Category Archives: Web Design

16
Dec

A Listing about Standout Web Services

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Discovery A client application needing access to a Web service’s exposed features requires a way to address the remote service location. This is done by a method commonly called exploration. As well as by more ad hoc approaches, Exploration can be facilitated through a centralised directory. In DCOM, discovery services are provided by the Service Control Manager (SCM).  Have a look at Standout Web Services.

Definition After the end point for a specific Web service has been resolved, the consumer needs adequate information to deal with it properly. The definition of a Web service includes standardised interface metadata intended for use by a client application, as well as written Web service documentation, including examples of use. Via a form library, a DCOM component exposes structured metadata about its interfaces (typelib). The metadata is stored in a proprietary binary format inside a component typelib and accessed via a proprietary programming interface application (API). Just before it really takes off, it is always fun to get a glimpse of a new revolutionary technology. Semantic Web Services is one of the more promising Web opportunities.

Online Services are now self-contained, self-described, component applications that can be posted, found, and accessed within the Web. Web Services offer a common means of interoperating on a number of platforms between different software applications. The extensibility and language neutrality offered by eXtensibleMarkup Language (XML) is the key to Web Services’ standard-based interoperability. They perform functions that can involve anything from basic question answers to complex company processes. When a web service is implemented, it can be discovered and invoked by other applications. Currently, for recognition and execution, Web services involve human interaction.

The Web inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, has proposed that the combination of Web Services and Semantic Web technologies could provide Web applications with major performance improvements. Integration may combine the business logic of web services with the meaningful content of the Semantic Web. There are many fields in which the two could function together well. For example, an ontology (Application Ontology Language, OWL) could be used by current discovery technologies (Universal Definition, Discovery and Integration, UDDI), binding (Web Services Description Language, WSDL) and messaging (Simple Object Access Protocol, SOAP) to provide automatic Semantic Web Services to facilitate quick interaction with the engines of Web business rules.

14
Dec

Web Development- Intro

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The world of web development is still very much misunderstood. We’ve even heard people call it a “dark art”. So when you need help turning your ideas and designs into a high quality website or web application, how do you know who you can trust to get this done? Checkout Web Development for more info.

The purpose of this post is to provide some key points on what makes a good web development company, and will help you understand the kind of questions you should be asking development companies.

This is going to be a very opinionated post and we make no apologies for it. If you disagree with anything we are certainly open to discussing it further. Now to get on with the post. Below are the key areas we are going to be looking at, and what you should be looking for in a web development company.

-Able to do both front-end and back-end development
-Don’t specialise in one back-end technology
-Should follow best practices
-Understanding of marketing strategies surrounding the projects
-Invests time in research and development
-Has a rigorous testing process, including automated tests
-Flexible to change
-Use source control
-Able to do both front-end and back-end development
We don’t subscribe to idea of developers that do front-end development and developers that do back-end development. That’s the equivalent of having a plumber who only fits pipes and leaves the fitting of the baths, showers, sinks and toilets to someone else.

We agree there is a separation between web developers and web designers, there’s a completely different thought process going on there, but the separation between front-end and back-end is just wrong. To be a good web developer you need to understand the full development cycle and to be able to get involved in the project from start to finish. There is also much to be learnt from the working with the varying technologies, but we’ll come on to that.

Don’t specialise in one back-end technology
There are a number of good back-end technologies that are appropriate for web development including Ruby on Rails, ASP.Net and PHP (and others). They all have their strengths and weaknesses and not one is perfect. A good web development company should be flexible in which technologies they use, so that they use the most appropriate one for their clients’ needs.

The key reason we have spent time learning a number of technologies is to able to pick and choose the bits we like. Over the years the developers involved in The League have been able to take the good parts of each technology and formulate a number of best practices and use them across all platforms.

Should follow best practices
The key to being a good web developer is not the technologies that you use, but the best practices that you follow. As technologies come and go in our very fast moving industry those best practices will remain, or at least evolve. As a developer if you have a good grounding then you can move with the times and technologies fairly easily.