₦airaland Forum

http://www.thenationonlineng.com/dynamicpage.asp?id=70094

One of the fundamental themes of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) that held in Tunis, Tunisia, in 2005, was how to get governments particularly in developing economies key into using ICT for national development.

In the last one decade or so, governments whether in developing or advanced economies have sought to use ICT to advance economic growth by bringing ICT tools to different sectors. In several countries, government institutions: agencies, ministries and parastatals are powered by ICT and decisions are taking at the ‘click of a mouse.’

Virtually everything, every sector has become ‘e-enabled.’ ‘eGovernanace’ has become the mantra of linking government with the citizens through an electronic window making participatory governance a more realistic trend in the new evolving economic order. In more advanced countries, ‘electronic voting has become a norm and winning elections is a function of how you can use ICT to reach the masses as well as how you can connect with the people’s aspirations expressed through email and on virtual social platforms such as ‘Facebook.’

But in more concrete terms as it concerns developing countries such as Nigeria, ICT has offered tremendous opportunities for new skill acquisitions, a whole new spectrum of communication platforms whether voice, video or SMS all delivered within landline or mobile pipes.

For thousands of degree and diploma holders in purely academic fields in the Arts and social sciences, there has been a vertical career change in IT through the numerous ICT training institutions that have become the new grooming grounds to cope with the challenge of the new economic order.

Among policy makers, ICT has come to be recognized as a powerful process since the first phase of the WSIS in Geneva in 2003. The theme of the digital divide has become a recurring one for politicians and the new breed of ‘techno socio-economists’ all over the African continent. Closing the digital divide through massive investment in ICT has become a routine statement among politicians and often there are huge capital vote set aside to address this challenge

Like everything else that have been undermined by corruption on the continent, investment in ICT have become a drain pipe through which billions of naira, public moneys, have been stolen by those in government. In Nigeria, almost every state government has initiated different ICT projects. Noble as these projects appear on paper, in practical terms they are no better than white elephants.

Billion naira worth of ICT projects have been executed by state governments to bring connectivity to government ministries, agencies and the likes. Many ICT Resource Centres have been established in the name of IT empowerment and some states have gone further to put computers in classrooms.

But underneath all these, corruption stinks. Contracts are inflated, partially completed or left unexecuted. Today, many states are littered with ICT resource centres that have become white elephants; sad reminders of our current sordid state; cheerless symbols of our how perverted we have become as a nation; the pointer to the gloomy future where we are headed.

In Edo State, there is the story of how the past government of Lucky Igbenedion gave a N127 million contract to a contractor to supply a 1.2 metre communication dish (VSAT) worth no more than N100, 000. Eventually, the horrified government of Professor Osunbor, who has since been removed from office, had to renegotiate the contract to N7 million. The government didn’t want to cancel the contract outright so as not to step on toes. Today, the dish seats inside Benin City as scrap metal. It never worked well for one day.

What happened in Edo State is a metaphor for what is happening everywhere else at state, local and federal levels. The noble objectives of bringing ICT to drive economic development have been perverted. In ICT, politicians and their cohorts have only found a formidable weapon to loot the national treasury.

I had written three years back in Tunis at the WSIS II that Nigeria and many Africa countries are still not serious about driving development with ICT. I do not have very serious reason to alter my standpoint. Nigeria needs to reexamine its ICT vision and look at how advanced democracies and emerging giants such as China and India have been able to leapfrog their economies using ICT. I do not see how it can achieve genuine economic growth using ICT without first attacking corruption. If this fundamental problem is not addressed the efforts of those in civil society attempting to spread ICT diffusion in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa may come to naught. Corruption does not enable real growth; even in ICT.

Castrol,
I guess we will have to agree to disagree but I won't hang up my boots unless I stress the following 2 points:

1) I didn't say the site scored low because he used tables.  Read my post again.  Better yet, I will paste it for you below.  Note what's in bold please:

Overall, I would have given it a 90% (even though you are using tables  Tongue) but because of your forms, sorry, but I have to deduct 20%.   Having said that, I take nothing away from the site.

Again read my original post to see why I deducted the 20%. I will give you one in case you don't fee like scrolling up - his registration form validated (albeit wrongly) and his contact form didn't.

2) You almost won your argument on the flash site.  However, last I checked, in order to display flash you still have to use OBJECT and/or EMBED tags.  Now, I don't use flash on my sites but last I checked, those 2 tags were, are and will ever be,  (X)HTML tags.

3)

CSS could be used for both presentation and layout of content.

Again, a web site consists of Layout (HTML), Presentation (CSS) and Behaviour (Javascript).  Again, turn off CSS on FF (with the web developer toolkit) to see how a site is laid out (with HTML) without styles (presentation - CSS)

4)

(X)HTML e.g. DIV, SPANS, et al only serve as "Hangers" for CSS styles.

They may be "Hangers" but  at the core, the foundation, is that they are (X)HTML tags.

castrol, nice write up.

I must beg to differ on a few things.  I say this as someone who "seniors" you in web dev by at least 4 years.  I don't like to bring this up but since you went there, I had to.  Yes, I put up my first website in 1997  .  Yes, it is possible that someone might appear to look old but behave like a child.  That notwithstanding, I don't think I fall into that category.  At the very least, my postings should speak for me.

1) CSS is NOT for layout, at least as I see it, but for presentation.  XHTML is for layout.  Sure, your article says that but people are entitled to their opinion.  I could equally pull out an article that says otherwise.  A website consists of 3 parts: Layout (XHTML), Presentation (CSS) and Behaviour (JavaScript).  You lay out your page using H, P, UL/LI, etc tags and use CSS to present that layout (float left, right, display block, etc).  Then you use Javascript (where necessary) to dictate what should happen (if I click this button, say hello world, etc) - behaviour.

I would like to see how you use CSS for layout.  In other words, I would like to see how you have developed a website without any XHTML tag.  Please show us at least one of such sites.  Remember, a DIV tag is an XHTML tag which you present via CSS (float left, etc).  Please also note, if you use FF and have the web developer toolkit, you can disable CSS and see how your site looks (layout) without styling (presentation).  Perhaps what you meant to say was that you once used table-based layouts on your sites but now you use table-less layout.  Note again that the TABLE tag is XHTML, not CSS.

2) As covered on another post, CSS tables are cool but they aren't cross-browser, at least not yet.  As a matter of fact, your very article was used as a reference .  Does this mean you can't use them? Nope.  What it does mean though is that you might want to be careful with respect to your target audience.

3) Tables are not old news.  They just need to be used for what they were intended for - tabular data.  At work, we just had a situation where we had to rewrite a CSS-based component with tables.  Why?  Because stupid outlook now used MS word to render its HTML and surprise! MS word doesn't display floats and positions properly.  Also, HTML emails have to have the styles inline so you could imagine my pain.  The last time I used tables (other than for tabular data, in other words for layout) was in 2005.  It was a literal pain for me to use tables again but hey! to please 80% of our target audience, I had to do what I had to do.  In the end, I had at least 6 embedded tables.  If it weren't for comment tags and proper indentation, i would have been in trouble as I had to modify the widths of each table, cell, etc many times to make sure that what I was working on printed properly (FF automatically resizes what you are printing but surprise again, not IE).

One thing I will agree with you on though is the need to remain relevant by always improving upon your marketable skills. If you don't, it doesn't matter if you put up your first site like me in 97 or you in 2000 as those who just started will take over your job within the twinkle of an eye. Either that or your job is shipped to china, india or Nigeria. It is good that you are looking at CSS tables as a way of moving forward. Having said that, and I say this again as a "senior", don't jump to use things just because they are new or cool. Let them "ferment" a little bit and prove themselves to be worthy of use. To that effect, I make sure that my sites show well on chrome and IE8 beta. Having said that, until chrome becomes more mainstay and at least IE8 releases the final build, I will continue to develop my sites for what the majority of the populace uses (based on my web stats for my sites - IE6, IE7, FF, Opera, Safari and PDA in that order. From my experience, if you code for the first 3 above, you are pretty much guaranteed smooth sailing, less a pixel or 2, on the others).

Hopefully I have clarified myself with respect to using tables. If not, let me know and I will try again.  In the meantime, please show us a site you have done that has no XHTML tags in it.   if you wish to see mine, you know how to contact me.

Thanks,

I have never submitted by sites to google per se but they always end up in the results set within a month or 2 (all organic, not PPC).  Is it possible to see your sites?  Chances are you aren't feeding the google spider(s) with the right food, which boils down to your sites not showing up for any of the following reasons:

1) Non-semantic markup (a big one amongst us naija developers is using P and STRONG tags for page headers as opposed to H1, H2, H3, etc tags)

2) No page titles

3) Excessive use of tables

4) Markup that doesn't validate

5) No site map

6) You haven't registered your sites with google sitemaps

7) You don't have an xml version of your sitemap registered with google webmasters.

8 ) You just uploaded your site - Google won't find your site in 24 hours or even 96.  I once did a site that took 6 months to show up on google 

9) No meta tags or not enough keywords in your metatags. Also lack of a meta description.

These are just a few.  Again, post your URLs.   I won't go through every single instance but I will help point you, in addition to what you have above, in the right direction.

Tech Pros,

Though I can't vouch for phillip consulting's qualifications, i will in a way vouch for why such an award, assuming it is recognized industry-wide, makes sense:

As promised, I won't bore anyone with my choices but I did go through the sites of the 25 consolidated sites. Guess what the first thing I did was: Try to open an account online. Only 1 (my choice for #1 which incidentally isn't zenith ) was able to give me something satisfying. The next thing I tried to do was to get the address of my local branch.

If I were a customer, chances are, without knowing anything else about the site, i would have gone for my #1 choice. Now, imagine others thinking alike. That would imply more customers which would imply more revenue for the bank. Hopefully you understand where I am coming from.

By the way, I don't know how the judges ruled for accessibility. I also would have added a category for "code bloat" or words to that effect. ALL banks failed in the aforementioned 2 areas:

1) They all had javascript and CSS on the pages
2) They all had images with no TITLE or ALT tags filled out
3) They all used tables (if you think this isn't a big deal, then you obviously hasn't visited a site with a screenreader. This is how it sounds with tables, "table - row - cell - colspan 2 - welcome to zenith bank - row -cell", etc. Now imagine having to hear this each time the screen reader encountered an embedded table. Imagine further 5 levels of embedded tables

I would sure love to be a judge, that is, assuming they paid me right

Yawa, you can judge anyway since you have time to spare.

and who told you that?

Change permissions on the file. There should be buttons/menus provided by your host to help with this. In my case, I would click on the checkbox next to the file, click the "change permissions" button above it and click on the "writeable" checkbox but then again, yours might b different from mine.

olushola,

If you read my comments above, you will find somewhere nestled b/w what I will quickly admit sounds like gibberish, words to the effect that I shouldn't be asked or my winners

If you insist sha, post a link of all banks that you know have websites and I will gladly pick a winner, and with reason to boot.

Yes folks, let's remember that some CSS rules, though very powerful are not cross-browser. Even if they were, you always want to code for the lowest common denominator. Unless you are coding for an intranet where everyone is using the same software, in this case, you want to code for what ppl use the most currently, which is < IE8.

This photo is bad and very unprofessional. It reminds me, no offense, of photos taken during the biafran war. You need to go to a photographer and have a professional photo taken, in color.

Remember, a website is just like your house - you want your visitors to have a good impression of you the first time as those first impressions count.

Though I disagree with their choice (I won't digress so don't ask me to provide which site I feel is best ), I am happy that we have finally started having awards like this.

The most important thing to me is that nigerian businesses with websites actually pay attention to such awards and employ *qualified* individuals/companies to continuously improve upon their websites.

A few months or so ago, I wrote an article here which basically stated that soon, the era of "I want a website" will be over. The next phase, just like in the states, will be, "I don't like the way my site looks. Make it better". If you don't listen to anything I have said on NL before, listen to this one please, "the next money-making web dev opportunity in naija will be web redesign." So sharpen your skills folks so that when the proverbial roll is called up yonder, you'll be there and ready to serve.

Weeeelll, Olu:

I guess you have that unique perception to read the text first but for peeps like me, all I saw was the gigantic image. The text is way too small on the site. When I did manage to read it, I had to go over it twice just to understand it.

As for watermarks, I don't think it would be a bad idea. Another would be to say something like, "artist's impression". I see this all the time on the web and I can forward you a few links if you want.

That photo, though flawlessly done, IMHO gives a false impression. Honestly, when a friend showed the site to me, the first question on my mind was, "wow! I didn't know Lagos has this" and I bet others are/were of the same impression,

Mustay,

I have mentioned the web develooper toolkit b4, along with the XHTML validator and the IE Window add-on but they won't listen

If only they knew how powerful FF is, most of what we review on here wouldn't be necessary. For a jiffy, just imagine being able to highlight all tables used with just a few clicks or imagine viewing your site without stylesheets which is how your site is rendered on a PDA.

Maaaan, the cool factor of FF is invaluable.

Look no further - It is already being done

http://www.lagosrail.com/home/index.php

Wow!  I didn't know Lagos had it this good 

I won't bother commenting on the site itself, or on who did the site (it was done in Canada by the way ).  I will let you guys do that.  I am more mesmerized by the trains.  Now, I have every reason to go anywhere I want to in Lagos when next I come to town. The photoshopping is so good, it's not fantastic, it's cokastic! 

Enjoy!

http://www.lagosrail.com/home/index.php

Yes,

We live in an age of "freemiums" now - offer basic services for free then offer something unique/extra for a feee (at a premium).

cd this b y:

Pursuant to Section 5.3 of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA), ICANN may terminate the RAA before its expiration when, "Any officer or director of [a] Registrar is convicted of a felony or of a misdemeanor related to financial activities, or is adjudged by a court to have committed fraud or breach of fiduciary duty, or is the subject of judicial determination that ICANN deems as the substantive equivalent of any of these; provided such officer or director is not removed in such circumstances."

If yes, then are we really to feel sorry for them? Unless you are directly affected, it shouldn't be a problem. There are tons of honest registrars out there. In the end, freek markets will dictate the tune. Or am I missing something?

Here we go again. The next few posts will be on:

1) It is better to store file paths not actual images

2) No, what if you move to another database

3) What about DB size?

Oya, make una prove me wrong

Ok, I know - I'm not giving much away but there's a very good reason for that, but I'll just say this is a fork between TripAdvisor and 43Places, but only for African destinations and hotels.

Essentially, a social network for African tourism enthusiasts and everyday travellers.

I think you pretty much gave a bulk of it away right there

Anyways, I am a bit busy I must confess but when the final product is out, I don't mind reviewing and offering recommendations, not that, based on what you last posted here, you will need any

hasn't this issue, over the course of even this year alone, been discussed, sliced and diced at least a million times?

Poster, please do a search.

Thanks,

Since everybody is getting critical,

Hmmm, I don't know wether to take this as a compliment or an insult but I will let others judge. This is a blanket statement. Again, I will let others draw their own conclusions.

My observations:

1) Good fixed background. Gives me the feeling that I am actually in the stadium chanting, "you will never walk alooone"

2) I pray the "17 days left" is generated dynamically

3) No Nigerian players. Any reason why? or am I missing something per the rules, etc?

4) I think you should highlight the nav option corresponding to the page I am on. Also, make the nav option text and the page header text the same for consistency. For example, you have "Game Rules" as an option but "Rules and Regulations" as the page header

5) You really need to work on your forms. In particular, in general, if you have required fields, put some kind of indicator (like an asterisk and inform the user at the top that some/all the fields are required. I will talk only of the register form as justice has already been served on the contact form. I do find quite funny though that the register validates whereas the contact doesn't. Were you getting lazy towards the end of the project? :

a) When you indicate that a field is required, give an example so that I know exactly what's up. Don't just say, "field required". Also it is nice to also highlight the field(s) in question as well.

b) You should as much as possible help yourself and the user avoid too much validation and give lesser chance for error, respectively. For instance, I think country and highest level of education should be dropdowns. Also, it probably would have been cool if you provided some kind of eye candy where, you provide name of country where club is based, then you get more granular by progressively providing dropdowns that list the league, clubs and players. Hopefully you get my gist.

Overall, I would have given it a 90% (even though you are using tables ) but because of your forms, sorry, but I have to deduct 20%. Having said that, I take nothing away from the site.

Was that "too critical" enough for you?

huh?

smartsoft,

get back to us when you have an actual site.

From your records, you have been an NL member for a long time and I would probably rank you as one of the godfathers on here. You know how a review is conducted. Come on man!

xclusiv,

Nice one but don't let that be an excuse to anyone for writing bloated code

Sorry if am critical. but if you edited a template

OOOkay, so what is wrong with editing a template? Is it a crime punishable by hanging at the balls? Isn't there such a thing as working smart, not hard anymore?

Again, please convince me as to why this is a big deal?

This isn't a shortcut per se but a pretty nifty trick:

If you are concerned about how your pages are printing (like say you have a table that is printing on 2 pages because of the content above it on the page where it begins) pages, you can set hard breaks via CSS and the page-break-before or page-break-after properties. To avoid boring you with grammar, I will give you a link that explains it better than I probably can

Explanation:
http://www.javascriptkit.com/dhtmltutors/pagebreak.shtml

Demo:
http://www.javascriptkit.com/dhtmltutors/example.htm

Enjoy!

wow! 4 pages long. This shows:

1) People r actually learning from this and
2) It is the type of thread we shd b seeing more often on here.

Let's keep it up!

LOL,

Yeah, pretty damn funny. The 47 minutes though, hmmmm.

weeeell kehers,

the background-color option is preferred because it is more semantic.  Not only that, when trying to manipulate the DOM, you need to use style.backgroundColor.  By saying "background-color" in the CSS, it is easier to follow.  This also removes any doubt as to whether u r referring to background-image or background-color or just the whole background (with all its attributes)

Sure, a few extra typing but tis more semantic

p.s. It is sort of similar to using ticks when displaying background images in CSS (url (images/x.gif vs ('images/x.gif')). Both work but tis preferred to use the version with ticks.

From experience, I stay away from strict mode as there is a lot that goes into it. I prefer, and call me a coward, transitional

Here are some things you have to look out for in strict mode:
1) Instead of saying, "<input type="checkbox" checked />, you say, "<input type="checkbox" checked="checked" />. Same applies to disabled="disabled" and "selected="selected"

2) I believe, but don't quote me on this, that you can not use tables whatsoever

As I said, I prefer transitional. One more thing, just be aware that what we have are standards and not "do this and you will be sentenced to death by firing squad" rules. At the end of the day, it is good you adhere to them. Having said that, you have to weigh ideal vs practical.

Thanks,

kehers
what is tns?

chiwa
I think for any part of Vision2020 to have any chance of success, we first and foremost need to have 24 hour power supply. Why? Because computers for one run on it