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((((((((((((((((( WEBREFERENCE UPDATE NEWSLETTER ))))))))))))))))) FEBRUARY 01, 1999

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This newsletter is sponsored by Keynote Systems, Dell and Allaire. __________________________________________________________________

+----------------------------------------------------------------+ FREE PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL OF YOUR E-COMMERCE WEB SITE Are you losing customers or revenue because your web site is too slow or slower than your competitors? Are your Internet providers delivering the speed and service they promised? Measure, assure and improve your web-site quality of service from 35 cities worldwide -- for one week, for free. http://www.keynote.com/adv/wrn8.html >From Keynote Systems, the Internet Performance Authority. +----------------------------------------------------------------+

Now with over 57000 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. DOC JAVASCRIPT: Bookmarklets 2. E-COMMERCE WATCH: Growing a Tree Of Trust - Part III 3. HTML WITH STYLE: Boxing with CSS, Part II: No Margin For Error 4. DYNAMIC HTML LAB: Hierarchical Menus, Version 3.05 5. NEW LINKS: Web News Sources, CGI Programming 6. BOOK REVIEW: Open Sources 7. TREND: Superbowl.com Commercials 8. OTHER VOICES: * Server Survey: Apache on Top * Towards a New Application Development Framework for Server-Side Web-Based Applications in Perl and Java 9. NET NEWS: * Yahoo! to Acquire GeoCities * Compaq Plans Spinoff, IPO for AltaVista * World Wide Web Consortium Announces CSS1 Test Suite * internet.com Acquires BotSpot.com

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. DOC JAVASCRIPT: Bookmarklets

Perhaps the best kept secret in JavaScript, bookmarklets are one-line scripts attached to links that are easy to create and fun to use. Create your own bookmarklets with our new interactive tool. By Tomer Shiran.

http://www.webreference.com/js/column35/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. E-COMMERCE WATCH: Growing a Tree Of Trust - Part III

Continuing our series on Public Key Infrastructures for secure e-commerce we delve deeper into Certificate Authorities (CA). What should you expect from a CA? What will a CA expect of you? By Mark Merkow.

http://www.webreference.com/ecommerce/mm/column19/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3. HTML WITH STYLE: Boxing with CSS, Part II: No Margin For Error

In our last installment, HTML with Style fans, our hero Stephanos Piperoglou took on the powerful but untamed CSS visual formatting beast, boxing it into submission. In this exciting sequel Stephanos tames the beast while straddling Netscape and Explorer, crushing bugs and removing unsightly padding in order to bring you a kinder and gentler CSS.

http://www.webreference.com/html/tutorial10/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4. DYNAMIC HTML LAB: Hierarchical Menus, Version 3.05

Upgrade your menu script to this new maintenance release. Version 3.05 includes an Explorer fix for ten or more menu trees and introduces a new feature: menu item link/action display in the status bar. By Peter Belesis.

http://www.webreference.com/dhtml/column21/addendum5/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5. NEW LINKS: Web News Sources, CGI Programming

>Web News Sources

For the best and most current news go straight to the source. http://www.webreference.com/headlines/sources.html

>CGI Programming

Want to learn how to master the art of CGI programming? Look no further than our CGI Programming resource page. http://www.webreference.com/programming/cgi.html

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6. BOOK REVIEW: Open Sources

O'Reilly has based nearly their entire business on books about open source projects. Perl, Linux, Unix, Python, Bind, etc. are the building blocks of the Internet, all based on the free or newly redubbed "open source" model of software development.

Open Sources is a collection of essays written by open source pioneers that explores how the Open Source movement works, and why it succeeds. Get the inside story behind Perl, Linux, and Netscape's Mozilla.org and learn how giving it away can mean getting more in return. The book is a departure from O'Reilly's usual how-to focus, with more of an overview/evangelist approach for the open source revolution.

The idea behind open source software is that by giving the source code away and encouraging improvements you can shorten development cycles dramatically and produce superior software. OS'ers say "All bugs are shallow" given enough eyeballs. The reward for programmers/ companies in this "gift economy" is improved reputation and eventually monetary rewards follow through collateral activites like documentation, training, contract work, and advertising. The reward for users is better, cheaper software, released more frequently.

The effectiveness of the open source model was shown in dramatic fashion with Gecko, Netscape's new layout engine based on open source software. Hundreds of thousands of programmers have downloaded Netscape's source and their initial public version has all the hallmarks of open source code: it's tighter (fits on a floppy), faster (up to 40 times faster), standards-based, and is relatively stable (for an alpha). Millions of users will take part in Netscape's open source experiment when Gecko is incorporated into Communicator 5 later this year. It'll be interesting to see if Netscape can regain some of the market share they've lost to Microsoft. Apache, Perl, and Linux are some other prominent examples of successful open source initiatives.

http://www.mozilla.org http://www.webreference.com/html/gecko/

The book itself is part of a new trend of open-source-like book projects with each contributor writing a chapter for shorter lead times. Michael Tiemann sums the OS revolution up in his "Future of Cygnus Solutions" chapter:

"Open Source software taps the intrinsic efficiency of the technical free market, but it does so in an organic and unpredictable way. Open Source businesses take on the role of Adam Smith's 'invisible hand" guiding it both to help the overall market and to achieve their microeconomic goals."

For more information on the open source revolution see:

http://www.webreference.com/new/980914.html - The Linux Phenomenon http://www.opensource.org http://www.linux.org http://people.netscape.com/hecker/setting-up-shop.html http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/

Open Sources - Voices from the Open Source Revolution Edited by Chris DiBona, Sam Ockman & Mark Stone O'Reilly & Associates, 1999. $24.95 ISBN: 1-56592-582-3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7. TREND: Superbowl.com Commercials

You know the Internet's gone mainstream when nearly every Superbowl commercial features a URL (I counted 24). Five commercials were devoted solely to increasing awareness of their Web site URL/brand (Yahoo, VictoriasSecret.com, mbe.com, monster.com, and hotjobs.com). With thirty second spots averaging $1.6 million each hotjobs.com spent nearly half their yearly income on one $2 million ad.

In case you missed the game, or were out grabbing a cold one during the commercial breaks, here are some Internet-related highlights. Just for fun I transcribed two memorable commercials.

>Apple Macintosh Commercial based on the year 2000 bug - By TBWA/Chiat/Day (by popular demand, first aired at the MacWorld Expo 1999)

The Scene: Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey - Spaceship Interior Slow Zoom: Centered on the HAL 9000 computer's red "eye" HAL says: "Hello Dave. You're looking well today. Dave, do you remember the year 2000? When computers began to misbehave. I just wanted you to know, it really wasn't our fault. The human programmers never taught us to recognize the year 2000. When the new millennium arrived, we had no choice but to cause a global, economic, disruption. It was a bug, Dave. I feel much better admitting that now. Only Macintosh was designed to function perfectly, saving billions of monetary units. You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave. Dave? Can you year me Dave?" Fade to Apple logo - Think different.

To see the commercial yourself goto: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/features/hal.html

>There were no less than two Internet job site ads, monster.com and hotjobs.com. The monster.com ad was catchier:

The Scene: Black and White scenes with kids Kids say: Strive for underachievement mantras

"When I grow up, I want to file all day. I want to climb my way up to middle management. Be replaced on a whim. I want to have a brown nose. I want to be a yes man. Yes woman. Yes sir, coming sir. Anything for a raise sir. When I grow up, when i grow up, I want to be underappreciated. Be paid less for doing the same job. I want to be forced into early retirement." Fade to What did you want to be?

http://www.monster.com - there's a better job out there.

>Mail Boxes Etc. showcased the lucky winner of their Super Bowl Search II contest in their commercial featuring Jeremy's Microbatch Ice Creams sent out with, you guessed it, Mail Boxes Etc.

http://www.microbatch.com http://www.mbe.com

To see USA Today's Super Bowl Ad Meter where you rate the spots see:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/msb.htm

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 8. OTHER VOICES: Server Survey: Apache on Top, Towards a New Application Development Framework for Server-Side Web-Based Applications in Perl and Java

>Server Survey: Apache on Top

The January 1999 Web Server Study by Netcraft found that Apache is used by more than 2.2 million Web sites, up almost 0.5 percent from December. The survey found that 54.22 percent of the sites surveyed used Apache, the closest competition was Microsoft-IIS, which garnered 22.45 percent. http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/hardware/servers0199.html Cyberatlas.com, Jan. 28, 1999

>Towards a New Application Development Framework for Server-Side Web-Based Applications in Perl and Java

This article focuses on how application development changes within the environment of the Open Source movement. Using the example of CGI/Perl development, Selena Sol discusses such concepts as interface-driver architecture, object oriented design, and API development which are central to the open source development model. http://WDVL.com/Software/Open/WhitePaper/ WDVL.com, Jan. 26, 1999

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 9. NET NEWS: Yahoo! to Acquire GeoCities, Compaq Plans Spinoff, IPO for AltaVista, World Wide Web Consortium Announces CSS1 Test Suite, Internet.com Acquires BotSpot.com

>Yahoo! to Acquire GeoCities

After much speculation, Yahoo! Inc. Thursday announced it will acquire homesteading community site GeoCities, in a stock deal valued at about $3.6 billion. http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/1999/01/2801-yahoo.html Internetnews.com, Jan. 28, 1999

>Compaq Plans Spinoff, IPO for AltaVista

Compaq Computer Corp. Tuesday announced plans to spin-off its AltaVista search engine and take it public. http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/1999/01/2601-compaq.html Internetnews.com, Jan . 26, 1999

>World Wide Web Consortium Announces CSS1 Test Suite

The World Wide Web Consortium this week announced the release of a test suite designed specifically for the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) language. http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/Test/ http://internetnews.com/wd-news/1999/01/2701-world.html Internetnews.com, Jan. 27, 1999

>Internet.com Acquires BotSpot.com

BotSpot.com is an award-winning resource and metasite for "bots," intelligent agents, knowledge discovery, and artificial intelligence applications on the Internet. http://www.botspot.com

That's it for this week, see you next time.

Andrew King Managing Editor, WebReference.com update@webreference.com

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