((((((((((((((((( WEBREFERENCE UPDATE NEWSLETTER )))))))))))))))))
DECEMBER 14, 1998
_____________________________SPONSORS_____________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Dell, IBM, Macromedia, and Allaire.
__________________________________________________________________
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Now with over 51000 subscribers
http://www.webreference.com <- link to us today
http://www.webreference.com/new/ <- archive, subscribe/unsubscribe
New this week on WebReference.com and the Web:
1. GIORDAN ON GRAPHICS: The Digital Aesthetic v.3
2. DMITRY'S DESIGN LAB: Using Artwork in Design
3. 3D ANIMATION WORKSHOP: More Texture Mapping
4. NEW LINKS: ActiveX, Search the Net, Internet
Statistics, Internet Jobs
5. OTHER VOICES:
* Introduction to SMIL - WDVL.com
* XML and Java: The Perfect Pair: Part 2 - WDVL.com
* Yes, Virginia, Women Do Shop Online - Cyberatlas.com
* Exploring IE5 - Webreview.com
6. NEW SITES:
* Google.com - review
* Go.com preview
7. NEW BOOKS:
* Dynamic HTML - The HTML Developer's Guide
* .com book naming trend
8. NET NEWS:
* Netscape's Gecko Released
* Oracle, Sun plans are sans operating system
* Netscape announces Custom Netcenter
Spread the word! Feel free to send a copy of this newsletter to
your friends and colleagues, and while you're at it, snap a link to
WebReference.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. GIORDAN ON GRAPHICS: The Digital Aesthetic v.3
Digital technology allows designers to develop ideas in a fluid
nonlinear fashion, saving alternate versions while brandishing
multiple undos and image layers. But does this unbridled flexibility
come at a cost? What are the tradeoffs when moving from conventional
art tools to digital media? Daniel Giordan explores these issues in
the latest installment of the Digital Aesthetic.
http://www.webreference.com/graphics/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2. DMITRY'S DESIGN LAB: Using Artwork in Design
To give your site a truly unique feel you need to add a piece of
professional artwork. Dmitry explores the key concepts involved in
adding "first order" art in this month's tutorial.
http://www.webreference.com/dlab/9812/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3. 3D ANIMATION WORKSHOP: More Texture Mapping
Gift wrap a 3D room for the holidays with our latest texture
mapping tutorial. By Robert Polevoi.
http://www.webreference.com/3d/lesson55/
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4. NEW LINKS: ActiveX, Search the Net, Internet Statistics,
Internet Job
>ActiveX Resources
It's time to take control! Learn how to do just that with our
helpful ActiveX resources.
http://www.webreference.com/programming/activex.html
>Search the Net
Everything you need to find things on the Net.
http://www.webreference.com/internet/search.html
>Internet Statistics
Check out our collection of Internet statistics resources.
Freshly updated for all you "number crunchers."
http://www.webreference.com/internet/statistics.html
>Internet Jobs
Got work? If not, check out these valuable Internet job resources.
http://www.webreference.com/internet/jobs/similar.html
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
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WebSphere Studio provides visual page editing, servlet creation
wizards, and server-side logic.
Download free code:
http://redir.internet.com/webref/981214/www.software.ibm.com/wss/news3
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5. OTHER VOICES: Introduction to SMIL, XML and Java: The Perfect
Pair: Part 2, Yes, Virginia, Women Do Shop Online
Exploring IE5
>Introduction to SMIL
The Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) is a
recommendation from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that allows
for the creation of time-based multimedia delivery over the Web.
Based on XML, it allows developers to mix many types of media, text,
video, graphics, audio and vector based animation together and to
synchronize them to a timeline. By Jeff Rule.
http://wdvl.com/Authoring/Languages/XML/SMIL/Intro/
>XML and Java: The Perfect Pair: Part 2
A deeper look at Java APIs developed for use with XML: SAX, XML
Library, XPK4J, DOM, KOML, SAXON and more.
http://WDVL.com/Authoring/Languages/XML/Java/index2.html
>Yes, Virginia, Women Do Shop Online
A new survey done by Ruskin/Goldring Research for Clinique shows
that women use the Internet to shop just as often as men do.
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/market/retailing/women.html
>Exploring IE5
Webreview explores IE5's new features. By Jeff Rule.
http://webreview.com/wr/pub/98/12/11/feature/index.html
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6. NEW SITES: Google.com, Go.com
Two Stanford University grads, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have
spun off another innovative search engine, Google! Google! is a
full-text search engine with a difference: it returns very
relevant results. Unlike conventional search engines that simply
crawl and index the Web (and at maximum of only 1/3 of the Web),
Google! crawls and then analyzes the resulting hyperlink database
to raise the relevance of search results. So far, Google! has
indexed over 150 million pages.
Google uses a number of techniques to raise the relevance of query
results, including its unique PageRank algorithm. PageRank ranks
pages in "importance" based on the number and quality of backlinks
to the page in question. Just as in the print publishing world
where more citations mean more credibility, this "webmaster
recommended" technique ranks pages higher with more backlinks.
PageRank also ranks pages higher if their backlinks have a high
PageRank. It sounds circular, and it is, and requires an iterative
algorithm to calculate the PageRank for the 1.5 billion links it
analyzes.
Larry Page: "PageRank is calculated using a iterative algorithm,
and corresponds to the principal eigenvector of the normalized
link matrix of the Web. PageRank recursively defines the
importance of a page to be the weighted sum of the backlinks to it."
The importance of a page is also determined from anchor text,
font size, location in the document, and proximity. All of these
factors are combined to compute the overall relevance of a page.
The result is uncannily accurate hits. An example:
I tried searching on the term "dhtml" - guess what came up first?
DHTML Lab! :) Other simple searches produced similar high quality
results. Google! is immune to keyword spammers that raise relevance
in other search engines. It uses the collective wisdom of the Net
to recommend sites.
Unlike other search engines that hide their search engine
algorithms, the Stanford-trained Googlites publish their
techniques, and offer up their Web database for further studies:
http://google.stanford.edu/google_papers.html
Google! works best with simple keyword searches, it returns pages
that match all of your search terms in the text of the page or
the link anchors pointing to it. Google's creators plan on adding
more complex Boolean queries soon.
>Go.com
Disney's go.com portal launched in preview mode Sunday. Infoseek's
goal in designing the site was a fast-loading page that offers at least
as much as the other portal sites (news, weather, sports...). Two
innovative features are the GOGuardian kid-safe filter, and context
sensitive tabs (Go Centers, Web Sites, Community) that send users to
similar areas to the one they're at. For example, if you're in the
Internet area and click on the Community tab, you'll be shown the
Internet-related communities.
Infoseek also agreed to eliminate all porn ads from their results pages
to make the site safe for kids.
http://www.go.com
http://www.webreference.com/new/980921.html
http://www.webreference.com/new/980914.html
http://www.internetnews.com/Reuters/1998/12/1402-disney.html
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A Holiday Web Design Bonus Offer! Buy Macromedia Fireworks for $199
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800-457-1774 and mention 113 -- must own HTML Editor, good to 12/31.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7. NEW BOOKS: Dynamic HTML - The HTML Developer's Guide, .com book
naming trend
>Dynamic HTML - The HTML Developer's Guide
Jeff Rule, Senior Interactive Web Developer at Discovery Channel
Online, has written an introductory DHTML book for developers. The
book explains the many techniques he uses at Discovery and
demonstrates at his RuleWeb site. It explains the various aspects
of DHTML in easy to understand language. Compatibility techniques,
the DOMs, and CSS are all covered plus code for rollovers, popup/out
menus, drag and drop, and animations and timelines. He also previews
upcoming features in the new version 5 browsers.
Dynamic HTML - The HTML Developer's Guide
Jeff Rule
Addison-Wesley, 1999. $39.95
ISBN: 0-201-37961-9
http://www.awl.com/cseng/
http://www.ruleweb.com
>.com book naming trend
There's a trend developing, books whose names end in ".com". It's
a shorthand way of saying "on the Internet or World Wide Web."
First there was aol.com, then customers.com, then enterprise.com,
now comes businessplan.com, about creating a Net-ready business
plan. And don't forget Danger.com, Effective.com, and Blowtorch
Psycho.com. What's next, Internet.com?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8. NET NEWS: Netscape's Gecko Released, Oracle, Sun plans are sans
operating system, Netscape announces Custom Netcenter
>Netscape's Gecko Released
Netscape has released the first version of "Gecko," its next-
generation layout engine that reaches a new milestone for browser
technology in speed, smaller size, and full standards support.
Preliminary tests we conducted show Gecko to be much faster at
displaying pages. Netscape says it will fully support W3C standards
(except for partial support of CSS2). More on Gecko later today.
http://developer.netscape.com
http://home.netscape.com/newsref/pr/newsrelease711.html
Netscape.com, Dec. 11, 1998
>Oracle, Sun plans are sans operating system
The operating system is history. That is if Oracle and Sun
Microsystems have their way with a new type of computer that
doesn't require an OS.
"The product will likely include the Oracle8i database environment
running on Sun hardware, using only a Unix microkernal," according
to AMR Research in Boston in a report on the pending announcement.
"The microkernal is expected to be Solaris-based, Sun's Unix
platform, but it may be one of the several open-source versions
of Unix."
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,29868,00.html
News.com, Dec. 14, 1998
>Netscape Announces Preview of Custom Netcenter
Netscape Communications Corp. Monday launched a preview of Custom
Netcenter, a new service that allows businesses to create their own
Internet portals. The service combines portal content and services
with company-specific software, allowing businesses to deliver
customized information to their clients, customers and partners.
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/1998/12/1401-net.html
Internetnews.com, Dec. 14, 1998
That's it for this week, see you next time.
Andrew King
Managing Editor, WebReference.com
update@webreference.com
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+------------ INTERNATIONAL WEBMASTERS ASSOCIATION --------------+
The WebReference Update is the "Official Resource for Web News"
for the International Webmasters Association (IWA). The IWA and
WebRef have partnered to better serve our members by providing
timely, relevant info to help stay on top of their profession.
+--------------------- http://www.iwanet.org --------------------+
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Also on Internet.com .... http://www.Internet.com
Guide to Internet Access and the WWW http://www.boardwatch.com
The best Web sites every moment http://www.coolcentral.com
The Reference Desk for Web Marketing http://www.cyberatlas.com
The latest Internet news http://www.internetNews.com
How to do e-commerce on the Internet http://e-comm.internet.com
The Leading Business Internet Magazine http://www.internetworld.com
Java applets: freeware and shareware http://www.javaboutique.com
A free cut & paste JavaScript library http://javascriptsource.com
The definitive high-tech encyclopedia http://www.pcwebopaedia.com
Boost your site's search placement http://searchenginewatch.com
ServerWatch ratings and reviews http://www.serverwatch.com
Download Internet apps 4 WIN 3.x/95/NT http://www.stroud.com
THE list of ISPs with 3,000+ http://www.thelist.com
The Web Developer's Virtual Library http://www.wdvl.com
Web server software comparisons http://www.webcompare.com
WebDeveloper, resources and tips http://www.webdeveloper.com
The developer's guide to webmastery http://www.webreference.com
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