assignments

a number of students misinterpreted the first assignment. i do my best to make them clear, but i sometimes find what seems clear to me can be misinterpreted. i will continue to try to be clear - and if anything seems fuzzy, please don't hesitate to ask. those who misinterpreted the assignment, i will give you the opportunity to redo it for full credit.

client side validation

here is a nice article about client side validation.

form data validation is very important. a mix of client and server side validation gets you the best of both worlds. for users with javascript enabled (the vast majority), it gives immediate response and saves the server from trying to process obviously bad data. however, server side validation will catch errors for those who have turned off javascript. additionally, more complex validation can be done (say, a credit card number) on the server side.

common web development mistakes

here is a list of common web development mistakes

many of the mistakes center on one thing - assuming that you know what the client has. examples: being to ie-centric, javascript dependency, flash dependency, using browser or specific deprecated attributes.

good websites work well across all possible platforms. a number of the other errors relate to things that make sites less accessible to those with disabilities.

new semester!!!

it is always exciting at the start of the new semester. this class is typically a very fun one to teach for a number of reasons. in many respects, this class puts all the pieces together and teaches what one needs to know to put together robust database driven web sites. most of the large sites on the internet use server side technology.

i hope you all try the extra credit project. it is really fairly easy and i think rewarding. those who do attempt it, please let me know the URL and if i can link to it from this and our page on angel.