₦airaland Forum

yawatide at yahoo dot com

@ozolu

What do you mean by "Web content" anyways? Just the textual portions of a site? What?

@smartsoft

Sure thing. Post away

So I am looking at the beach in the background and asking myself 2 questions:

1) How will Gamine implement this background in a way that it doesn't involve the creation of one large image that is heavy in size (bandwidth)?

2) Again, focusing on the beach, why can't I find anything else on the page (In other words, the page is busy and all I see is the beach in the background, nothing else)?

Is this a brochure for an ad campaign or a website? If the former, pleasantly done. If the latter, I would be very concerned about page bandwidth.

Also, with so much happening on the page, I find it hard to concentrate on what I deem to be the most important parts of that page which are (in descending order), "flight search", "visit australia" and the menu section (which if you don't look closely, is almost as if it doesnt exist).

and wat happens with the sea drudge once the actual water is separated? Since we depend on rain water to replenish the water we consume, what happens when that causes an imbalance in the water cycle? As for tea, isn't that a leaf?

and what are the other kinds of water? what are their sources?

@castrol
Water is not a renewable resource. The more you use without replenishing or allowing nature to do so naturally, the less you have. I used to live in Atlanta and every summer there is an issue of Atlanta possibly running out of water. In 2007, the state governor even organized a day of prayer for rain. By the way, for those in the desert, where will the water come from? I guess it will have to be imported and by the way, what kind of fuel will run such engines? Just wondering.

Folks, if you really care about renewable energy, let's not look at water (again, not renewable) or soy beans/corn (the reason why rice is N20K a bag as more of it is being shifted to "save the planet" as opposed to feeding human beings who have dominion over the earth). You have the sun, battery-powered and solar-powered. The 3 that I have mentioned are all renewable source of energy. Heck, we could even dump all that, attach masts to our cars and use the wind.

@hanen, again with the wrong use of the word, "template". You are using the wrong word to describe the right thing. You don't mean "template", you mean "boiler plate template.

Look up my definitions, as supported by links, above.

Interesting!

Just before reading this article, I was googling for some info and the first link I saw was that of a SWF. I thought I was dreaming and immediately looked for the "cached" link to go to the actual site but it was real. I was able to view the SWF.

I guess in time accessibility will no longer be an issue with flash although quite frankly, I think accessibility went out the window with AJAX.

@mambenanje

Definitely. In general, a web 2.0 website should be developed with the following in mind:
1) Supports social interaction
2) Encourages user participation
3) Enhanced ("rich" user experience (which is where my first list belongs)
4) Open source data

A PDF i read recently basically put it in perspective for me: Basically, whereas web 1.0 was about commerce, web 2.0 is about people.

@mambe

Girl? Excuse me! I will forgive you this time

Thanks for the clarification. I totally get what you are saying. With my conditional, I would have to say, "if true, show flash, else show image" whereas with yours, everything is done completely within one file. Makes total sense to me.

Wow! I just learnt something new today. Let's keep it flowing.

The link above should suffice. If you follow at least half of the items on that list, you should be good to go. For starters, you could do the following:

1) Have a bold logo
2) Use big san-serif font
3) add "beta" to any new features or headers on your site
4) Use rounded corners for your container DIVs
5) Implement a solution using any of the javascript libraries out there
6) Photo gallery using lightbox
7) On your forms, make sure you are using large text boxes.

@omnipotens

Then you and others might find this useful:
http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/web-2.0-design-style-guide.cfm

Why don't u find out:

http://web2.0validator.com/

@prodgalson
Pretty cool! I am happy I have been able to coax you out of your posting slumber and that I have finally heard from a flash guru with regards this issue, considering flash isn't one of my strongest points, so to speak

So, what are the advantages of passing in a var into the swf as opposed to the say, the PHP? I am not saying mine is better. I just want some more convincing. I know you've said that it's more efficient but how so? Let us learn some more.

Thanks

In light of a recent post, I have decided to write on this topic and solicit your responses.

Just like the term, "web designer" as been misconstrued within the Nigeran context to refer to anyone who does any kind of Front End Web Development (as opposed to a graphics designer), I think the term, "template" is also being misconstrued. Moreoever, it appears to be given a bad rap.

So, what is a template? Well, even applying it to other spheres of life, a template is something that you build once and use multiple times. Back in the stone ages of **web development**, it wasn't uncommon for a 5-page site for instance to have each of those 5 pages totally different from the other. I should know - I developed such sites myself In any event, when the discipline of usability engineering became more and more mature, it became a consensus that for consistency/"not to confuse the user" reasons, all pages should look alike with respect to layout. Thus the template was born. The exception of course would be where, say, I personalize my page(s) to look different from the default. Then again, that is user-initiated.

If we go by this definition, you can see that I am right so far in my assertions: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Web+template&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title

Bottomline, there is nothing to be ashamed of with respect to building/using a template. Your aim is to reduce development time, not to repeat yourself and to crank out quality code in an efficient manner. Now, if you rip off someone else's idea and lack the smarts enough to at least customize a few features is another issue entirely.

So again I ask, what is a template within the Nigerian context? Could it be that, just like "web designer" we actually mean something else? If that is the case, shouldn't we do it right and give it the name it deserves? Let's stop using terms for which we know not what they mean just because Okoro used the term first many many years ago. I personally would prefer the term, "boiler plate" design which means rather than create your own, you basically copy and paste someone else's design and modify just the content to suit your needs, but thatz just me. of course, such "boiler plates" tend to be mass produced and as such not that visually appealing. Also, should you run into any problems, since you didn't do it yourself, chances are you wouldn't know how to fix it and finally, at least from experience, i have never "met" a "boiler plate" that I haven't ended up changing around just to suit my needs.

Definition of boiler plate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boilerplate_%28text%29

Thoughts? Comments? Come on folks, letz LEARN something.

@texas
to add to what you and others have said, oil will never go away. why? because it isn't just about cars. Even the computer/PDAs we are using to post on even this particular post are all oil-based (plastic, etc).

i will let kobo speak for herself but speaking for myself, a template is any blueprint upon which other pages of your site will rely on for structure. In other words, whether you get it from somewhere or develop it from scratch, once you have the first page up, 99% of the time, that first page is what the other pages will be based on. It shouldn't be anything to be shy or embarrassed about. After all, I dare say majority of the sites out there are based at least in part on another site out there.

In other words, a template is something that can easily be replicated once developed the first time around. And I might be right, at least based on this page: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:Web+template&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title

@Uche2nna

Water of course but you miss the long-term point which is what I addressed in my post. Think about it again. Where will the water come from? In a place like Nigeria where indiscriminate digging of boreholes is rampant, dont you think we are sucking more out of the ground than we put back? Even if we were to get the water from the sea, what will happen to the sea salt that is left over from distillation? If pumped back into the sea, salinity increases. If dumped elsewhere, you are looking at pollution.

No offense but I think you may need to revisit your "Inta" science textbooks.

1) Intro page: Why the long gray bar to the right?

2) Intro page: The "atom" orbits around the "v" seems a little fuzzy at first. Why not use vector graphics there?

3) Global: Why is the "contact us" a link and the other menu items images?

4) Contact us page: No form. Why?

5) Global: Your page header images (eg. "Bukola Concepts" are too large. Average size was 89K. Refer to one of my posts: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-146260.0.html for more on this.

6) Flash everywhere: I also wrote a post on this : https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-147722.0.html - refer to it. Also have you tested especially your intro page at the local cyber cafe to see how it loads with the available bandwidth?

In general: good job! I also think you stand to benefit from my upcoming Ebook.

As of today, July 8, 2008, I am done with 10 chapters of 16. I originally wanted to stop at 10 but after each chapter, another chapter comes to mind, based in part on what I see on this board. I should be done no later than 2 weeks from now.

Stay Tuned!

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/jul/6/201.html

Three hundred and seventy students, in 124 teams from 61 countries, including Nigeria, are participating in the sixth edition of the finals of the ‘World Cup of Software’, known as Imagine Cup competition, which began on Friday in Paris.

It is the world’s premier student technology competition, organised by Microsoft Corporation to encourage young people to apply their imagination, passion and creativity to technology innovations that can make a difference in the world today.

Two hundred thousand students from over 100 countries and regions registered for this year’s contest.

Working around the theme for this year’s contest: ‘Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment’, the students are competing across nine categories: Software Design, Embedded Development, Game Deve-lopment, “Project Hoshimi” (Programming Battle), IT Challenge, Algorithm, Photography, Short Film and Interface Design for a total of $240, 000 in prize money.

The national champion, a three-man team of University of Lagos (UNILAG) students is representing Nigeria in the Software Design category with a project called ‘CarBurn’, which seeks to address global warming. It is part of a proposed framework that is made of three components that work together to create better environmental conditions.

The components are the chip firmware, the Web service, and the data centre. It is the country’s first appearance in the contest.

President of Microsoft International, Jean Philippe Courtois said he was amazed to see how the competition had grown since the first edition was held in Barcelona six years ago with only the Software Design.

Deputy Mayor of Paris, in charge of Innovation, Research and Universities, Jean-Louis Missika, who opened the competition along with Courtois, said it was a great day, not only because the Imagine Cup was taking off, but also because Ingrid Betancourt, the French-Columbian hostage, was back home.

Winners will be announced on Tuesday as part of the Imagine Cup World Festival closing ceremonies.

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/jul/6/201.html

Three hundred and seventy students, in 124 teams from 61 countries, including Nigeria, are participating in the sixth edition of the finals of the ‘World Cup of Software’, known as Imagine Cup competition, which began on Friday in Paris.

It is the world’s premier student technology competition, organised by Microsoft Corporation to encourage young people to apply their imagination, passion and creativity to technology innovations that can make a difference in the world today.

Two hundred thousand students from over 100 countries and regions registered for this year’s contest.

Working around the theme for this year’s contest: ‘Imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment’, the students are competing across nine categories: Software Design, Embedded Development, Game Deve-lopment, “Project Hoshimi” (Programming Battle), IT Challenge, Algorithm, Photography, Short Film and Interface Design for a total of $240, 000 in prize money.

The national champion, a three-man team of University of Lagos (UNILAG) students is representing Nigeria in the Software Design category with a project called ‘CarBurn’, which seeks to address global warming. It is part of a proposed framework that is made of three components that work together to create better environmental conditions.

The components are the chip firmware, the Web service, and the data centre. It is the country’s first appearance in the contest.

President of Microsoft International, Jean Philippe Courtois said he was amazed to see how the competition had grown since the first edition was held in Barcelona six years ago with only the Software Design.

Deputy Mayor of Paris, in charge of Innovation, Research and Universities, Jean-Louis Missika, who opened the competition along with Courtois, said it was a great day, not only because the Imagine Cup was taking off, but also because Ingrid Betancourt, the French-Columbian hostage, was back home.

Winners will be announced on Tuesday as part of the Imagine Cup World Festival closing ceremonies.

@tsharp

Your last sentence IMHO is the reason why there are so many blogs - generally speaking, they aren't doing it cos they like it but cos they see blogging as a money-generating avenue. When they write for ages however and all they get is peanuts from adsense, they get discouraged hence the "dying" you are talking about.

@Omnipotens
and not to mention, most of those who have had derogatory words to say about Afam haven't themselves contributed in any +ve way towards the growth of this board (Ouch!)

@sunej,

Not me. I am only arguing for the practicality of the technique. It isn't practical. Assuming 1 billion cars out there, where will the water come from?

By the way, I think working for NNPC should be the last thing on your mind considering how inefficient they are

This is the very reason why I don't subscribe to any FB apps. The minute I see the fine print about my actions possibly being monitored (sure, I know there are those who do it undercover but it's another thing when it explicitly says so), I am out of there!

@victado64

True, there is a water "cycle" however you forget that if you take out more than you bring in, there will be a net -ve difference. For example, not all that evaporates gets returned to the earth. Some is lost to the atmosphere. Also, as we clear more and more land for building houses for example, more and more of the soil water is lost to evaporation. Also dont forget about global warming (or i guess "global change" is what its called now). This can cause less rain to fall in one area and more in another. the result? droughts. Since I cant seem to stop, yet another is building of dams which alters the natural course of water. You can't mess with nature without repercussions.

The above are just a few examples of how man has altered the water cycle, among other natural events thus rendering water exhaustible.

Nah man,

You can't just leave like that. You are an elder statesman of this forum. If you've noticed, to sort of steer clear of controversial topics, I post topics that people can learn from. Granted I don't generate the number of responses I would have expected, I still march on. There are times I have contemplated leaving myself but I stay on cos of the few people who in my opinion keep this board going.

Don't go man. Look at it this way: Since as you've said, there is little to learn anymore, if you leave, it will be that much more worse. Think about it, you could be that lone voice screaming in the wilderness

Seriously though, don't leave.

good pdf (10mb)

http://www.andybudd.com/presentations/sxsw07/web20.pdf

and with many countries experiencing droughts, where will the water come from? Will he have an Organization of Water Exporting Countries (OWEC)? Even if we get the water from the ocean, the slug (sea salt, etc) will have to be put back in the ocean, thus increasing sea salinity.

Bad idea.