WWW Information Pack

Introduction to the WWW Information Pack

What is the WWW Information Pack?

The WWW Information Pack is a comprehensive reference guide to the World Wide Web at the University of Aberdeen. It is produced by the Directorate of Information Systems and Services (DISS), and its principal aim is to enhance support for the web as a teaching and learning medium within the University.

Who should use this material?

The WWW Information Pack is aimed at a wide spectrum of users. The information is structured so that there should be a gradual increase in the level of technical difficulty as you progress through the series of Factsheets.

The early Factsheets in the pack deal with the web as a source of information. They explain how you can locate information efficiently on the web, and save it onto your own computer.

Factsheets 9 to 17 are aimed at users who want to start creating their own web pages. They contain guidance in the basic principles of XHTML and web page design.

The later Factsheets are aimed at more advanced users. They discuss the techniques required to create interactive web pages, including PHP scripting, databases and Flash. They also provide guidance on some important aspects of web site management.

What's new in this Third Edition?

This third edition of the WWW Information Pack replaces the previous second edition which was produced in 1998.

The Pack has again been re-structured, expanded and extensively re-written to reflect the many changes that have taken place in web technology since 1998. The information contained in the Pack now reflects the state of the web in early 2004.

Some of the most important issues facing the web at this time (which are reflected in the approach of this Pack) are:

• The transition from HTML 4 to XHTML. Wherever possible, all code examples in this Pack are now given in XHTML
• The increasing sophistication of visual web editing software - most notably Macromedia Dreamweaver. This application has now evolved from a simple "WYSIWYG" web design tool to a complex development environment. In some cases this has doubled the amount of documentation needed, since it has been necessary to explain how to perform certain tasks both in "raw" source code and also in Dreamweaver.
• The increasing use of web-database technology to automate the publication of structured data - exemplified by the rise in popularity of PHP and MySQL
• The increasing recognition of the importance of web accessibility
• The rising popularity of Macromedia Flash
• The increasing importance of XML

The production of this quantity of documentation faces inevitable difficulties: new versions of standard software are continually released, which threaten to render sections of the material out-of-date before they are even published. For this reason, most of the Factsheets in this Pack emphasise the general principles underlying web development, which should have much greater longevity that the specific details of individual applications.

Acknowledgements

Overall management of this project was undertaken by Mike McConnell and Aenea Reid.

The material in this Pack was researched and writted by Jim Kerslake (jimkerslake@uklinux.net) between March 2003 and January 2004. The material was proofread by Lisetta Tripodi.

Guidance and comments were provided by Mike McConnell, John Thom, Pete Jeffels, Christine Mackenzie, Sam Heighes and Phil Marston.