Best of
Web

2007

High Performance Web Sites


Steve Souders - 2007
    Author Steve Souders, in his job as Chief Performance Yahoo!, collected these best practices while optimizing some of the most-visited pages on the Web. Even sites that had already been highly optimized, such as Yahoo! Search and the Yahoo! Front Page, were able to benefit from these surprisingly simple performance guidelines.The rules in High Performance Web Sites explain how you can optimize the performance of the Ajax, CSS, JavaScript, Flash, and images that you've already built into your site -- adjustments that are critical for any rich web application. Other sources of information pay a lot of attention to tuning web servers, databases, and hardware, but the bulk of display time is taken up on the browser side and by the communication between server and browser. High Performance Web Sites covers every aspect of that process.Each performance rule is supported by specific examples, and code snippets are available on the book's companion web site. The rules include how to: Make Fewer HTTP RequestsUse a Content Delivery NetworkAdd an Expires HeaderGzip ComponentsPut Stylesheets at the TopPut Scripts at the BottomAvoid CSS ExpressionsMake JavaScript and CSS ExternalReduce DNS LookupsMinify JavaScriptAvoid RedirectsRemove Duplicates ScriptsConfigure ETagsMake Ajax CacheableIf you're building pages for high traffic destinations and want to optimize the experience of users visiting your site, this book is indispensable.If everyone would implement just 20% of Steve's guidelines, the Web would be adramatically better place. Between this book and Steve's YSlow extension, there's reallyno excuse for having a sluggish web site anymore.-Joe Hewitt, Developer of Firebug debugger and Mozilla's DOM InspectorSteve Souders has done a fantastic job of distilling a massive, semi-arcane art down to a set of concise, actionable, pragmatic engineering steps that will change the world of web performance.-Eric Lawrence, Developer of the Fiddler Web Debugger, Microsoft Corporation

Professional Plone Development


Martin Aspeli - 2007
    It covers setting up a development environment, customizing Plone's look and feel, creating new content types and forms, connecting to external databases, managing users and groups intelligently, configuring a production-ready server, LDAP authentication, and caching. Aimed at developers wanting to leverage the proven user interface and flexible infrastructure of this open-source Content Management System, it takes a pragmatic approach, building a realistic example application whose code is included with the book. Built on the Zope application server and written in Python, Plone makes it easy for content authors to create and edit web content, and is also used by developers as a framework to build content-centric web applications like dynamic websites and intranets. Readers need familiarity with Python and basic web technologies such as HTML and CSS, and would also benefit from prior Zope/ Plone experience.

Pro JavaScript Design Patterns


Ross Harmes - 2007
    But there is more power waiting to be unlockedJavaScript is capable of full objectoriented capabilities, and by applyingobject-oriented principles, best practices, and design patterns to your code, you can make it more powerful, more efficient, and easier to work with alone or as part of a team.With Pro JavaScript Design Patterns, you'll start with the basics of objectoriented programming in JavaScript applicable to design patterns, including making JavaScript more expressive, inheritance, encapsulation, information hiding, and more. With that covered, you can kickstart your JavaScript development in the second part of the book, where you'll find detail on how to implement and take advantage of several design patterns in JavaScript, including composites, decorators, facades, adapters, and many more.Each chapter is packed with realworld examples of how the design patterns are best used and expert advice on writing better code, as well as what to watch out for. Along the way you'll discover how to create your own libraries and APIs for even more efficient coding.Master the basics of objectoriented programming in JavaScript, as they apply to design patterns Apply design patterns to your kickstart your JavaScript development Work through several realworld examples What you'll learn How to apply objectoriented programming techniques in JavaScript How to take advantage of inheritance, interfaces, and encapsulation and information hiding to kickstart your JavaScript development How to implement several design patterns in your JavaScript projects, including factory, facade, bridge, composite, adapter, decorator, flyweight, proxy, command, observer, and chain of responsibility How to make your code easier to manage in a team environment, as well as on your own How to create your own libraries and APIs Who this book is forThis book will be an invaluable learning tool for any experienced JavaScript developer. Table of Contents Expressive JavaScript Interfaces Encapsulation and Information Hiding Inheritance The Singleton Pattern Chaining The Factory Pattern The Bridge Pattern The Composite Pattern The Facade Pattern The Adapter Pattern The Decorator Pattern The Flyweight Pattern The Proxy Pattern The Observer Pattern The Command Pattern The Chain of Responsibility Pattern

Team-Based Learning for Health Professions Education: A Guide to Using Small Groups for Improving Learning


Larry K. Michaelsen - 2007
    Billings, Indiana University School of NursingEducation in the health professions is placing greater emphasis on "active" learning--learning that requires applying knowledge to authentic problems; and that teaches students to engage in the kind of collaboration that is expected in today's clinical practice. Team-Based Learning (TBL) is a strategy that accomplishes these goals. This book is an introduction to TBL for health profession educators. It outlines the theory, structure, and process of TBL, explains how TBL promotes problem solving and critical thinking skills, aligns with the goals of science and health courses, improves knowledge retention and application, and develops students as professional practitioners. The book provides readers with models and guidance on everything they need to know about team formation and maintenance; peer feedback and evaluation processes, and facilitation. The book includes chapters where instructors describe how they apply TBL in their courses. The examples range across undergraduate science courses, basic and clinical sciences courses in medical, sports medicine and nursing education, residencies, and graduate nursing programs. The book concludes with a review and critique of the current scholarship on TBL in the health professions, and charts the needs for future research.

An Introduction to HTML and JavaScript for Scientists and Engineers


David R. Brooks - 2007
    This book presents HTML and JavaScript in a way that uniquely meets the needs of students in both engineering and the sciences. The author shows how to create simple client-side applications for scientific and engineering calculations. Complete HTML/JavaScript examples with science/engineering applications are used throughout to guide the reader comprehensively through the subject. The book gives the reader a sufficient understanding of HTML and JavaScript to write their online applications. This book emphasises basic programming principles in a modern Web-oriented environment, making it suitable for an introductory programming course for non-computer science majors. It is also ideal for self-study.

Textpattern Solutions: Php-Based Content Management Made Easy


Kevin Potts - 2007
    It is very popular among designers and developers alike, and has an active community of users. Sound good? Well, you're in luck--this book shows you how to use every aspect of Textpattern to a professional standard.Textpattern (and this book) appeals to two main groups of people:Firstly, the web designer who has mastered the fundamentals of XHTML and CSS and wants to create sites that have fresh and dynamically changing information, but is not familiar with server-side coding and databases. Never fear--Textpattern enables you to integrate your XHTML knowledge, inserting dynamic aspects into your already solid site design.Secondly, PHP developers who are looking for a content management system upon which to build additional functionality and want a hand with the design aspects of their site. Again, Textpattern fills in those holes.The book leaves no stone unturned. It starts by introducing you to Textpattern and guiding you through its very simple installation process. After the core features of the administrative interface are explored, the book dives into building sites with TXP, using CSS, articles, forms, pages, and more to create fully customized templates.Development follows next, looking at installing plugins and building your own custom plugins to further enhance your Textpattern-based site. The book concludes with several case studies to provide ideas and inspiration, including a weblog, an e-commerce site, and an online review directory.

How to Do Everything with Web 2.0 Mashups


Jesse Feiler - 2007
    How to Do Everything with Web 2.0 Mashups shows you how to remix the best of Google, Amazon, Flickr, and eBay to create customized applications. You'll learn to use essential Web 2.0 technologies--including XML, JavaScript, XHTML, and REST--and seamlessly integrate them into your own innovative mashups.Build dynamic mashups using XML and JavaScriptUse MySQL with PHP to retrieve data from databasesReceive data via RSS and AtomLearn to use XMLHttpRequest, XML-RPC, REST, and JSONStructure your mashup pages using XHTMLIncorporate Google searching and mapping technologiesIntegrate Amazon Web ServicesInclude Flickr photos in your mashupsTap into eBay tools and map the locations of eBay sellersSuccessfully manage multiple technologies in your mashups

Getting Noticed on Google in easy steps


Ben Norman - 2007
    Those sites that reside at the top of any given search result are far more likely to experience heavy traffic. Now, this easy-to-use guide helps those who want their web content to stand out from the millions of sites available. Appropriate for all skill levels, Getting Noticed on Google in Easy StepsĀ helps website programmers alter their content to achieve higher prominence on the search engine. By indicating popular keywords, niche markets, and helpingĀ readers outsmart the competition, this book is a valuable resource for those looking to make their websites more visible and effective.

A Constant Suicide


Brian Krans - 2007
    Sin. Suicide. Blame. College isn't all kegs and eggs. Like many men before him, Chris wants to shed his high school life of obedience and order the second he steps foot on his new college campus. He craves something different, but he knows he won't find it on his own. Ethan takes Chris under his wing, sharing basement revelry traditions and introducing him to campus terrorism. A pond full of innocent fish are among their many victims. Everything is fine until Ethan puts a gun in his mouth sophomore year. Chris has to find out why the envy of so many chose suicide as his way out. He won't like the answers. Part-memoir, part-fiction, this portrayal of the underside of campus life intertwines sarcasm and skepticism to define a culture seeking the never-ending party.Since its publication in 2007, A Constant Suicide has gained a cult following of young readers who, much like the book's characters, feel a bit lost as they search for something better. As many readers have said, "This is exactly what college is like."

Digital Korea: Convergence of Broadband Internet, 3g Cell Phones, Multiplayer Gaming, Digital TV, Virtual Reality, Electronic Cash, Telematics, Robotics, E-Government and the Intelligent Home


Tomi T. Ahonen - 2007
    Much of what we see in South Korea today sounds like science fiction - but forms the solid reality of life in South Korea today. Thus, it is a great source of ideas and insights which we can learn from. The book discusses a country where every household internet connection has already been upgraded to broadband; where 100 mbit/s speeds are already sold and gigabit speeds already coming; where every phone sold is a cameraphone; where three out of every four mobile subscriptions is a 3G connection; where cars and PCs and mobile phones now ship with in-built digital TVs; where 42% of the population maintain a blogsite and four out of ten have created an avatar of themselves; where over half of the population pay with cellphones and 25% of the total South Korean population have participated inside a multiplayer online game, in fact inside the same multiplayer online game. The stories from South Korea are each more amazing than the last. 50,000 citizen journalists write the national Ohmy News newspaper. While Second Life fascinates western media for its 2 million users, South Korean Cyworld has 20 million users. While we tend to view the 8 million active users of the World of Warcraft as a milestone in massively multiplayer online games, South Korean Lineage already has 14 million active gamers. And perhaps most telling of all - the South Korean government is convinced every Korean home will have a household robot within ten years. Household robots? Not just cleaning our homes and providing security, but reading bedtime stories to our kids and helping them with their homework too. Digital Korea includes chapters on all these issues and more with the state-of-the-art latest products and services described in detail. This is one of the first attempts to understand the current state of digital convergence, ubiquitous computing and the information society that is South Korea. The book is called simply 'Digital Korea', but its subtitle is long as the stories in the book are so wide-reaching: Convergences of broadband internet, 3G cellphones, multiplayer gaming, digital TV, virtual reality, electronic cash, telematics, robotics, e-government and the intelligent home. The research for the book took a long time as so many different fields had to be covered. But the resulting book is now the most up-to-date view of that exact point where science fiction meets science fact. What happens when virtual reality meet the real world, with wireless reach and broadband speed? The book is packed with statistics and case studies and Tomi's famous "Pearls." As an interesting method, they have also often placed two rival statistics side-by-side, such as "In 2006 in USA 10% of music sales was digital" accourding to IFPI, and next to it on the opposing page "in 2006 in South Korea 57% of music sales was digital" also according to IFPI. This kind of comparisons help illustrate just how much of a lead South Korea has been able to pull.

Web Index (Pattern & Design Collection)


Pepin Press - 2007
    Furthermore, it is clear that web design is reaching its maturity: whereas in the past many designers were hesitant to make the change from print to web, many designers now primarily work in web design. The results of these developments can be seen in this year's edition of our best-selling WEB DESIGN INDEX: as ever, the most accurate overview of the state of the art in web design.