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The above was moderated Flamebait, and it was retarded, but I do agree with the poster about the lack of valuable information in O'Reilly books. Their books tend to be poorly organized, short on good examples (with good explanations), and long on the author's "expert" comments on the specific subject. At times I've had to set an O'Reily book down simply because I felt the author was trying to impress me with his knowledge instead of teach me the subject.

I've read several O'Reilly books about Java, HTML, DHTML, JS, CSS, etc. I have been impressed with none of them. Each one of them was a "definitive guide" (except the Java book; I believe it was a "nutshell" book), but ended up looking elsewhere for good learning resources. I ended up simply going to the internet to find good tutorials on web dev. I like echoecho.com for simple/beginner HTML. I liked the CSS spec for CSS, Ivor Horton's Beginning Java for Java. There are several good DHTML tutorials at the W3C website.

download the internet

Well, with the numbers, that 59% of web users are using Windows 98 or ME (58% of the hits to my work site), then it would be a good thing to have this ability.

No wonder Netscape/Mozilla can't get above 10%, they had a bug keeping them out of the corporate enviroment for over three years and it still doesn't work on the largest platform.

It's with this gripe that I moved to Safari at home and have to stick with IE at work. Mozilla can die, I've given up on it.

Frames are not completely obsolete. I run a site teaching web design and programming, and frames are required to post user entered code. Here is a differents site's (let them get sued). Frames are required to post the output of user produced code without potentially destroying the page is rests on. This would be bad news for us, as we could find no other alternative.

Other than this application, In my experince as a designer, I have never seen an instance where there is no alternative.

Hmmmm... looks like MSIE 5+ is still the only one that supports the XML data island stuff, which is truly sad. I want to play around w/ developing xml web apps more, but the browser support for it still seems to be Windows MSIE-only. It's funny, MS is derided all the time, but things like this still speak well of at least some of their stuff. IE 5 is like how old, & yet the XML parser which came with it is still AFAIK without peer. I'm frankly shocked that Moz isn't pursuing XML support as well as MS (of course, MS' reported bastardization of XML for Office 2003 documents does seem to bely that statement).

But Moz 1.3 does have better support for dhtml stuff like Netwindows.

majority? Are you sure?

ARGH!!! This is such bullshit, I get hired of hearing it. I am not an anti-Mac zealot (in fact, I used to use a Mac, and would consider buying one again if I weren't so disappointed with what Apple did to the macOS X interface), but it's so annoying to hear Mac fans claim that Macs have some large installed marketshare that no one recognizes.

First of all, Apple does not get 5% of all computer sales each year. It gets less than 5%. Secondly, were Macs staying in use longer than PCs, you'd expect Macs to show up as a larger percentage of web site hits. But they don't.

References:

CNet article on Mac market share in 2001
News Factor Network story about Mac market share in 2002
Business Week article about Mac market share

If you read these articles, you find that Mac market share is about 3%.

Now, what do the web stats say about Apple's market share?

Google's web stats
W3Schools web stats

These suggest the Mac has between 2-4% market share.

People need to stop fooling themselves. Just because the Mac has only 3% market share, doesn't mean you shouldn't use it. But stop pretending it has larger market share, when it doesn't!

I will not say that having broadband does not imply some wealth, but publishing webpages goes even when you have a 28.8kbps modem. I know, I did that back in the day. As for using Frontpage: how many people actually have bought Frontpage? Probably most people just use a pirated version, even "the whealty ones". You have no idea how many people actually think it is stupid to pay for software (I don't think that, but I know many people who think exactly that).

XHTML intro

CSS intro (you don't want to use XHTML without CSS)

Javascript

Good luck.

"....and giving HTML a fancier name for the new millenium isn't going to change it."

Please educate yourself.

Sited like that are everywhere because many web sites are made by people who care about such things, rather than fawning over browser-specific stuff.

While this seems to be a blatant troll, I will respond AC.

First point: IE usage is not at 95% as the following stats show (Not allowing for spoofed headers):

83.6% - http://www.cen.uiuc.edu/bstats/latest.html
85% - http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.a sp
69% - http://www.iexp.com/hitman/reports/agent.html

These sites chosen randomly from the following Google search:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Browser+Usage+Stati stics&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=30&sa= N

Second point: Market share determines standards
Quite possibly so. dictionary.com defines a standard as follows:
http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=standard
This definition would, generally, make IE a standard.
However, since the W3C Standards also meet the same definition, they comprise a competing standard. In the free market structure you imply, both are equally valid, though acknowledged in differing contexts. Many of us developers (while not all) acknowledge and use the W3C standard because of it's excellence. IE, however, is a standard through Market Share.

Avoiding the obvious ad-hominem attack, referring to an opponent's argument as 'horseshit' hardly makes the oppositional argument any more valid.

<RANT>
I personally am tired of the mud slinging, name calling arguments from BOTH sides, and would prefer to see more intelligent, well thought out points on the merits of both.
</RANT>

1. extend the user experience
2. improve control of content
3. make various browser imitations more alike.

1. extend the user experience
2. improve control of content
3. make various browser imitations more alike.

OK... go to this page on the font tage read "The font element was deprecated in HTML 4.01." and "The font element is not supported in XHTML 1.0 Strict DTD." This is the future of browsing. FONT will be going away, along with a lot of 'style' elements in future versions of HTML. xHTML is just the latest in the line of HTML specs; it is not being developed in parallel with HTML5, it is, essentially HTML 5.

Go to this site to learn how to use a href tags..

www.w3schools.com

After 389 post you should be able to create a clickable
link without comments

Or read this that explains how to create a link.

This type of "Humor" predates the BBS or on-line comunity.
In the publishing/authoring world often mistakes would be over typed with X and the correct word typed after or in the linespace.
This was later used to make quips and replace them with more politicaly correct text, while letting the reader still read the more apropriate word.
Of course, in HTML we have the good ol' strikethrough tag <del> (it used to be <strike> and its variant <s>, but they're deprecated in HTML 4.0). Not that it matters, since slashdot doesn't allow any of them in posts. Thus the use of ^H.
The strike tag was incorporated into the HTML spec very early on - specifically, it seems, for this purpose.

This type of "Humor" predates the BBS or on-line comunity.
In the publishing/authoring world often mistakes would be over typed with X and the correct word typed after or in the linespace.
This was later used to make quips and replace them with more politicaly correct text, while letting the reader still read the more apropriate word.
Of course, in HTML we have the good ol' strikethrough tag <del> (it used to be <strike> and its variant <s>, but they're deprecated in HTML 4.0). Not that it matters, since slashdot doesn't allow any of them in posts. Thus the use of ^H.
The strike tag was incorporated into the HTML spec very early on - specifically, it seems, for this purpose.

PHP: PHP.net

Comments: If you've got a programming background, this website is all you need. If you don't have a programming background, an introductory book and this website is all you need.

HTML, Javascript, DHTML, XML, DTD, etc.: W3Schools.com

Comments: Good introductions to a ton of topics on the left-hand side.

SQL: SQLCourse.com

Comments: The first place I ever pointed my students to for SQL and probably the perfect quick source for anything up until the level of stored procedures, transactions, etc., which vary depending on the DB implementation anyway.

C++/C/Java textbooks: ACCU.org

Comments: Lots of book reviews on a bunch of topics. To be honest, I still haven't seen a website that covers these three languages as well as good books do.

After all this, hone your google and google.groups skills and you should be able to solve any problem.

Your question is rather broad and lacks any specifics, but I get this feeling you're looking for information regarding web site programming, hence the "My intention is to ask about web sites this weekend". In that case:

Sitepoint
A fantastic web site dealing with everything from learning new programming languages to design ethics to search engine tips.

Cool Home Pages
Stuck? Out of ideas? Check out some other fantastic designs. "The only known cure for designers block"

PHP.net
Even though it's the languages official site, there is a wealth of information here. Every function is very well documented and you'll recieve a ton of information.

PHP Builder
Possibly the single best resource to ask your questions - but before you do that, search the forums. Chances are your question has already been asked and has a fantastic answer.

w3schools
Great resource for all things HTML, CSS and so much more. Remember CSS is your friend on the internet - print the quick reference!

And if you're looking to getting into some open source databasing:

MySQL
Once again, the developer of an open source project has a fabulous web site just rigged with useful information.

The site w3 has tones of information, including all objects and such for ADO, ASP (VBscript/Jscript) and what not. Even how to make SQL queries in case you forget :)

I should pay more attention....

-Peter

It seems to me that the web designers aren't the ones ignoring standards, but rather the web-browser designers (programmers).

According to this, the browser of choice is decidedly IE. The reasons behind these statistics are not relevant here in the least, so don't even go there. The fact is, most people use IE browsers, so naturally, most designers design with IE foremost in their mind.

If Netscape, Opera, Mozzila, etc. manage to get the majority of the user-base somehow, I'm sure that web designers will naturally sway their designs to those browsers.

You can't logically blame this on the designers. Instead blame it on the browser makers for not complying with standards, and blame it on alternative browser makers for failing to make people want to switch.

On another note, I'm really pissed that the current highway system doesn't better accommodate my motorcycle. It's smaller, lighter, faster, cleaner, and better in every way than those big ugly cars, but the road designers just continue to design roads with cars in mind....get the point?

Damn!! They must've uncapped a LOT of bandwidth to get The ENTIRE Internet! ;)

Well, when 95% of the web is using IE...

...I'd say it's the standard.

ref: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.a sp

Here is an XML tutorial I found useful. Very easy to navigate, even for beginning XML users.

Here's some links to some good info & tutorials on XML

W3C School -- excellent
Anti-christ XML school -- MSDN site
Sun's Java/XML school
Crash Course in XML

Hope these help!

Looking at another site, I find roughly similar numbers -- an 80/10/5 split on IE/Netscape/AOL(that is, IE again) usage, and a 95/4/1 split on Win/Mac/Other usage. I know there are lies, damn lies, and statistics, but I think these numbers are pretty valid -- look anywhere and you'll find roughly similar figures.

I hate to break it to you, but the list of platforms you describe is basically irrelevant. So Netscape has cornered the dark back alley of the internet. Big deal, they can have it. The browser war, as you seem not to understand, was (past tense) a fight over which software would become the de facto standard access point to the web for the average user, and the result of that war has been settled & done with.

Having better cross-platform support is a trump card if & only if the other platforms are statistically significant, but they aren't -- just ask anyone that was hoping to see something come of the BeOS. Netscape is finished, IE is in control of the web now. There are fringe browsers out there that might help keep IE honest (Opera, Lynx, W3M, Omniweb, Mozilla, and Netscape), but the're nothing more than fringe players, and for most purposes insignificant.

Netscape was alright back in the day, but let's not treat this dead horse too badly, ok?

Looking at another site, I find roughly similar numbers -- an 80/10/5 split on IE/Netscape/AOL(that is, IE again) usage, and a 95/4/1 split on Win/Mac/Other usage. I know there are lies, damn lies, and statistics, but I think these numbers are pretty valid -- look anywhere and you'll find roughly similar figures.

I hate to break it to you, but the list of platforms you describe is basically irrelevant. So Netscape has cornered the dark back alley of the internet. Big deal, they can have it. The browser war, as you seem not to understand, was (past tense) a fight over which software would become the de facto standard access point to the web for the average user, and the result of that war has been settled & done with.

Having better cross-platform support is a trump card if & only if the other platforms are statistically significant, but they aren't -- just ask anyone that was hoping to see something come of the BeOS. Netscape is finished, IE is in control of the web now. There are fringe browsers out there that might help keep IE honest (Opera, Lynx, W3M, Omniweb, Mozilla, and Netscape), but the're nothing more than fringe players, and for most purposes insignificant.

Netscape was alright back in the day, but let's not treat this dead horse too badly, ok?

There's quite a lot of things you could do:

• Read through the entire userfriendly.org past cartoon archive.
• Make a web page, seeing how many haikus you can write in one shift.
• Give your online help system a section for 'I can't retrieve my e-mail' with the answers to common questions
• Try to become a MVP or something similar.
• Re-code websites to be complient with new standards, like XHTML and CSS. Start a site listing all the fully standards-compliant sites you have modified.
• Fit an extra-loud ringer to the telephone, and take in a camp bed and get some sleep.
• Hear over to Everything2 and read / write some nodes.
• Play an MP3 at full blast, and sing along. Then record yourself singing, and compare the waveforms. With a bit of practice, you can pick up quite good impersonations.
• Find a user/pass combo for somewhere like this, and go through the excercises every evening.
• Redirect the calls to your mobile phone, and start going for strength-building nightly runs, either in the building or outside.
• Find a flight of steps and see how many you can hop up, without stopping or touching the hand rails. Do this every night, until you can get right up the building on either foot.
• Teach yourself to juggle.
• Scatter copies of 'Soldier of Fortune' magazine around your office. Or someone else's.
• Take in a laptop and play Baldur's Gate 2, Diablo 2 and games like that.
• F1rst P0st! Need I say more?
• Learn a high-tech-sounding internet standard like WML, and design things your company doesn't need, but that will look good, i.e. a WML e-mail access client, so your users can tap your address into thier phones, and see thier e-mail. Don't step on anyone's toes, though.
• Download Linux ISOs to your proxy's cache, during the slow period so if anyone gets them in the day, it will be faster for everyone.
• Work on a university theesis or something.
• Browse some Pr0n
• Bring in a TV and watch that.
• Pull DivXed DVDs down off the internet and watch them.
• Go through slashdotters' webpages and start your own web page, listing pages that contain interesting information.
• Learn NASM
• Read a book

If you can't find a book you like, you could try some of the following, which I have read, or am planning on reading:

• The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook - by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht - ISBN 0811825558
• How to disappear completely and never be found - ISBN 0806515597
• Evil Geniuses in a Nutshell : A User Friendly Guide to World Domination - ISBN 156592861X
• Code Breaking: A History and Exploration - Rudolf Kippenhahn - ISBN 1585670898
• Hypnotism Made Practical By Orton, Louis ISBN: 0879800798
• Hypnotism Made Easy : An Introductory Survey of Theory and Practice By Winn, Ralph ISBN: 087980078X
• Machiavelli on Modern Leadership: Why Machiavelli's Iron Rules Are as Timely and Important Today as... Author: Ledeen, Michael Arthur ISBN: 0312263562
• Metaamagical Themas Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern Author: Hofstadter, Douglas R ISBN: 0140179968
• Just Like a Woman: What Makes Us Female - ISBN: 1860497810
• On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society By Dave Grossman - ISBN: 0316330116
• Knife Throwing : A Practical Guide - Harry K. McEvoy - ISBN: 0804810990
• Complete Gil Hibben Knife Throwing Guide By Gil Hibben - ISBN: 1886950024
• Dim-Mak: Death Point Striking - ISBN: 0873647181
• CQB (Close Quarters Battle) - Mark V. Lonsdale - ISBN 093923503X
• Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence - ISBN: 0747538352
• Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types Author: Keirsey, David - ISBN: 0960695400
• Travellers' Guide to Hell - ISBN: 1860119107
• Complete Guide to Lock Picking - Eddie the Wire - ISBN: 0915179067
• 1,001 Excuses: How to Get out of...and Away with...Anything By George D. Zgourides, Nancy Pickering - ISBN: 1559502088
• B and E Book: Burglary Techniques: Investigation By Burt Rapp ISBN: 1559500212
• Princess Bride - Author: Goldman, William - ISBN: 0747545189
• Anything you can find from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, especially:
  • Guards! Guards!
  • Men at Arms
  • Jingo
• Anything else you can get your hands on

Thats my advice, anyway.

There's quite a lot of things you could do:

• Read through the entire userfriendly.org past cartoon archive.
• Make a web page, seeing how many haikus you can write in one shift.
• Give your online help system a section for 'I can't retrieve my e-mail' with the answers to common questions
• Try to become a MVP or something similar.
• Re-code websites to be complient with new standards, like XHTML and CSS. Start a site listing all the fully standards-compliant sites you have modified.
• Fit an extra-loud ringer to the telephone, and take in a camp bed and get some sleep.
• Hear over to Everything2 and read / write some nodes.
• Play an MP3 at full blast, and sing along. Then record yourself singing, and compare the waveforms. With a bit of practice, you can pick up quite good impersonations.
• Find a user/pass combo for somewhere like this, and go through the excercises every evening.
• Redirect the calls to your mobile phone, and start going for strength-building nightly runs, either in the building or outside.
• Find a flight of steps and see how many you can hop up, without stopping or touching the hand rails. Do this every night, until you can get right up the building on either foot.
• Teach yourself to juggle.
• Scatter copies of 'Soldier of Fortune' magazine around your office. Or someone else's.
• Take in a laptop and play Baldur's Gate 2, Diablo 2 and games like that.
• F1rst P0st! Need I say more?
• Learn a high-tech-sounding internet standard like WML, and design things your company doesn't need, but that will look good, i.e. a WML e-mail access client, so your users can tap your address into thier phones, and see thier e-mail. Don't step on anyone's toes, though.
• Download Linux ISOs to your proxy's cache, during the slow period so if anyone gets them in the day, it will be faster for everyone.
• Work on a university theesis or something.
• Browse some Pr0n
• Bring in a TV and watch that.
• Pull DivXed DVDs down off the internet and watch them.
• Go through slashdotters' webpages and start your own web page, listing pages that contain interesting information.
• Learn NASM
• Read a book

If you can't find a book you like, you could try some of the following, which I have read, or am planning on reading:

• The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook - by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht - ISBN 0811825558
• How to disappear completely and never be found - ISBN 0806515597
• Evil Geniuses in a Nutshell : A User Friendly Guide to World Domination - ISBN 156592861X
• Code Breaking: A History and Exploration - Rudolf Kippenhahn - ISBN 1585670898
• Hypnotism Made Practical By Orton, Louis ISBN: 0879800798
• Hypnotism Made Easy : An Introductory Survey of Theory and Practice By Winn, Ralph ISBN: 087980078X
• Machiavelli on Modern Leadership: Why Machiavelli's Iron Rules Are as Timely and Important Today as... Author: Ledeen, Michael Arthur ISBN: 0312263562
• Metaamagical Themas Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern Author: Hofstadter, Douglas R ISBN: 0140179968
• Just Like a Woman: What Makes Us Female - ISBN: 1860497810
• On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society By Dave Grossman - ISBN: 0316330116
• Knife Throwing : A Practical Guide - Harry K. McEvoy - ISBN: 0804810990
• Complete Gil Hibben Knife Throwing Guide By Gil Hibben - ISBN: 1886950024
• Dim-Mak: Death Point Striking - ISBN: 0873647181
• CQB (Close Quarters Battle) - Mark V. Lonsdale - ISBN 093923503X
• Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence - ISBN: 0747538352
• Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types Author: Keirsey, David - ISBN: 0960695400
• Travellers' Guide to Hell - ISBN: 1860119107
• Complete Guide to Lock Picking - Eddie the Wire - ISBN: 0915179067
• 1,001 Excuses: How to Get out of...and Away with...Anything By George D. Zgourides, Nancy Pickering - ISBN: 1559502088
• B and E Book: Burglary Techniques: Investigation By Burt Rapp ISBN: 1559500212
• Princess Bride - Author: Goldman, William - ISBN: 0747545189
• Anything you can find from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, especially:
  • Guards! Guards!
  • Men at Arms
  • Jingo
• Anything else you can get your hands on

Thats my advice, anyway.