Designing Your Site for Web 2.0

Have you heard it? There’s a buzz like never before on the Internet. Everyone is talking about Web 2.0. If you’re like many people, you may think it’s a marketing gimmick and quite an overused statement. If so, you would be at least partially right.

Fortunately, there’s another side to the story. Underneath all of the chatter is a concept that is even more powerful than the hype that surrounds it.

The concept of Web 2.0 started as a conference brainstorming session between O’Reilly and MediaLive International. During their discussion, they analyzed the companies that had survived the dot-com collapse. Interestingly enough, many of these companies had quite a few things in common. Was there a connection? Was the dot-com crash a turning point for the web? O’Reilly and MediaLive believed so. And therefore, Web 2.0 was born.

So, what is it?

Wikipedia defines Web 2.0 as:

“The term Web 2.0 refers to a second generation of services available on the World Wide Web that lets people collaborate and share information online. In contrast to the first generation, Web 2.0 gives users an experience closer to desktop applications than the traditional static Web pages. Web 2.0 applications often use a combination of techniques devised in the late 1990s, including public web service APIs (dating from 1998), Ajax (1998), and web syndication (1997). They often allow for mass publishing (web-based social software). The concept may include
blogs and wikis.”

There is no official standard for what makes something “Web 2.0″, but there are certainly a few common attributes
that often describe this new culture of transformation.

You can see many of these concepts in sites like Flickr, del.icious, Wikipedia, Amazon reviews, and the eBay reputation system.

Web 2.0 is built on a system of collective knowledge. It provides a social fabric for the Web, empowering the individual and giving them an outlet for their voice to be heard.

However, we have only seen a small glimpse of the effects of these new transitions. Del.icio.us and Digg are just the beginning of what will soon become a much more interactive Web.

Each day there are a variety of new online applications being released: online spreadsheets, online word processing, to-do lists, reminder services, and personal start pages.

In addition, many of the changes that are evident in the world of Web 2.0 can be seen through common design practices. Old-school HTML was full of boxes and square tables. Today’s web designers are rapidly moving away from boxy designs to flexible curves. When designing for today’s Internet, it’s all about rounded designs, nice big text, gradients, glassy effects, and bright colors.

Rounded Corners:

Let’s face it. The days of good ‘ol tables and square boxes are good and gone. The Web 2.0 era has ushered in the pleasing sight of rounded corners.

Unfortunately, many web masters have spent unending hours trying to obtain perfectly rounded corners. Their pain and suffering has led to a number of tutorials that will help us bypass the grief.

Below are some links to tutorials that will get you started creating your very own rounded corners:

Nice Big Text:

Have you ever been to a web site where you could barely read the text? Well, join the club. Fortunately, times have taken a turn for the better. With Web 2.0, oversized fonts have come into style. You can start using plenty of oversized text to make important messages stand out. Of course, you don’t want all of the text on your web site to be supersized, but make sure that the most important text on the page is bigger than normal text.

Gradients:

Gradients are another popular design element of Web 2.0. This is especially true of backgrounds. A common background used today has a gradient at the top, fading down to some other color that continues throughout the background for the rest of the page.

For a complete tutorial on how to create this type of effect, go to http://www.photoshoplab.com/web20-design-kit.html.

Colors:

Web 2.0 sites are strongly defined by their colors. They nearly always use bright and cheery colors - lots of blue, orange, and lime green.

They also often include large, colorful icons, sometimes with reflections and drop shadows. To see some samples of how web sites are effectively using bright colors, check out:

http://www.9rules.com/
http://www.iconbuffet.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/

Other common design characteristics include the use of tabs, reflections, glassy effects, large buttons, and big text boxes for submission forms.

Sites that are embracing Web 2.0 can also often be identified by their tag clouds. If you have traveled the web much in the last 6 months, then you have surely seen tag clouds. They are used prominently on del.icio.us, Technorati, and Flickr. A tag cloud is basically a visual depiction of the content on a website. Often times, more popular tags are shown in a larger font.

Why not add a tag cloud to your own site? Not only do they look cool, but they also provide your visitor with a search tool that helps them to find your content quickly and easily.

You can create your own tag cloud with a very simple service called Eurekster Swicki. This is a community-based search engine that creates free tag clouds for web sites.

Although we have discussed many of the design elements associated with Web 2.0, this change is much more than just an aesthetic transition. Web 2.0 is essentially about a transition in the way we experience the Internet. The new Ajax programming base allows web masters to create an architecture of participation for their users. Web 2.0 refers to the ongoing transition to full participation on the Web.

Your web site can be so much more than an information resource. Your web presence is a place. With the proper programming skills, you can create a virtual world complete with an online shopping mall that compares prices from a variety of merchants, looks for potential coupons, and displays Amazon reviews.

View Effectively any kind of Documents at High Speed in Ajax

Boost and maximize your SharePoint experience & investment with a fully combined document and file viewer. Adeptol Viewer for SharePoint is a high end faster document viewer allowing you to view, interpret, redact and safeguard documents right within SharePoint. No additional software installs are needed on Server and nothing goes on client side either. There are no requirements for an ActiveX or controls or plugins on client side.

View effectively any kind of documents at high speed with no controls to download. Adeptol Viewer supports Microsoft Office, Open Office, TIFFs, PDFs, PNG, JPEG, PSD, DICOM and several other image formats. The built in buffering and memory management modules allow faster document viewing experience for users with a streaming of document while loading larger documents.

AutoCAD Viewer can work independently as a viewer for AutoCAD, TIFF & PDF Files or can be added on to Professional Edition or Enterprise Edition to work with hundreds of other files types.

AutoCAD Software can help you design and draw the world around you with powerful 2D and 3D CAD tools. But sharing these files online with others or keeping control over these files, is always a big issue, Adeptol AutoCAD viewer lets you view the AutoCAD files in high fidelity and faster rates, with no software required to be downloaded at client side. What’s best is user’s can view these files, and you can specify permissions using an easy to use API to switch off Printing or Saving of files, thus still keeping control over the information. You can not only render the document as view only document, but also control printing, navigation, pan control and even saving of document. None of the permissions are stored in the document itself, keeping your original document as it is, thus complying you with legal restrictions and compliance regulations.

Adeptol Viewer’s Information Right’s Management module allows you to specify permissions using an easy to use API. It helps not only to protect the sensitive information from being printed by end users but also restricts the users from saving the documents itself. By adding an IRM control on the document you can not only render the document as view only document, but also control printing, navigation, pan control and even saving of document.

Special feature of Adeptol Technology is that of their DICOM Viewer which helps us to view the Dicom files. Adeptol’s dicom viewer has got few of the advanced features which are absent among the other industry players. Adeptol Dicom Viewer is a DICOM viewer which is dedicated to radiologists or people working with DICOM files. With it’s Ultrafast performance and intuitive interactive user interface, it has become the ideal choice for users across the world.

Search for documents within SharePoint and view them directly in the Viewer. The integration comes out of box and can be used as a webpart or as a part of any 3rd party search module or default MOSS search. You can simply do a quick document preview or full document viewing directly from within the results.

Annotation Services works with Document Viewer and allows easy review, commenting, annotation and markup capabilities right within the viewer. With Annotation Services modules help streamline the document review & approval process and reduce decision making time with increased collaboration for your users. You can annotate, markup & collaborate on more than 200 document types right within SharePoint.

You can deploy with your products in minutes, optimizing the value of IT resources and getting end users productive faster. Instantly apply updates at any time and save money and time spent on testing, provisioning, managing and supporting traditional & native viewing software’s.

You can Securely Deliver Your Documents maintain control over documents and intellectual property by keeping them secure using the built-in Information Rights Management. Personalize your viewer, enable or disable various options using the simple API without jeopardizing the security policies of your application.

AJAXDocumentViewer Provide a Universal Viewing Solution with Server Based Viewer - Professional Edition. Professional Edition Viewer is a light weight flash control which enables your application to display and interact with different files. It is identical to any reader program, but adds high speed viewing of documents to your applications easily. It also acts as a document container for embedding Office documents (including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Project, and Microsoft Visio documents) in a custom form or Web page. The viewer is lightweight and flexible, and gives developers new possibilities for using Office or other native format documents in a custom solution.

Web Development: Giving New Heights to Internet

The development field has seen the inception and widespread usage of various technologies like AJAX, LAMP, XML, CSS, and DHTML etc.

It was HTML and only HTMl that was burdened with satiating the technical demands of creating websites in the early days of internet. But over the time with the larger dependency of the market on Internet driven services have led to a whole new field in guise of web development.

It is not about static websites; you can find everything on Internet that includes dynamic websites, community portals, e-commerce sites, content management system, Online shopping carts, social communities, blog sites and many more. You can avail any and every service through the relevant sites on Internet. So, whether it is ordering a pizza or transferring money or booking tickets, you perform daily chores just with the click of mouse. And this is all because of the consistent efforts undertaken by the web development.

You can track the progression of the field of web development starting from HTML which incorporated CSS (Cascading Style Sheet). This has been followed by the refined and robust technologies like AJAX, LAMP, DHTML, XML, JOOMLA, DRUPAL etc.
AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript with XML) has enabled the transfer of data and its management in a flawless fashion and simultaneously creating and operating on web pages. LAMP is an amalgam of Linux, Apache and My Sql which makes your web site dynamic in nature and also provides the site with the functionality of managing and creating database.

XML (the upgraded version of extensive markup language) is akin to CSS in ways that it separates contents from the layouts. However, it can be implemented in any environment and applications. DHTML is JavaScript adhered with HTML/XHTML is another package that helps websites that are similar in development to AJAX but this is more complicated in design. It is widely used in the design of sites which necessitate user interfaces.

Affordable Web development aims to ease the way we carry our routine business and this is why the field in itself is quite dynamic in nature. Every passing day you can see the subtle differences in the way world goes about business.

Remote Programmer – The Quality Web Developer India

Remote Programmer is a quality web development company from India. Remote Programmer is specialized in PHP, MySQL, AJAX, .NET, SQL Server. Remote Programmer has been providing web based solutions since 2000 in different database oriented web technologies. It is also important to mention we maintain the required grammar/steps of web-software development to help the future maintenance/up gradation easy and manageable.

Architecture based: clear separation of application, business and display logic ;
Organized, convention maintained, non-redundant coding ;
Proper SDLC maintained ;
Easy future module addition ;
100% SEO friendly development ;
Integrated CMS & SEO module;

Remote Programmer Services:

Web application development
Basic website solutions
Corporate solutions
CMS solutions
E-commerce solutions
Ready web stores
Custom development
Ready to use web applications
Solutions using free softwares
Os-Commerce projects
.NET Nuke projects
Web business consultancy
Website re-engineering

Major achievement:
Changed sales figure from £4K to £24K per month with our 4 years effort of development, re-engineering, SEO, affiliate etc for a large legal website operating in multiple countries.

Since 2000, Remote Programmer has delivered quality, customized websites and web solutions (PHP/AJAX/MYSQL, PHP/MYSQL, .NET/SQLSERVER) to clients across the world.

Hire PHP Developer - Features:

At least 8 hours a day, 5 days a week of development work.
Favorable development environment.
Timely communication.
Reporting as per your need.
Simplistic coding.
Documents written in English.
Strict timing.
International level infrastructure.

PHP, AJAX, MySQL programming:

AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), or Ajax, is a group of inter-related web development techniques used for creating interactive web applications. A primary characteristic is the increased responsiveness and interactivity of web pages achieved by exchanging small amounts of data with the server “behind the scenes” so that the entire web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user performs an action.

Remote Programmer has developed and delivered many dynamic web applications using AJAX technology to its offshore clients..

Php-AJAX developers of Remote Programmer has great experience and proficiency in AJAX programming and deliver any level of customization in AJAX as per client’s requirements.

Php-AJAX programmers of Remote Programmer can also develop Rich Internet Applications and web 2.0 based applications in order to make your website more efficient, faster and user friendly.

Ajax technology introduction

Ajax (asynchronous JavaScript and XML) technology is being increasingly popular in website design. Using ajax technology you can submit form data to the server without refreshing the document. Suppose you are filling an online registration form. You write your user name, email address, address etc. and submit that form. At the server end server detects that the user name has already been taken by another user. So it will generate an error message and request you to choose different user name. Now you have to fill the entire form again unless the server brings your data back to you through query string. Moreover it is not very safe to send your personal information through query string. In such case data submit by ajax technology is the best solution. Another useful feature of ajax technology is that you can send custom data (like user IP) which is not in the form field. Like conventional data submission ajax data submit also of two types, GET and POST. There relative merits demerits are same as conventional data submission.

How data is submitted using ajax:
1. When user submits data by pressing submit button or by clicking submit link a JavaScript function is called.
2. This function establishes connection with the server by XML HTTP REQUEST object. When connection is established data from the form fields are transmitted to the server.
3. Whenever the server response is received another JavaScript function is fired. This function is then takes the necessary steps according to the response text from the server end.

Ajax Advantages and disadvantages:
1. As whole page is not reloaded ajax submission is faster than conventional form submission process.
2. It is more users friendly.
3. Use of ajax technology is not limited to form data submission. It is widely used in dynamic menu design; collecting data for web stat analysis, or even reload the entire page dynamically.
4. Some users disabled JavaScript of their browser. In such cases ajax fails to work.
5. As data are dynamically loaded web history is not available, i.e. you can’t reload page by using back button of your browser.

Web Based AJAX Document Viewer

Now you can set up and install AJAX Document Viewer on your server. You keep control of your documents. You control who accesses, shares or views your documents.

Here are some of the key features:
No need for installation of MS Office or Adobe Software
All reading, access and conversion of documents is done within the server resulting in no need for licenses for Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat or other softwares.

Not a Virtual Printer Based Converter
AJAX Document Viewer is not a virtual printer based server unlike other online document viewer software, which means no installation of a virtual printer on the server. A virtual printer based converter needs to spool the documents and queue all the documents for conversion resulting in a single document conversion at a time. AJAX Document Viewer is based on Multiple Tenancy Concept resulting in faster conversion rates and performance as multiple users can access the server at the same time and get various documents converted simultaneously.

Faster Conversion
AJAX Document Viewer is based on a Multiple Tenancy Concept and hence is significantly faster than other web based document viewer products with similar functions.

Conversion of documents to PDF
Documents can not only be converted to SWF but also to PDF, this offering your users not only the ability to view the documents in a web based environment but also to download the documents in PDF form.

Easy System Integration
AJAX Document Viewer Server provides easy system integration with web applications, content management systems, and other software. Integrate the server directly with your application and call Java Code directly from within your code. Easily embed your documents in web pages and publish them on the Internet.

Ajax - What Is It and How It Works

Ajax stands for Asyncronous Java Script and XML and is known for making web applications function as fast (or faster) than desktop applications. Let’s talk about what a typical web application looks like. For instance, a Google search:

* you enter some text in the search box.
* you then click the search button.
* the page is refreshed and you get results backs.
* this entire process could take a few seconds to minutes depending on how much data you’ve requested, the load on the webserver, your internet connection and so on.
* in short, it is a pretty quick process, but it can be quicker…

So how can AJAX improve something like a Google search. Using the previous example above:

* you enter the same text into the search box, however now your results are returned instantly as you’re typing!

That’s the power of AJAX, instant data is returned without having to click submit and waiting for the screen to refresh. So, that’s the end result of an AJAX enabled website, instant data is returned based on the letters you are typing (as in our AJAX Google search example).

Technically speaking, this is how AJAX is working in the background:

1. A webpage executes some Java Script that can grab data from a web server as it’s needed.
2. If more data is needed Java Script invokes an object called XMLHttpRequest. This object transparently and instantly retrieves data then presents it without having to refresh the browser.
3. The data that’s returned is usually XML. This XML can easily be formatted using HTML and CSS.

Keep in mind that those 3 steps above happen instantly! If you want a real world example of AJAX in action just start to do a Google search. Those results that drop down as you’re typing are the results of Ajax!

A Brief about Ajax Application Development

Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, commonly known as Ajax is a web development tool that is used to create interactive web applications. It is mainly an amalgamation of several technologies, each having specialties of its own and becoming more powerful when integrated together. Ajax includes XTML and CSS for standard based presentation, Document Object Model for dynamic display and interaction, XML and XSLT for data interchange and manipulation, XML Http Request for asynchronous data retrieval and JavaScript for holding everything together. While exchanging data with the web server, it uses client side scripting which enables independent communication with the server. Ajax application development is gaining popularity day by day as it is supported by most of the browsers.

In the classic web application model, a user has to wait every time an Http request is sent to the server for processing an HTML web page to the client. In the Ajax application model, an Ajax engine is introduced between the user and the server which eliminates the need of waiting for the server’s response. The engine is loaded every time by the browser whenever a session is initiated. It allows asynchronous communication between the user and the application. As a result the speed, interactivity and usability of the web pages are greatly increased. Using Ajax, the user fetches small chunks of data from the server behind the scene and not the complete set of information. Simple processes such as data validation, data editing memory are handled by the Ajax engine. If it needs help from the server, those requests are made asynchronously, using XML. From simple to complex, Ajax applications can be of any size. It is an important development that has been made in the world of web applications and its importance is growing every day.

There are many Ajax web development companies, lending their valuable services in integrating Ajax. It has been used by many big companies in the world of the web. Many products of Google like Gmail, Orkut and sophisticated Google maps are based on Ajax technology. Likewise, the Yahoo maps are also dependent on this technology.

Online Ajax Tutorials - A New Approach to Learning to Create a Benchmark

It is the next generation web programming through Ajax. Web programmers are grabbing this opportunity to move from what is usually the case of the standard or classical technology used for web pages and introduce a new way for the server, browser and webpage to work simultaneously through Ajax. Ajax stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML with the use of nonstandard XMLHttpRequest object to communicate with server-side scripts. It can send as well as receive information in a variety of formats, including XML, HTML, and even text files and with the least necessity of having to refresh. Ajax is of an “asynchronous” nature and creating a revolution online with Ajax tutorial as your support system. Just a PC with net can provide you knowledge that will prove worth while only when you are in need for a leading edge.

It is but quite a task to refer the right resource of Ajax tutorial available today to solve browser, user and various other problems that may occur. It is to know how Ajax is one of the better ways to use XMLHTTP. The next that comes with it is to learn about Ajax tutorial termed as Ajax in Action such as the programming used for Google Maps and Google Suggest where a particular search term when entered into the Google Suggest search engine opens a drop-down list of suggested search terms that updates as something is added to the search term. By using this new technology available through Ajax tutorials online, this list is continuously updated without the wait needed to reload your webpage. The benefit of programming with Ajax is new, more responsive web applications for your website and for this very reason Yahoo now uses Ajax in their Search Engine’s interface. This and more can now referred at the click of a button with Ajax tutorial with enormous knowledge waiting to enhance to better the technical knowledge that is required.

Knowing how to add Ajax in-progress indicators can serve fruitful. To get into a detailed study with Rasmus’ 30 second AJAX Tutorial, to make our knowledge go that extra mile by adding the spinning icon after “Get Results” link to indicate the result seeker to wait a while the search is refined and output is given are all relevant to Ajax tutorial. Ajax tutorial gives a lot of insight on Ajax wire framing approaches to introduce to their knowledge the concept of prototyping as a solution to the problem of representing Ajax at the early stages of designing an interface. The general strategies and attitudes should be considered important. The FAQ are worth following to add AJAX functionality to an application. Just a look at the category for Ajax tutorial and you have already made a head start in you r effort to gain the utmost out of the informative approach through e-learning.

Ajax Development Services- Know the Basics

The technology is advancing at a lightening fast pace and making way to more innovations which have made a difference in today’s world. One such revolution that has dramatically transformed the virtual web world is Asynchronous JavaScript and XML or AJAX. If you have heard a lot about this word and are curious to explore as to what sort of profit it will incur to your website, this is the right article for you to acquaint yourself with this technology. This application has made Google Maps, an instant hit with the users, thanks to its quick page loading which allowed the users to scroll down the maps very conveniently without waiting the page to get loaded. This has resulted in the increase of the AJAX development service waiting to cater to the needs of the website owners.

Ajax will give you a respite by allowing your webpage to load in fraction of a second, a very less time for those whose heavy websites take ages to upload. And this has been a phenomenal hit amongst the users. However, you must realise the Ajax services only gives parity to the users. There are websites like eBay and Amazon, which are minting money without the usage of Ajax application development and still going strong with each passing day. The benefit of this application is that it gives the users an extra level of advancement that makes it easier for all users to use and thus admire it. Big players like Yahoo Maps and MapQuests have also shifted to Ajax thus giving way to better navigated websites.

At the face value, Ajax may look a very user friendly application. However, you must be careful in implementing this into your website. The Ajax development companies may go gaga about the benefits of this application, but it has its own disadvantages. The application might make your website more confusing, forcing the visitors leave the website without exploring it. The Ajax would not use the back button feature as a user might expect. Also the bookmark feature also doesn’t work very well with this application.

So, the usage of Ajax application should be done under caution. If you are doubly sure about its pros and cons and convinced about its usage, only then you should use this application.

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