Sunday, November 7, 2010
Muddiest Point - Wk #9
I think I understand the reasoning behind using XML, but am not following the difference between DTD & XML schemas. Why are schemas better than DTD?
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Readings for Wk #9
Introducing the Extensible Markup Language (XML) / Bryan, Extending Your Markup / Bergholz, A Survey of XML Standards / Ogbuji, XML Schema Tutorial / W3
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a "subset of Standardized General Markup Language (SGML)" made to carry & store data. It is more flexible than HTML because the user can define their own tags, which makes it easier to share data across different languages & fields. Users don't need a particular version of software to create documents in XML structure. XML governs the structure of a data & not, as HTML does, what that data will look like. XML is expressed in documents which are made up of entities which are made of elements. Elements are made of attributes. For some reason, this breakdown of the structure of XML documents make me think of second grade grammar lessons when we learned sentence diagramming. These articles (except W3) were difficult to get through because they assume the reader has some experience/background with SGML. I'll have to re-read & go through the tutorials a few more times.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Assignment #5
Here's the link to my Koha book shelf:
http://upitt01-staff.kwc.kohalibrary.com/cgi-bin/koha/virtualshelves/shelves.pl?viewshelf=79
It's titled "Solo Library Management" & covers a few of the books that have been a tremendous help with my job & some books I've been meaning to read. My user name is TRW37.
http://upitt01-staff.kwc.kohalibrary.com/cgi-bin/koha/virtualshelves/shelves.pl?viewshelf=79
It's titled "Solo Library Management" & covers a few of the books that have been a tremendous help with my job & some books I've been meaning to read. My user name is TRW37.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Muddiest Point - Wk #8
Is it necessary to know HTML any more since it seems as if most web editing software has HTML built-in?
Readings for Wk #8
W3Schools HTML Tutorial / W3Schools.com
HTML is the markup language used to describe websites. Before reading this, I knew enough about HTML to recognize it when I see it & to do some basic edits (change fonts/sizes, make lists, bold, etc) to an existing website. This site was very easy to follow - easier to follow than the many manuals & seminars I've read/attended on building websites. I especially liked how it gave space for real-time practice.
HTML Cheat sheet / Webmonkey
I've bookmarked this page for future reference. It'll be very handy for any web editing projects because although HTML is a good thing to be familiar with, no one is going to remember all the correct tags.
W3Schools CSS Tutorial / W3Schools.com
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) allows you to apply styles to many web pages at once, saving a huge amount of time and effort. (I'm a little more familiar with this because of a web project at work [which ate my life] last year.) CSS is perfect for large-scale projects, like creating a new website. Once you've decided the basic format & the elements you'll need for each of the pages on the site (i.e. background colors, fonts, sizes, etc.), you can save those elements in a .css file & use it to style your pages.
Beyond HTML / Goans & Leach
This article discusses one library's adoption of a content management system to manage their web guides. CMS can make web sites easier to manage and edit because prior knowledge of HTML is not necessary. For this particular library,CMS also allowed them to be more creative in tagging and customizing information to better meet the needs of their users. It was interesting to see that when the authors surveyed librarians and liaisons in their use of CMS, most respondents indicated that the "ease of use" was the deciding factor in choosing CMS.
HTML is the markup language used to describe websites. Before reading this, I knew enough about HTML to recognize it when I see it & to do some basic edits (change fonts/sizes, make lists, bold, etc) to an existing website. This site was very easy to follow - easier to follow than the many manuals & seminars I've read/attended on building websites. I especially liked how it gave space for real-time practice.
HTML Cheat sheet / Webmonkey
I've bookmarked this page for future reference. It'll be very handy for any web editing projects because although HTML is a good thing to be familiar with, no one is going to remember all the correct tags.
W3Schools CSS Tutorial / W3Schools.com
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) allows you to apply styles to many web pages at once, saving a huge amount of time and effort. (I'm a little more familiar with this because of a web project at work [which ate my life] last year.) CSS is perfect for large-scale projects, like creating a new website. Once you've decided the basic format & the elements you'll need for each of the pages on the site (i.e. background colors, fonts, sizes, etc.), you can save those elements in a .css file & use it to style your pages.
Beyond HTML / Goans & Leach
This article discusses one library's adoption of a content management system to manage their web guides. CMS can make web sites easier to manage and edit because prior knowledge of HTML is not necessary. For this particular library,CMS also allowed them to be more creative in tagging and customizing information to better meet the needs of their users. It was interesting to see that when the authors surveyed librarians and liaisons in their use of CMS, most respondents indicated that the "ease of use" was the deciding factor in choosing CMS.
Monday, October 25, 2010
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