Hybrid HTML (1)

Hybridizing html

November 8, 2007

 

 

I found that more and more web sites are filled with unreadable and overwritable texts, as well as invisible or inoperable components. I don't know if this is due to excessive trust in the correctness of Ajax components (validity), or whether CSS has never been cross-platform or both.

John Dvorak recently made a high profile comment, believing that Ajax makes web programs very bad. In fact, what he said is not Ajax itself (which his readers will soon find), but the CSS/JavaScript/DHTML User Interface (UI) on many Ajax components ). Many Ajax Component Libraries focus too much on the underlying technology and ignore the correctness of the presentation details. Basically, CSS and JavaScript used in the Ajax Component Library have encountered problems, but Ajax has been attacked.

In any case, his basic idea is that anyone can add interesting gadgets to web pages, but it's hard to get it on any machine (regardless of the Operating System/browser) always available (not limited by screen resolution) and useful? For Ajax, a path with the least resistance does not ensure its proper operation.

I'm not as confident as Dvorak, but the increasing number of Ajax applications and the increasing number of unavailable sites seem to prove this point of view. All I know is that developers didn't spend time testing their sites on different browsers-apparently they're making assumptions: If Ajax and CSS are applied and run successfully on IE, then it runs in other places without any problems. Even the powerful Gmail has recently discovered a bug that causes text overlapping on machines with Firefox installed.

It seems that every travel website I visited (flight, hotel, and travel comprehensive information) is only available on IE browser. If you log on to these sites using Firefox, you will find that the time selector (of course Ajax component) may be invisible, or not all information will be visible when it is displayed. The remaining components are not necessarily visible, so I will remember that I should use IE to log on.

These sites are all created by experienced developers. They probably attended a meeting for people who wrote travel websites, and discussed a lot about how Ajax components can solve all of their problems without having to perform multiple transformation tests. They are tough on this.

I didn't mean anything to blame them at all, and I certainly didn't want to spend time verifying them in all browsers. I only want to "Write it once and run it everywhere", and this has become a joke because of Java's own interests. Although the idea is still commendable, otherwise we will inevitably encounter the nightmare of testing. The result is that it reduces the scope of our attempt on the web.

Writing websites that can work across platforms is obviously not impossible, because many websites, although as complex as travel sites, still run well in Firefox and other non-ie browsers, for example, Google applications, Wells Fargo, and Amazon. Websites such as tigerdirect do not use Ajax components, but still insist that HTML also solves the problem.

I have adopted an extremely conservative and simple solution on my website. I try to stay away from various possibilities and try to make all pages use the same simple layout and CSS. Even so, I have to try to make this simple format run in the same way everywhere. Of course, it is not as simple as CSS promises. Although CSS has taken a step forward in the correct direction (independent from the layout of independent content), in general it is a failure, poor design and why can't I create and use my own simple tag )? Why must I use Div and class everywhere? And why do PHP or other technologies need to be used only to include a standard header and footer? If they want to "fix" it, why don't they simplify and function it?

I have heard of the advantages of CSS and have fought against reality. It is not until a better thing appears that it cannot solve the problem. Then we have to propose a better solution.

Whenever I criticize any aspect of web, CSS, and Ajax, someone will jump out from the corner and say "you are not using it" or "You still don't understand ". No one seems to understand it without any acknowledgment. Dvorak further said, "except for a few exceptions, AjaxBornIt is very bad ". Although there is a possibility of misunderstanding of some technical concepts, he has linked the problem after all.

Many people think that the problem lies not in the technology itself, but in the incompetent programmers (obviously it refers to those who have created Ajax libraries widely deployed and used currently ). I have heard such remarks many times before: A technology is labeled as "good" only because it is possible to apply the technology correctly (in fact, many discussions seem to come down to such an assertion ). This argument comes from the fact that the true criteria are not possibilities, but usability. If a technology is relatively easy and correctly used, more people can quickly master and apply it. If it is difficult to use it correctly, a large number of bad application instances will be generated. The final result is either to fix it or to force people to find another path.

I think the poor experience of e-commerce websites mainly comes from the fact that CSS is not standardized or misused. At the same time, developers trust Ajax components (CSS and JavaScript are mainly used in page display) will fulfill what they claim, without having to perform cross-browser results testing and hand it over to the hybrid architecture (MIX.

The most basic question is: how to always display content without wasting a lot of time? This problem seems to be the biggest problem about the form, because the text and images must look normal. (Put it easy, go back to the early stages, and these are what the web should do)

 

FlexForm

Flex designers overcome a lot of difficulties to create flex forms more easily-specifically, it is easier to Create HTML equivalent to it. Because cross-platform problems are solved by flash Vm, you do not need to know how forms work in different browsers. In this article, you will see the power of the Flex form and form components, and tell you how to easily integrate HTML into the flex form. After learning about the content, you will re-consider using CSS, JavaScript, and Ajax when creating the form next time, especially for complex forms.

There are three methods to create a flex user interface:

1. Write all the code in person. For this method, you 'd better use the flexbuilder free version to generate the basic template from the very beginning, and then manually or use an automated script to copy the template.

2. Use the GUI builder in flexbuilder. You can drag and drop components to create a user interface. This method applies to most people and then goes to the next step:

3. manually compile the interface in flexbuilder (context help and Automatic completion are provided. The mxml layout language helps you easily create a form layout, which reduces the amount of code compared to the format layout written in HTML.

In addition, flexbuilder can generate code to check whether Flash Player is installed. (If Flash Player is not installed, the code will be updated if the user is installed or the version is too old ). Later, I will introduce how to use the Javascript library to solve this problem. (To be continued)

 

(Original link URL: http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp? Thread = 213902)