₦airaland Forum

Yeah,

Just imagine the number of ppl, both home and abroad that could be reached simply by having a blog/website. Imagine the rumors that could be quelled, etc.

We have a loooong way to go.

www.change.gov?

kehers

wat do u mean by "validate"? I guess this is where I am lost. If you are asking if your XHTML validates, as long as you are using a maximum of xhtml-transitional as your doctype, I don't see why it wouldn't.

If the above isn't wat you mean, pls elaborate.

Thanks,

kehers,

wat else do u expect from a device with very little real estate play with?

By the way, mobile devices are supposed to render pages as though you had style sheets turned off. This is where semantic markup comes in as users can see pages, hopefully, arranged such that it makes sense, which is why use of tables for layout isn't good.

So I wouldn't worry about the issue. As long as it shows up properly on screen.

pintogen

I c u r taking things personal and out of context.  This issue has been raised in the past, both here and programmers section.  There was a time certifications helped.  That was during dot com boom. Not anymore.  Proof? last year or so, a 12 year old naija guy got java certification.  What does that say about the knowledge base?  I could cram for it and pass it without knowing a lick of what is going on. I once knew 2 DBAs. one had 20 years experience but guess what? he failed MCDBA twice. Does that mean he is stupid? Think carefully before answering with emotions.

So, if that is what rocks ur boat, go for it.  I just say based on experience (8+ years), don't bother unless you can get someone else to pay for it for u, thatz all.

here here kehers,

labels and fieldsets all the way. I always float the labels left and put a break after each input field

callon, I say yes but my answer is biased

Homesite in my opinion, like textpad, is as close to notepad as you can get. I just don't like my development software doing things for me that I could do for myself. Then again, I started coding when all you had was notepad

Use whatever you want to use. Just make sure you know what is happening behind the scenes so that if stuff breaks, u dont end up like the original poster

omni,

i knew u were going to go there with respect to browsershots so I already crammed my response in anticipation of it

Just get your stuff to work on IE6+ and FF then do a spot check on Safari and you should be good to go. I can tell you from experience that thatz all I do and so far, so good for sites I have worked on.

jonson mba,

What I am saying is, "jack of all trades and master of none" - just like in uni where you are exposed to all discliplines before you finally specialize in one or 2, you should be familiar with each step of the web dev process. Then be honest with yourself and focus on what you know you know best. In other words, know a little of everything but settle on what I would call your core. Take me for example: I know a little of everything so that in the event I land a job that requires what I don't really know, I don't lose the business because of it. Having said that, I have my core skills which are XHTML, Javascript, and CSS. One thing I am not good at, I will tell anyone upfront is graphics and I am quick to outsource that part of my project. Again, having said that, once I get the end-product, I know enough about Photoshop to massage what I get if need be.

Unfortunately, because of the nature of the beast in naija (from high unemployment to employers taking advantage of the situation, etc), over there, web guys are forced to know it all. In the end, what you get, at least based on some (not all ) of the work you see, for instance, on NL, is half-baked.

Hopefully, I have answered your question.

It's a new concept. For that, I will give the site 50 right off the bat. I will however deduct points (how many? I dunno at this time) for the following reasons:

1) Contact form doesn't validate. Interestingly, registration form does.

2) I think the nav section, based on layout, has the potential of being a little confusing. Could it gradually catch on, on other sites? sure. Right now though, I still insist that it is outside of the norm of what is seen out there.

3) Photo gallery
a) In FF, hovering over the photos, causes the page to "dance"
b) I think the user, given its concept, could have been better entertained if you will, by a library like lightbox, as opposed to just clicking one photo at a time and waiting for a larger thumbnail to appear. Also, not quite clear that if you click the photo again, you are returned to thumbnail mode. Perhaps this could have been incorporated into some kind of instruction set.

4) Page weight. Nice movie but:
a) http://www.wpiconsult.com/fla.swf is 47KB
b) http://www.wpiconsult.com/img/side_photos.jpg is 46KB

You could optimize them more. If you have tried opening your site at the average cyber cafe in PH where you are and the site opens, fine. I however speak from experience opening various sites at cyber cafes in various cities and the experience has been awful. We have a long way to go with respect to offering better bandwidth solutions.

5) This image in your CSS file can't be found:
www.wpiconsult.com , images/M_images/arrow.png

Nice concept, as I have stated a few times already. Having said that, take a look at my list and see how you can improve on those.

Thanks

There is also brainbench. I have my certifications (which I don't blv in but had to do it per employers orders, but I digress ) in JSP, CSS, XHTML, DHTML, and Javascript

Mustay,
Actually, I have a table-less solution for your forms - fieldsets

Basking,
There is a common platform. It's called W3C standards. Unfortunately, not all (and in particular, IE) browsers follow it. If you think it is bad now, I can assure you that it was worse during the dot com boom. Per browsers you love, I think you should actually love mozilla - that follows web standards more closely than the rest. I for one code in mozilla then unit test in IE.

21 browsers? Hmmmm. Care to them at least 10?

Anyways, I am happy you have finally seen the light with respect to "close to 0%" table-less design. Why do I say "close to 0%"? Because you will still need tables for what they were originally intended for - tabular data.

Welcome to the club

1) I don't recall you stating any problems. Please do so
2) Dump LAYERs. They are not part of the web standards
3) Avoid tables if you can
4) Use DIVs

callon,

Unfortunately, I use homesite and not DW so on this matter, I am sure webdezzi will be more than helpful.

Thanks and sorry I couldn't be of help.

I refreshed 10 times and got the same thing below:

Address Not Found


Firefox can't find the server at www.zeembs.com.


The browser could not find the host server for the provided address.

* Did you make a mistake when typing the domain? (e.g. "ww.mozilla.org" instead of "www.mozilla.org")
* Are you certain this domain address exists? Its registration may have expired.
* Are you unable to browse other sites? Check your network connection and DNS server settings.
* Is your computer or network protected by a firewall or proxy? Incorrect settings can interfere with Web browsing.

I think way to start would be pseudocode. This gives you the ability to think logically. Once you are able to think logically, then it is a matter of picking up a particular language. Let me explain, if I may. I will use an object-oriented language as this seems to be the coding language du jour. The assignment is to build a house.

The house will be considered the object. We will define this house in a "class" or blueprint. A house could be made up of the following (which are called properties): A door, a parlor, a kitchen and a garage, to mention but a few.

You can carry out the following actions (methods/functions) in that house: close door, open door, open garage, close garage, etc.

Let's say you want the garage to open only when there is no car in the garage, you could perform the following in pseudocde:

function openGarage() {
if noCarInside then
openGarageDoor
else
dontOpenGarageDoor
end if
}

Yes, this is perhaps an overly simplified version of what can be accomplished. But hopefully you get the point: Think of everything in terms of objects. Then think of the characteristics of such an object and the actions that can be performed on that object. Look at it like those kung fu movie scenes where the master tells the student he isn't quite ready and haves him do menial duties until he is. Do this a few times, then you will b ready to graduate into actual programming.

I will now yield the floor for others.

Thanks

omni,

I want to blv that layers are soooooo 20th century. I used to use those back when netscape was en voge

It had it's issues, mainly of which was that you had to do a lot of positioning. Also, layers only seemed to work in Netscape and not IE (for which you would have to use DIVs).

Just stick to DIVs. You can't go wrong with those

Well kehers,

It's all about time management. There was a time when I took 7 classes (21 credit hours) and did 3 jobs and paying tons of bills, yet I found time to do what I considered important

In general, just prioritize your time. In the event that this kicks off, even if na 1 hour, it will definitely help

hmmm,

upon all the big grammar, theories and arguments, this thread never finish. You sure say d poster still dey follow una so?

Okay, back to my ROM (Read Only Mode, aka fly on the wall) mode

hmmm, maybe for starters, since food is best served hot, we can all do a YIM group chat so we can get to feel each other. How about that? That way, by the time we actually meet in person, it will be as if we have known each other for years.

thoughts?

If you all had read what I wrote slightly above your posts, you would see that I asked that you send me a private email no later than Nov 14, 2008 @ 10pm GMT

Once I get the number of initial volunteers, other planning can happen. I don't blv in building a castle in the air, you dig?

1. Are we about making a new website for Nigeria or what are we planning on working out?

Yes, we are but we aren't motivated by money. We just want to show whomever it may be the right way to do things. As I mentioned earlier, take this as a "your reward is in heaven" kind of project. The aim hopefully is that in time other web developers in naija will bookmark our site and visit often for the latest, just like they do sites like ericmeyer.com. This is one reason why I like the webmaster alliance url. Perhaps we should add "nigeria" somewhere so ppl no upfront who we are.

2. What if the government gives no attention for like 3 years, will the project continue?

That is their own. For all I know, we could even do it all and dem no send us. Again, we are hoping they do, but if they don't, my aim is that all of you working on this will gain invaluable knowledge as to how things can and should be done - the right way. Take it as an industrial attachment type gig

3. What is the guiding principle for this collab?

Simple. So simple, I am taking more words to describe it than it deserves - learning. Referring to 2 above, my aim is that in the end, we all get to see, especially those with no corporate experience, how things can and should be done - the right way.

If you keep asking questions, it will be like court of law and ppl might get turned off. You know what's up. Again, no money involved or guaranteed. start reading, thatz all.

I expect those private emails.

kehers and omni,

No mind them o. They are still in the chest-thumping, "do you know who I am? I coded a facebook-type app all by myself in 24 hours" phase of their lives, a phase where they *think* they know it all.

I have been around for a while and the older I get, the more I have concluded that there is no need stressing one's self if someone else has already written something, especially if it is free (not copyright). Whether you do it yourself or get a plugin from somewhere, you are being paid the same amount of money.

At the end of the day, you spend 3 days coming up with something from scratch and I do the same thing in 3 hours - Who's the fool?

wow!

The first forum that I have seen advertised on here that looks nothing like Nairaland

I never comment on forums but felt I had to this time for the aforementioned reason. Kudos!

Sooooo,

As I said, this will take a loooong time.  Having said that, if you are interested, I am giving you 1 week (that means Nov 14, 2008 @ 10pm GMT) to send me a Private Email.  No emails broadcast directly on this thread will be accepted.  After 1 week, the work begins.   If you join after that, you might be put on hold pending us finding work for you.

Note:
To avoid a situation where my emails don't get to you, please add my email address to your white list.  I will do same on my end, constantly checking the spam folder to ensure yours doesn't get lost in the mix.

Thanks,

zoraro,

As at the time of this post, I haven't seen your PM, and by PM, I assume you mean, "Private eMail"

'xplain urself webdezzi

Tell them o, pie1ect.  I have been trying for 6 months to no avail 

At the end of the day, as I stated earlier, it's all about us thumping our chests.  We want a title, ala the british. "I am a webmah-stah".  Same reason applies to those who claim to be "gurus". There is a reason for the adage, "jack of all trades, master of none"

Nigeria1
With respect to web development? State your case. Let's debate.

better yet, considering marv has 4 posts, y not just ban him altogether?

webguru

I don't think we are doing this with hopes of even a contract. I see it more as a way to publicize ourselves. We wouldn't maintain a thing either. If FG likes what we have, we hand over, train the folks there for maybe a day or 2 (though it should be obvious to them as we aren't doing anything special) and move on. This is where I see WOA making sense. Imagine this caption, "A group calling themselves Webmasters of Africa volunteered their time to do the site because they wanted Nigeria to have a better online image abroad". We could even insist that the WOA badge be slapped somewhere on the site (as opposed to "proudly Nigerian".

I am looking at this as a "your reward is in heaven" kind of deal. If they want us to maintain, which again I am not planning on doing, they would have to pay of course. Seek ye first potential for doing other sites for other people and you never know, the FG site may be added unto you

here, here Omni.

Let us all put our money where our mouths (with wooden teeth ) are