In this issue...
Latest from the MCLI WWW Server
Counting Hits... on a web server is a mixed bag. If your server records a million
accesses a month, how many are really reading and how many are just surfing by? We
do keep statistics on our server that help us identify critical areas. A recent
addition to MCLI is a daily update of server access from our
server information page.
I don't put great stock in the numbers; the true measure ios the increase in the amount
of web-related e-mail that we receive (as well as how often I hear the server hard
drive cranking away).
Dynamic Documents... Maintaining and updating web pages is time intensive. We are
developing several new types of web services that rather than editing a set of
static HTML documents uses CGI scripts to assemble web pages from an archive
of files. And we create submission forms so that anyone can add to our collection.
For example, we have our collection of subject oriented
HOT links to web sites.
These presently exist as individual HTML files. It is evolving into our
451F links (for 451 degrees
Fahrenheit- remember the novel?). The index page allows you to conduct searches on our
collection of HOT links and the CGI script constructs the results in HTML to return to you.
And the submission form creates an entry and formats it with the necessary HTML. We hope that
others will help maintain this collection by adding to it over time. The other area
to see this concept is the web for
Teaching and Learning on the World Wide Web.
Web Tutorial... We still get a lot of favorable comments on our Writing HTML tutorial-- we are
in the process of adding some lessons on Tables and NetScape backgrounds.
Randomizing... We've yet to significantly apply it, but with CGI scripting
we can now introduce links that go to places randomly selected from a list of options.
As a silly example, I have a link that pulls up a randomly selected photo image from an
archive on my home page.
NetScape Usage
It is by far no industry secret that
NetScape has swept the web world.
A major buzz among the webbie newsgroups is about NetScape's inclusion of
HTML extensions
that are not yet part of "official" HTML 3.0 specifications.
And some say that "official" standards as too slow in coming.
So the question remains, if I use the NetScape features, do I piss off someone
who is using a browser that will turn to crap my beautiful, color background and
carefully tabled pages? The backgrounds are fairly safe since, if not supported by the
browser, simply will not appear.
A recent article in the July 31 issue of InterActive Age
reports of a detailed survey of 6 major commercial sites that were selected to measure over
time the usage of differen browsers. Some two years ago, there was just NCSA Mosaic, but with
the profilferation of the web, the browser market is becoming crowded? Now major online
services are sporting web interfaces (AOL, Prodigy, GEnie, Compuserve) as well as other
companies marketing such things as "Internet in A Box" how do you write HTML that will work
everywhere? Do you stick to "standard" HTML? And look "dull"?
And who knows the impact of a tiny company that begins with the
letter M.
InterActive Age reports that many of the newer browsers plan for support for NetScape-special tags. So a big
question is, "Is NetScape the tail wagging the dog?". Here is some data [presented uin
a fabulous NetScaped Table!] reported in
IA covering the use of browsers between November 1994 and July 1995:
Browser | November 1994 | July 1995 |
| Netscape | 13% | 74% |
| NCSA Mosaic | 60% | 5% |
| Lynx | 2% | 0% |
| AOL | 0% | 7% |
| Prodigy | 0% | 3% |
| Others | 13% | 8% |
As a side note, we have analyzed the
server logs
from our MCLI Web server.
In directories that use a background image tag, we can compare the percentage
of downloads for the graphic file of the background to that of the HTML page that
includes the tag. Users of NetScape 1.1 features will download both, others will download
only the HTML. In four different directories this percentage averages 65 - 70%,
very simliar to the trends noted above.
And this is only the beginning. The next trends will move away from the concept of
using external "helper" applications for various media. So ask yourself:
As you try to slurp your Hot Java, will Netscape's Acrobatics be a Shockwave
to a swooping Blackbird or frothing Cyberdog?
Future versions of NetScape Naviagotr 1.2 (release in Autumn?) will include
the engine for displaying in web pages,
animations as well as Adobe Acrobat files.
Microsoft's
Blackbird will allow similar seamless integration of media in the web browser page.
And then there is Sun's Java technology to download small executable
code that will provide greater interaction in the web environment. And Apple is harnessing a beast
called Cyberdog...
Will Web browsers become "bloatware"? Will they be packed with features, hogging RAM and disk space?
Will HTML writers need to worry about browsers that will not display the media they are including?
Just wait and see...
WWW Users Survey
It's been out for a while- the third survey of web users
from the Graphics, Visualization, & Usability Center at Georgia Institute of Technology.
Argue about the value of asking web users questions about themselves, but the results
represent trends among the ever expanding (12 billion users by 2010! Right...)
audience of webbies.
The third survey covers the period from April 10 and May 10, 1995 with
a General Demographics, WWW Browser
Usage, Authoring Information, Consumer Attitudes & Preferences and a
pre-test for Web Service Providers.
Who answered? Me and 13000 others.The survey was widened to reflect the uise by commercial
on line services (Prodigy AOL and CompuServe) that have www access. The results also compare results
beyween European and US users, as well as male-female differences.
Here are some extracts:
- Overall, 31.0% of the users have been on the Internet less than 6
months, with 29.9% having been on the Internet for 1 to 3 years.
23.1% of the users have been on the Internet for 4 or more years.
- Overall, 15.5% of the users were female, with 82.0% male and 2.5%
"Rather not say!". The actual numbers are 2020 women, 10668 men,
and 318 non-responses.
- Overall, 46.44% of users have 11 to 50 items bookmarked/on their
hotlist.
- Exactly 50% of overall users report using their browser between 2 and
6 hours per week. Only 4.75% report using it for less time, while
45.26% report using it for more.
- The overall median income is between $50,000 and $60,000 US dollars,
with an estimated average income of $69,000.
- Overall, 50.3% of the users are married, with 40.0% being single. The
users whom reported being divorced was 5.7%.
- The distribution of primary computing platforms across all sampled
populations closely resembles computer marketing reports: 52.0%
Windows, 26.2% Macintosh, & 8.8% Unix. These three platforms
account for 87% of all platforms reported.
- 82.3% of the respondents are white, with none of the other groups
reporting over 5% response.
- Computer (31.4%) and Educational (23.7%) occupations still represent
the majority of respondents. Professional (21.9%), Management
(12.2%), and other (10.8%) filling out the other occupations.
- Most users (82.0%) spent between 1 and 6 hours learning HTML. Many
users learned HTML in only 1 to 3 hours (55.2%).
- Overall, the most popular server is NCSA's (38.60%) followed by
MacHTTP (20.79%) and CERN's (18.46%).
Going Wild With Tables
Deciding whether or not to use tables is a decisionn facing web authors-- until the HTML
is fully supported by all browsers, you risk having a beautiful laid out
page mangled by some browser that cannot display it as intended. If you go with tables,
test on as many computers and browsers as possible! We find large differences between Windows
and Macintosh browsers because of the variety in standard font size (Windows tends
to be larger amd thus spreads your tables wider).
Whatever the results of using tables in HTML, we think that they offer an extremely
useful way to organize elements on a web page. Tables can better organize textual
elements, and reduce the tendancy for the mile long lists of bullets. The HTML
for tables ends up looking pretty messy, but if you've not tried it before,
we've prepared a basic example.
But lets go beyond formatting text. Some people are out there pushing the table tags,
well, off the table. I was intrigued by the use of nested tables (tables in tables)
on the SedonaNet page that created a
picture frame like effect around a graphic.
We've again prepared an example how to use nested tables in HTML.
For more information on tables, see
NetScape's Implementation of Tables,
W3 Consortium's
Toward Graceful Deployment of Tables in HTML
or the WWW Developers Virtual Library
Sites of Intrigue
-
Anthropology
- University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) Anthroplogy
- offers the SAA Bulletin, Archaelogy film reviews, program information, and details
on their archaeology projects.
Art
- Art on the Net
- is "the voice of reason in a world of chaos". This site offers online
access to information and examples of artists in many different
media.
- Museum of Bad Art
(MoBA)
- is a community-based, private institution dedicated to the collection, preservation,
exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms and in all its glory.
- ArtNetWeb
- is the third phase of a process
to establish an art colony in cyberspace.
- Broadway Worldwide
- formerly known as Playbill OnLine, puts theater information into cyberspace
- Digital Directory
- is a showcase of graphic talent on CD-ROM that features full screen
portfolio samples of the work of illustrators, photographers, designers, multi-media artists and website
designers.
Computers
- Heizer Software
- provides add-ons to extend the functionality of multimedia authoring
tools such as HyperCard, SuperCard, and Toolbook.
- MacWorld Online
- online version of the popular Macintosh magazine
- Mac Net Journal
- is a free online magazine for networking for
Macintosh computers.
- Power Computing Corporation
- manufactures and distributes Macintosh clone computers. From their
web site you can pick and choose the features for
a system and get a price for the configuration.
- Apple Business Systems Mirror Archive
- contains copies of software archives from some of the comprehensive
but busy software sites such as Info-Mac.
- Jumbo
- is "the biggest, most mind-boggling, most eye-popping,
most death-defying conglomeration of freeware and
shareware programs on the known-web!!!" with
over 20,000 titles, organized well, and searchable.
Earth Science
- National Environmental Information Resources Center (NEIRC)
- provides access to a broad range of information about
environmental matters -- maintained by hundreds of organizations around the globe.
- Electronic Prehistoric Shark Museum
- includes pictures and information about sharks and paleontology.
Education
- C-Span in the Classroom
- Classroom resources provided by C-SPAN
-
Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for Electronic Learners
-
- GNN Educenter
- mostly k-12 resources with support from publishers
Houghton-Mifflin and McDougal Little.
- Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable (TLTR)
- is a national prject from the American Association of Higher Education (AAHE).
It seeks to improve the quality and accessibility of higher
education through the selective use of information technology
and information resources in teaching and learning -- while
controlling costs.
Geography
- ESRI
- offers the leading geographic information system (GIS) software. These products will help you explore
the world with greater perspective and understanding than ever before.
Government
- C-Span Political Resource Center
- current information provided by
C-SPAN
- Democratic National Committee
- your favorite dems at work
- National Security Agency (NSA)
- your favorite spies at work
History
- Liberty Online
- publishes and promotes the written word forged
the United States, including the writings of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine,
Patrick Henry, Abraham Lincoln, Than Allen, as well as the text of the U.S. Constitution and
the Declaration of Independence.
- Haight-Ashbury in the Sixties
- publicizes an interactive multimedia view of the 1960s as well as links
to related psychedelic resources.
Humor
- Comic Zone
- from United Feature Syndicate, offers the largest collection of online comic art including the
ever popular Dilbert.
Internet
- Wandex
- Wandex is a WWW index generated by the WWW Wanderer and the net.Index prototype (an
autonomous content analysis-based search engine). To date, Wandex has indexed over 29,000 web
documents from more than 12,000 sites and more than 6,000 homepages.
- SubmitIt!
- is a free service designed to make the process of submitting your URLs to a variety of WWW
catalogs faster and easier.
- URL-minder
- retrieves URLs you register with them on a regular basis and
reports back to you by e-mail if and when they change.
- WebReivew
- is an Internet-based publication that uses the latest Web technology to chronicle the emergence
of a new medium.
- Web-based Quizzes
- generate various types of quizzes from www server using CGI scripts.
-
On The Net: Internet Resources in Virtual Reality
- from the
Human Interface Technology Laboratory
at the the University of Washington.
- Virtual World
- The World's First Digital Theme Park --
"fully immerses guests in the fictional world of the
Virtual Geographic League (VGL), a formerly secret society
dedicated to the discovery and exploration of other dimensions.
Within these fully
three-dimensional environments, guests (called pilots) are free
to move and interact at will. Since all interaction is between
people, not computers, every adventure is unique."
Jobs
- Pencom Career Center
- is provided by Pencom, a national multi-services software company, specializing in open systems technology,
provides full-time placement, contract programmming, systems administration, and software development.
Languages
- WISEMAN EN FLORIDA
- Spanish only home page with links to prominent Spanish-language links
in Spain and Chile
Literature
- Texture
- a new on-line monthly literary magazine, publishes innovative
humor, short stories, essays, and poetry.
- At Random or "@random"
- is a literary magaizine from Random House Publishing. It features
exerpts from new books, news on upcoming titles, profiles of authors, and discussion
of literary issues for writers.
Mathematics
- Lessons and Appetizers for Math and Reason
- by Alan Selby, stem from three books on understanding and
explaining reason and math. The appetizers also include pointers
to other math instructional resources.
- American Mathematical Society
- features the web version of
"e-MATH GOPHER".
It includes peer-reviewed and archived
mathematical mublications as well as mathematical preprints, plus names of
bulletin boards and discussion lists.
- The Geometry Forum - Math Projects
- A summer institute with Math Teachers in the on-going process of creating
resources for other teachers. Specific areas for High School Teachers in
Algebra (1 & 2), Geometry, Trigonometry, Probability and Statistics, and
Calculus. Each area is moderated and maintained. Sub-topics include
Lesson Plans, Topics of coverage, Student Project Ideas, On-line resources,
Collections, other topic sites, and many more.
Medical
- Deaf World Web
- is intended to be a nexus on the Internet about the Deaf around the world It provides deaf and hearing people information on Deaf in all subjects
Multimedia
- Internet Multimedia Research Foundation (IMRF)
- is an organization committed to stretching the
boundaries of multimedia technology. Their goal is to use existing multimedia
technology in new, surprising, and often stupid ways.
- Oracle Media Objects
- is a new tool similar in metaphor to HyperCard, but with
hooks and a future for Oracle's plans of distributing multimedia via CD-ROM and
networks. For a limited time, you can download a full working version.
- Quest
- is an object-oriented multimedia authoring system for Windows developed by
instructional design experts at Allen Communications.
The WYSIWYG development environment can be used by non-programmers to develop educational or training courseware.
- AuthorBase
- is a database of authoring systems
-
Photoshop f/x Online Companion
- resources for users of Adobe PhotoShop
- QuickTime VR
- is the home for Apple's new technology for Virtual Reality in
QuickTime movies. QTVR includes the ability to naviagte through a
three-dimensional space.
News
- The Gate
- is the online newspaper of the San Francisco Chronile
and the San Francisco Examiner featuring access ti classifieds,
sports, entertainment plus a
Digital Gallery.
- Detroit Free Press
- The Detroit Free Press, with a circulation of about 560,000 daily,
is the ninth largest daily newspaper in the country and the largest daily in the 28-paper
Knight-Ridder group.
Weather
- IntelliCast
- Up to date weather forecasts
WWW News 08-07-95
Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI)
Maricopa County Community College District
The Internet Connection (1993-2006) at MCLI was
Alan Levine --}
Comments once went to levine@maricopa.edu (no one is at home there)
URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/webnews/950807.html
