Bespoke Skill

There are an ever evolving and potentially bewildering number of languages and coding systems that are used to drive web pages and databases. To make a good web page

As long as you have someone to take care of the detail - and we at BabelFix can and will - only a very superficial knowledge is necessary...

All web browsers, such as Microsoft Explorer and Netscape Navigator use a series of commonly agreed code languages to read and display information. At its simplest, there is HTML (Hypertext Mark Up Language) and in principle much of this page uses it. But HTML is limited and various other languages like JavaScript and cool stuff like CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) can make it faster and better looking.

Java script allows complex page actions and the preloading of images - essentially a bank of pre-written scripts can be referred to repeatedly instead of having to write long pages of repeating code. Programs like Adobe's GoLive and Macromedia's Flash and Dreamweaver make extensive use of this technology, though in many cases their automatically produced code can be dramatically improved by expert hand-coding..

When a web page needs to look up and return data based on a user query, it has to have code that will allow information to be exchanged. When a web page for a catlogue has, for example, a user option to choose to see an object painted in red or blue, then some kind of CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is deployed. The scripting can be done in a variety of languages including ASP, Perl and C.

Utilities like Lasso can make this rather less time consuming, as well as including translations and an interface that allows database connection to be greatly simplifies. Dreamweaver studio can be used with lasso to increase flexibilty for those wanting a way to program code without knowing everything. Lasso is also particularly useful when combined with FileMaker Pro because it is designed to work with it and has strong FMP tag libraries written for the purpose.

XML (Extensible Markup Language) isn't quite brand new. But its recent W3C (worldwide web consortium) ratification and more general adoption by the industry leaders means that we can use it with growing confidence in its universal usage.

In principle, XML allows developers to create framework shells (called XSLT) into which data can flow - and from which it can also be drawn. And depending on the XSLT document into which the data is placed, it can also display it just about any which way. Very fast and very easily.

As this use of this technology increases it will be pivotal to much of what BabelFix does. There is a high probability that XML - in some or other flavour - will be used on G3 wireless devices as well as the 'grown-up' web itself. It promises much faster data interchange and delivery of information to end users, as well as exciting opportunities for universal data sources and processing.