresh list
of links.
http://www.webreference.com/authoring/style/htmlstyle.html
>HTML Converters
Convert your documents now and all the secrets of the Universe will
be laid before you.
http://www.webreference.com/authoring/languages/html/converters.html
>Commerce Service Providers
Still looking to outsource your e-commerce site? Take a look at our
ever growing list of CSPs and join the gold rush of the 90's.
http://www.webreference.com/ecommerce/csp.html
>ActiveX Resources
Pick a language, any language. That's the promise of ActiveX.
ActiveX is Microsoft's loosely defined umbrella term for
technologies that create third generation OLX controls that
COMmunicate with each other.
http://www.webreference.com/programming/activex.html
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8. PORTAL PARTY
The growing importance of Web portals was in the news this week.
Everyone from Newsweek to the New York Times to CNET was making
portal predictions. Some of the stock and street euphoria we're
seeing is hype, but there are signs that portals will become
increasingly important as their traffic, and market share grows.
WHAT'S A PORTAL?
A portal is an Internet gateway, or jumping off point for
exploration. Portals evolved out of search engines and directories
by adding useful services like stock quotes and free email. The
idea is to offer so many useful services that you'll make one
of them your home page. Instead of just being a gateway to other
sites, they strive to become "sticky." Leading portals like Yahoo,
get upwards of 32 million visitors a month, with over 35% market
share, according to Relevant Knowledge.
Problem is, some analysts predict that a maximum of five portals
will survive. The recent rash of mergers and acquisitions shows
contenders are trying to get their Web sites into portalhood
while the getting's good. Huge sums of money are being spent now
for marketing (even Alta Vista is advertising on NPR) to
establish precious market share, that they hope will pay off
later. A good recognizable brand, like Yahoo!, is one of the
keys to success in gaining mindshare.
Excite just cut a $70 million deal with competitor Netscape for
a favored position on their search page. In the process Excite
leapfrogged Infoseek and Lycos. Excite also turned down a $72
per share unsolicited bid from Zapata, a fish-oil and food
services company. Yahoo announced today that they it will
discontinue its Netscape Guide service, in part because Netscape
signed everyone else except Yahoo to be "premier" search providers.
NEW PLAYERS
New portal players are about to emerge. Disney's Michael Eisner has
hinted that he wants Disney to become a major Net player, and
Microsoft will launch their new Start portal later this year.
Both have plenty of content to supplement a directory/search engine.
Another way companies are aggregating eyeballs is through
acquisitions. A large company can simply buy a search engine, and
use that customer base as a starting point. Time Warner and Gannett
are looking seriously at the portal business.
I think we'll see a number of major acquisitions this year and next,
with high traffic sites the main prize. HotBot, Excite, Lycos,
Infoseek, LookSmart, and some meta-search engines are some candidates
being circulated for possible buyouts.
Net Companies in Demand
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,22388,00.html
News.com, May 22, 1998
Netscape Signs New Netcenter Search Deals
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/1998/05/2102-netscape.html
Yahoo! Pulls Plug on Netscape Presence
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/1998/05/2201-yahoo.html
Snap! Joins Growing List of Portals Offering Free E-Mail
http://www.internetnews.com/isp-news/1998/05/2101-snap.html
http://www.relevantknowledge.com
http://www.start.com (coming soon)
That's it for this week, have a great holiday weekend.
- Andrew King
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