₦airaland Forum

and to throw in my 2 cents:

I don't think it is the university's job to teach a student any one programming language. It is their job to train you to think and in the case of computer science, train you to analyze a problem and come up with a solution. Once you have that ability to think, it is up to you the student to stay up to date with the latest technologies, thus keeping one's self marketable. Take me for example: when I was in school, I was trained in C, C++, Assembly Language, and Paschal. To this very day (from 9 years ago), I am yet to use any of the aforementioned languages. However, by keeping up with the latest trends, I have used ASP, JSP, PHP and a little Java.

Per the discussion regarding building sites vs apps, I will say that given what I have seen in Nigeria, in the area of web development at least, you have a situation where majority of pple/businesses don't even have a basic 5-page website. Without this, then it is going to be hard, in my opinion, to get them to think in terms of apps.

As far as the googles, youtubes, etc go, we have them all out there. We just lack a business objective/purpose. All we want to do is copy, in an attempt to make ourselves feel good that we can code a google site. The most ridiculous are the dating sites. Then we pepper the site with google ads in an attempt to make money. If all we do is copy, then we can't go far. We have to think original, out of the box. We have to challenge ourselves to do what isn't out there yet.

I guess with my comments, this post now has 4 cents

Weeell,

swishmax I wouldn't scare the bobo by saying a year. Come on now!

Take me for example (and I understand that individual results may vary): I learnt php for the first time 3 years ago. I did it in 3 wks (literally, studying everyday) and shortly thereafter put up my first php website, complete with a mysql database.

I personally would say, if you devote at least 3 hours a day to it, I see no reason why anyone couldn't learn all they need to know, or at least enough to get something started, in more than 2 months.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080918074924.pmf8tfso&show_article=1

An Australian company on Thursday launched a free tool it says offers web browsers a world-first opportunity to view the Internet in three dimensions.

Melbourne-based ExitReality said its application allows users to turn any regular website into a 3D virtual environment, where an avatar representing them can walk around and meet other browsers viewing the same website.

Founder Danny Stefanic said that previously only specialised websites such as Second Life and World of Warcraft allowed users to enter a 3D environment.

"ExitReality goes far beyond that," he said. "It allows you to view not just one website but the entire World Wide Web in 3D."

Browsers can use the tool to turn their social networking pages on sites such as Facebook and MySpace into a virtual apartment, where photographs are displayed on the wall and links to friends are "doors" leading to other apartments.

Users can customise their flats by "decorating" with 3D versions of couches from stores such as Ikea or downloading an e-jukebox to play music clips stored on their personal page.

Similarly, using ExitReality on video-sharing website YouTube creates a virtual cinema, where the browser's avatar sits next to other users also logged on to watch the clip they have selected.

Stefanic said the tool transformed the Web from a solo experience into one that could be shared with friends and other users interested in the same content.

"The user can see and share experiences with their friends while chatting with them and other people at either their own website or another billion web pages," he said.

Stefanic said there was a wealth of 3D content on the Internet that conventional web search engines ignored.

Such effects made the web more interesting for users, meaning they were more likely to spend more time browsing the page, he said.

"Users would normally spend no longer than a couple of minutes on a 2D website," he said. "In a 3D environment, this time can extend to half an hour, creating a huge potential for the website owner to maximise user engagement," he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2008/09/17/dlgoogle117.xml

Mike Jennings, one of the development team behind the Android operating system, gave attendees at a Google Developer Day conference a glimpse of how to design software for the device.

He created a simple game showing a blue dot bouncing around the phone's screen, which moved as the handset was tilted.

Although the phone was obscured by masking tape, it is reported to have looked like the Dream, a handset developed by Taiwanese manufacturer HTC, which is expected to be the first commercially available mobile phone to run Android.

Google and T-Mobile are holding a joint press conference in New York next Tuesday, at which they are expected to confirm the launch of the HTC Dream and reveal further pricing information as well as details about the phone's final operating system.

It is thought the phone will go on sale in the UK early next month, and HTC has said that it expects to ship around 600,000 to 700,000 units of the Dream by the end of this year.

Android, the Google-backed operating system that will run on the device, is designed to bring the desktop computing experience to mobile devices, by allowing people to surf the internet and carry out everyday tasks on the go.

It will provide easy access to Google's web-based email service, Gmail, as well as a host of other Google products, including Docs, its productivity suite, and Google Maps.

The Dream is expected to contain a GPS chip, allowing it to double as a mobile sat-nav, and Google may also provide additional tools for the device to help push location-specific information to the phone's owner, such as weather forecasts, travel updates and restaurant recommendations.

The launch of the so-called "Google phone" will pit the search giant in direct competition with the likes of Apple's popular iPhone and the BlackBerry mobile email device.

It will also compete with other mobile phone operating systems, such as Symbian, widely used on Nokia devices, and Windows Mobile, which is available on many other handsets made by HTC.

Users of Android phones will also be able to download additional software and programs for their device, in a similar way to that in which iPhone users can add extra applications to their handset.

The Android operating system is open source, which means that anyone can build software to run on the device.

@bug24
I won't even lie to you. I know NOTHING about flash and so won't even attempt to fake an educated response. I deal with JSP/PHP/Javascript (and its libraries, many of which have functions that can be used to mimic basic flash animations)/CSS/XHTML

Sorry

oookay,

if that is the case, then the way they exist on "made in Nigeria" sites is wrong then. How else would you explain this, for instance? http://www.zenithbank.com/feedback.cfm . Hint: it has no fields that have to do with the user experience.

Be that as it may, why have 2 different forms? What does that do to maintenance? I understand if the feedback is being handled by a third-party but where everything is handled in-house, in my opinion, they might as well combine everything into one form. Then using, for instance, a name-value pair (like index.php?option=feedback), you send the user to a form with a dropdown and dynamically determine which dropdown option to render as "selected". If need be, you could also dynamically display instructions so that if the option is indeed a feedback, you include text like, "tell us what you think of our site".

CONCLUSION:
I am now beginning to think that those of us in Nigeria who employ this technique have no idea from Adam what the difference b/w the 2 is.

okay guys and gals, we have to talk about this one.

I am noticing a trend on many "made in Nigeria" websites.  Either that or it existed before but I am just now noticing such sites:  Many of our sites have both a "feedback" and a "contact us" page.  To make matters even more interesting, though they are separate pages, both pages actually have forms on them. Sometimes the forms have the same fields and other times they differ ranging from slightly to completely.

Question? Is there really a difference b/w feedback and contact us?  I mean, wouldn't it make more sense to have just the one form then maybe in a dropdown conditionally have "feedback" selected?  Just curious.

Oya, the floor is open and the DJ (that would be moi  ) has just played the song of the night.  E je ka jo, bi ko nu.

@olushola
Of all you just posted, I say access bank's layout is the worst - sorry but the way the pages are opening/closing the way the site looks like one big square makes it look like a 419 site.  Thatz my opinion anyways.  If you want me to comment on functionality, thatz another bag of beans and just like anything extra, it costs money

For the best, it may sound surprising to some given what I have written above but I prefer Zenith's.  the only thing I have against them layout-wise is the red color.  I think it would have looked better if they toned it down.

Overall layout is good, in my opinion. Observations:

1) y must i log in to lv feedback? How will you get me to give the church money? Same applies to "ask pastor" and perhaps other forms on site.

2) no form on "contact us" page

3) Flash images look grainy. In fact, looking at the first image to scroll by, that of the pastor, if u look closely, it's as if his eyes are blinking. Seriously. Also, y move a body without any of the body parts moving?

That's it for me

@wildfusion
So I just looked at the said site and must ask, if you don't mind - other than the intro page, what is special about the site that warrants a, "if you can't do anything better than this" comment?

Just wondering.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080913161206.5phq0e94&show_article=1

The computer chip industry on Friday celebrated the 50th birthday of the integrated circuit, a breakthrough that set the stage for the Internet and the Digital Age.

A half-century ago a young engineer named Jack Kilby first demonstrated an integrated circuit he designed while working through the summer at his Texas Instruments job because he didn't have enough vacation time for a holiday.

Kilby used a sliver of conductive germanium to connect a transistor and other bits, dubbing the soldered assembly an "integrated circuit" (IC).

Engineer Robert Noyce was designing his own IC "in parallel" at Fairchild Semiconductor but didn't debut his creation until about six months later. Noyce went on to found US chip making giant Intel in 1968.

While Kilby was the first to demonstrate an IC, Noyce came up with a design that could be mass produced, according to Leslie Berlin, project historian for Stanford Silicon Valley Archives and author of a book about Noyce.

"It was an idea whose time had come," Berlin told AFP. "There were efforts all over the world to make something like an integrated circuit."

History gives Noyce and Kilby shared credit for inventing the circuit that transformed the world of electronics.

"The IC was an idea so revolutionary, so life-changing, we don't even remember the world before it came along," Texas Instruments chief executive Rich Templeton said at a ceremony honoring Kilby.

"And we can't imagine life without it."

The year Kilby demonstrated his circuit, computers were colossal machines that filled rooms and were commanded by coded punch cards.

Televisions featured black-and-white pictures and few channels. The only telephones were wired in place. There were no iPods, flat-screen televisions, Internet searches or laptop computers.

Integrated circuits replaced vacuum tubes; bulky bulbs that guzzle electricity, spew heat and burn out.

The circuits became building blocks for microprocessors, the increasingly powerful and compact chips that are the brains behind the Internet and most of today's "smart" electronic devices.

"It's been only 50 years, but think of the dramatic improvements in everything we do around the world today," Intel spokesman Bill Calder told AFP.

"In the scheme of inventions, certainly the integrated circuit has to be one of the greatest inventions of our time. This world of bytes we live in today would not be possible without them."

Berlin says that integrated circuits are at the core of the microchip industry mantra of "smaller, faster, cheaper" and can likely be found in anything with an on-off switch.

Kilby was awarded a Nobel Prize in physics in 2000 for his invention. It is believed a Nobel Prize would have also been given to Noyce, who died in 1990 at the age of 62. Kilby was 81 when he died in 2005.

"The integrated circuit has proved to be the single most important driver of increased productivity and economic growth in history," said Semiconductor Industry Association president George Scalise.

"The integrated circuit provides the critical technology for countless electronic devices that enable people everywhere to lead more productive lives."

The semiconductor industry is on track to post 265 billion dollars in sales this year, according to Scalise.

Templeton described Kilby as quick to credit successors for turning integrated circuits into the power driving Internet Age technologies.

It is said that Kilby responded to people making "a big fuss" over his work by quoting fellow Nobel Prize winner Charles Townes:

"When I hear that kind of thing, it reminds me of what the beaver told the rabbit as they stood at the base of Hoover Dam: 'No, I didn't build it myself, but it's based on an idea of mine.' "

Texas Instruments is planning a new research center to be christened "Kilby Labs."

"Jack Kilby was a hero, an artist, a philanthropist, a genius and a real believer in the power of the imagination," Templeton said.

"And his invention is a reminder of the responsibility that we, as engineers, have in making ours a better world."

When once asked by a mother what can be done to help children inv

@rickky
Some ads are effective simply because they don't address their original intent, because they go off point, because they make you scratch your head and ask, "what were they talking about?".  Those are usually the adverts, at least from my experience, that stick in your mind the most.

Being in the US, you should know that

A little funny and a little weird but hey, it's Bill Gates in his own ad:
http://perezhilton.com/tv/?videoid=78dba5996926f

@naijacampu(s - sic)
I am actually 17 years old so technically, I am still a child

Next!

@kisha. The professor has spoken!
You sound like you are running away from something with respect to javascript but I don't want to assume so I will examine your statements one by one, if I may:

For moi, all big grammar my dear YAWA, all the degradation, enhancement tidbits.

If it's big grammar, get a dictionary. Where I stay (and hopefully it will be the same where you stay), if you don't use/know certain "big grammar", you won't be employed. It's such words that show you are keeping up with the latest technologies.

No one is saying JavaScript should not be used but minimally. I quite believe that a site can be standard with little use of JavaScript.

No offense, the first part of the sentence above sounds a bit like french so I will focus on the 2nd part - I won't argue with you on that one. I in fact have sites that use zero javascript. Just remember, when all you have is a hammer, everything around you is a nail. In today's web2.0 world, many sites use technologies that make javascript support and use a must. There is a reason why many argue that generally speaking, Nigerian sites made in naija are of low quality.

I think people can do without some of the razzmatazz jscript offers and just provide the information people are looking for.

razzmatazz? he he. providing ppl with information and providing ppl with a richer user experience are 2 different things.

I have used some websites in the past and with some of the “graceful degradation”; I can’t say I had a graceful experience because my internet connection was not so fast and it look forever for the site to load.

That, my friend, isn't graceful degradation. What graceful degradation means is, if the browser you are using doesn't support javascript, the site will function as if it never had javascript in the first place. Next time a site takes forever on your end, try either disabling images or disabling javascript. If after you disable javascript, the site still is taking a long time, it could be the massive amounts of tables and images that the site is using.

I think in this time and age, people are looking for functionality, aesthetics and an experience for using a site… I dare say a pleasant one!

Again, no argument there. I will add though that for the "experience" part, that is where richer internet apps come into play, many of which use technologies that are based on javascript.

Thanks

@ThePhantom
Thanks for coming to the rescue.  As my posts have pretty much inferred, I am talking from an abstraction point of view.  The time stamp option is very good as well but I personally believe in the "What happens if the client wants something else?" approach.  It shouldn't really matter if you are talking facebook or babajidebook (hopefully, you all catch the humor there  ). To me, that's like saying, "it's okay to hit let balls in lawn tennis when you are serving during practice cos its not the real game". Soon enough, you start hitting let balls during the real game when it counts. You have to be on your A-game always.

Thinking outside the box and coding for the long run are always the first things on my mind whenever I code.  I hate revisiting code that I have turned over to the client.

Thanks

I would love to review but what has killed it for me is the lack of a navigation menu.  Yes, I see a menu, but only after I squint for it.  See, the first thing I see on the site is the logo and I guess given the yellow color, looking at the top of the page isn't the first thing on my mind.  I immediately scroll to the bottom of the page looking for a menu but find none.

The site (assuming we are talking about www. fumratliberia . vze . com - typing the characters together produces weird results for whatever reason) receives a big fat zero based on that alone.

Sorry but I just have to be honest.  When I am on a website, Don't make me think 

@Tech Pros
And who died and made you Supreme Court Chief Justice?

Which is "ruder"? Asking for something that you aren't totally clear on, making me think (there actually is a book called, "Don't Make Me Think" that I am reading right now  ), clicking the link and seeing crap or me asking him in a smart way to explain himself.

who are you? what do you do?

I am yawa-ti-de. By posting in this section of NL, I think you can call me a web developer

how can I find you and learn from you?

Via my contact on NL

Do you like, have a website?

Yes, I like have one. Contact me for it.

what kind of toolbar? garri toolbar, suya toolbar, burukutu toolbar, "Your mouth dey smell" toolbar?

we await

As some of u may know, i love to google for stuff. Every now and then, I will find a site that makes me want to view source because its full of crap.  Rather than tell myself what is wrong with the site so that it stays with me only, I have decided to share my thoughts on this board, from now on.  Here are my lessons in CSS, having just looked at a horrible site:

1) When dealing with hex codes and u hv something like this: #aabbcc or any combination such that the pairs have the same value (like #ffffff), you can save yourself a few keystrokes by doing this: #abc or #fff

2) When dealing with margins and paddings, you can save yourself a few keystrokes by doing this:
margin: 10px 5px 4px 5px; as opposed to:

margin-top: 10px;
margin-right: 5px;
margin-bottom: 4px;
margin-left: 5px;

Note the order. Also, if the top and bottom, and the left and right, hv the same values, you can abbreviate further like so:
margin: 10px 3px (top-bottom: 10px, left-right: 3px)

Even better? If all 4 attributes are the same value, you just type the value once.  So you could have "margin: 5px;" where all attributes are 5px each.

3) If dealing with a zero-value measurement, don't bother putting the units.  So instead of 0px, just type "0". It's not mathematics where zero is a number.

4) Name your classes/IDs not for what they do but for what they are:
Don't name your DIV "bold".  Name it "header" and then add a "font-weight: bold" attribute to it.

5) For browser consistency, zero out all margins, paddings, etc.  Then add back your XHTML elements, with classes/IDs, then add paddings, margins to those:
Initially, you would have: p {margin: 0; padding: 0; } for instance.  Then you have p#introduction { margin: 5px; padding: 3px; }

Once the values are reset, the actual values you use will be consistent across browsers. Besides, it sure beats using CSS hacks that might end up not working after IE10 comes out.

6) Don't add a gazillion " " tags to your code.  Handle white space using margin/padding attributes

7 ) Name your classes/IDs with words that make sense.  Trust me, you will thank yourself when you have to go back to the code a month from now:
Dont say: "p.style2". What the hell does style2 mean?

That's it for now.  If you guys have anything to add, feel free to do so.

@nduaj

So, if you have 1 million users, you will store 1 million photos in the same folder? Better yet, if they eventually have more than one photos, again, they all go in the same folder? Not saying it is wrong but in the name of abstraction, my solution (not necessarily the best one) has always been to insert photos in separate folders as in the future, you might say, want to do more than just hv the one photo. That way, my photos aren't mingling with urs.

Again, both our solutions get the job done. I just happen to like abstracting my solutions out upfront.

@webdezzi:

it is a bad idea creating folders for each user, its better you name the images using their usernames and storing the image names(not paths) in the database against each user

out of curiosity, could you explain further (in particular the folder part)? I would love to learn.

Also, when you store the image names in the DB, where are the actual images saved (as in folders)?

Thanks,

@webguru
What drew me to that site was an article I read somewhere sometime ago on BBC that said that site was second best football website in Africa. If you see the "best" website, you go laff tire. If Farriel is still subscribed to this, perhaps he will respond with that site's URL.

In my opinion, there are football sites in europe and even the US that Enyimba's site will not only stand up to, but beat, HANDS DOWN!

@HC

Allow me to paste an excerpt from one of the posts from that site:

This is outrageous. Is there anything to be done about this?

Ok, copying websites is not something new, even for design companies, but to win a world contest with a copied website is more than WRONG.

Let's concentrate on the bolded portion above.  So again, even if Farriel says, "yes, I ripped it off", what's your point? Has he won any awards?  Has he done anything that would put himself in jeopardy?  Again, copying background images and copying an entire layout are 2 different things.

Again, unless you are some sort of EFCC of the Nigerian web dev world, I would say, lay off this and post something from which we all can actually LEARN something.

Thanks

oga HC,

So I must ask: What do you have to accomplish by this post? Even if it were ripped off and he admits to it, what do you hope to accomplish? Are you some sort of EFCC of the Nigerian Web dev world? Just curious. I would have preferred you email him privately on this.

I think Farriel has explained himself well. Maybe he should have posted his latter posts at the top and that would have reduced the posts/lines of questioning. I have looked at both sites and in particular, I have visited Enyimba's site in the past. I also noticed the similarity but that didn't bother me to the point of posting it on NL. Worse case, I would have checked Farriel's profile (as I have) and fortunately it is public, checked out his website and his portfolio. The 2 backgrounds do look similar but that is where the similarity ends. The layouts aren't the same at all. Bear in mind that there are 2 parts to a website - graphics (design) and layout/code (development).

CONCLUSION:
HC, no offense, but I think you are crying over spilt milk. We don't learn from anything said on this post. All we are going to do here is boost egos.

Thanks,

In addition to what uspry1 has said:

If you don't have the time for the above and want to whip up something really quickly, then depending on what kind of site you have in mind, you can create a regular website that conforms to web standards (semantic markup, code that validates, use of XHTML transitional at the minimum, etc - read up on web standards) and that comes with a stylesheet with type "print" to boot.

I am sure you already know this but just for the record, there is no such thing as "firefox explorer". Here is the link you seek:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

@kheme

You said, "that was smart, but wrong! but you may be right IN A WAY".

So my question is, am I right or wrong? I believe I can't be both at the same time

@basking4me

As Benjamin Franklin once said (paraphrasing): Make critics your friends because they are the only ones who tell you the truth about you.

You might notice that I don't criticize without offering a solution. That to me, my friend, is the best form of criticizing of all.

By the way, y u dey yab me by calling me mrs. Gani? Which kind "criticism" b dat?

in addition to what nduaj has said, I will state the little that I know. Please bear in mind that I am not a DBA:

You will have at the least, 2 tables:

1a) Jobs table that has the person's name, address, title, photo, etc
1b) To ensure database normalization, you probably don't want to have the job titles repeat themselves so you could assign a number to those titles. This is where the 2nd table comes in

2) Titles table that has 2 fields: field 1 has the job id and field 2 has the actual job title

3) In Jobs table, job id is secondary key while in titles table, job id is primary key

4) You probably also want to have some unique id for the jobs table. maybe one u can auto increment

5) maybe you index the name and job title fields

6) For the photos, since you aren't hardcoding the folders where the photos are stored but creating them on the fly, I don't see any reason why you should have the concerns you state. As long as you are linking to them absolutely, you can move the same code to another server and still not have any problems. Here is how I have done it:

Say you have a unique id for jobs table. Let's just say for sake of argument, the number for the first entry is "1". so you store the photo under: /images/photos/1/1.jpg. You create the "1" folder on the fly and store 1.jpg in that folder. So in this case, you aren't technically even storing even the file path in the DB. You just call the path on the fly on the page concerned. Make sense?

Conclusion:
You won't and shouldn't have separate accountant and waiter tables. What you should have is a table for the person's info and another table (at the very least) that list the job titles.

I knew it! First, last week, I posted here about that site redirecting to another site. Second, since, I have not been able to read news from that site. It just hangs.

Oh well, I guess that is what you get when you are the most visited Nigerian website (according to ALEXA) in the world.

LESSON OF THE DAY:
Granted a site is only as secure as the owners make it, one must strive to make such sites as Punch to be as secure as possible cos there is so much bad belle out there.