Client-side script is often used to program the user interface for an application. For example, to respond to user actions such as button clicks, and perform input validation. The use of server-side scripting is mostly used for content management, where the site’s content is stored in a database and presented to the user on request.

Ajax

Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) can communicate with a server side script without reloading the web page. When data is downloaded using Ajax the source code is not visible to search engine bots. Therefore Ajax should not be used to display articles or any content that should be available to search engines. Ajax is a good technology to use for admin areas, email accounts or any place that is password protected. An example of Ajax usage is the GMail email application.

Common Gateway Interface (CGI)

Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a protocol standard that specifies how information can be passed from a Web page through a Web server, to a program, and back from the program to a browser in the proper format.

CGI programs can be written in any language the server can execute; whereas Perl most commonly is associated with CGI, there is no reason that C, C++, Pascal, Visual Basic, etc. couldn’t be used to create a CGI program.

Perl

Perl is an open source programming language that is generally used for creating CGI scripts and also supports embedding into HTML. Large projects written in Perl include Bugzilla.org, TWiki.org and MovableType.org. Large websites that use Perl include bbc.co.uk, Amazon.com and IMDb.com.

ASP.NET

ASP (Active Server Pages) is a server-side scripting language developed by Microsoft which can be embedded into HTML and used to create web pages. ASP.NET is based on the Microsoft .NET framework. The .NET framework allows applications to be developed using different programming languages such as Visual Basic, C# and JavaScript.

ASP is linked to the Windows operating system and Microsoft IIS web server. It is not practical to run a web site based on ASP on anything but a Windows-based server, so in this way, it is limiting. Files created for ASP have a .asp file extension while ASP.NET files use .aspx.

PHP

PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is an open source programming language which was specifically designed for the creation of dynamic server-side applications on the Internet. PHP can be embedded in HTML pages and is a good choice for database interaction.

PHP is widespread and is used by Facebook.com, Wikipedia.org and Yahoo.com. The reason for the widespread adoption of PHP is the simplicity of the language. Files created for PHP use the .php extension.

JavaServer Pages

JavaServer Pages (JSP) is a technology based on the Java language that enables the development of dynamic web sites. JSP was developed by Sun Microsystems to allow server side development. JSP files are HTML files with additional tags containing Java source code that provide the dynamic content.

JSP pages often run slower than pages using similar technologies due to being more robust and intensive. There is a steeper learning curve when compared to many other technologies. Ebay runs on JSP.

ColdFusion

ColdFusion is a server side scripting language, which is executed by the ColdFusion application server. The ColdFusion Mark-up Language (CFML) is based on tags similar to HTML.

ColdFusion is not dependent on a particular database or Web server, and it works well on a variety of Windows-based servers as well as Solaris and Linux. ColdFusion is not open source. Files created for ColdFusion use the .cfm extension. MySpace use ColdFusion.

Ruby

Ruby is an open source scripting language first released in 1995. In Ruby, everything is an object. Every bit of information and code can be given their own properties and actions. Object-oriented programming calls properties by the name instance variables and actions are known as methods. Ruby is used by sites such as Twitter.com and Scribd.com.

Python

Python is an open source programming language which is quite easy to learn. Some of the largest projects that use Python are Zope.org and YouTube.com. Large organisations that use Python include Google.com and Yahoo.com.

Sources

• You Used THAT Programming Language to Write What?!
• Ruby Programming Language
• JSP Tutorial

Currently (2009), mobile social network users are less engaged than their PC counterparts, using their phones mainly to check messages, comments and updates, reports ABI Research, who found that 60 percent of mobile users do primarily this, while only 30 percent upload photos.

While mobile social networking is more popular than some other mobile uses, like watching video, it is less popular than most other options. The highest percentage of mobile users use their phones for searches, local or otherwise. Other popular uses include searching for movie or entertainment info, instant messaging and searching for restaurant and bar info.

Flash Lite Support

• Nokia (Global) = 94 devices
• Sony Ericsson (Global) = 75 devices
• Verizon Wireless (US) = 19 devices
• NTT DoCoMo (Japan) = 150 devices
• KDDI (Japan) = 111 devices
• Softbank (Japan) = 60 devices

What issues are there with providing web content for all handsets?

Screen size – The common upper limit on screen width resolution is about 320px (some handsets can be higher, but are less common in the market).

Certain handsets may only be able to render images of specific formats. For example, the Motorola T720g can render GIFs and some Bitmaps, however JPEGs and PNGs will not work.

95% of mobile internet capable handsets in the market currently support CSS in at least a limited set. However, even something as simple text alignment has limited support. For example, the handset with the highest amount of worldwide sales ever, the Motorola V3 series, does not support aligned text entirely.

Animated GIF support is also moderate in today’s mobile market. Unsupported handsets will only show the first frame of an animation.

Javascript support varies widely. While devices like the iPhone or the G1 support the latest javascript, including objects, they still only represent a small amount of mobile internet users.

Although 3G is becoming more prevalent, current GPRS rates still make the user wait quite some time for pages to be downloaded. Page sizes should be under 10K per page including CSS, but excluding images.

Mobile devices often have only a very limited keypad, with small keys, and there is frequently no pointing device. This makes input more difficult compared with using a keyboard.

Because of the limitations of screen and input, forms are hard to fill in. This is because navigation between fields may not occur in the expected order and because of the difficulty in typing into the fields.

Mobile browsers often do not support scripting or plug-ins, which means that the range of content that they support is limited. In many cases the user has no choice of browser and upgrading it is not possible.

Sources

• Mobile Social Networks Becoming More Popular by Mark Alvarez on l’atelier-us.com
• Poorer Nations Go Online on Cellphones
• Mobile and Wireless Predictions for 2009
• Mobile Internet will grow dramatically despite economic downturn
• Mobile Internet Guidelines – Design Considerations, MobileElements.com
• Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0, W3C Recommendations

Standards are written so that old browsers will still understand the basic structure of a document and will be able to display the content of a site. Not only does this mean allowing the web to be used by people with disabilities, but also allowing web pages to be understood by people using browsers other than the usual ones – including voice browsers that read web pages aloud to people with sight impairments, Braille browsers that translate text into Braille, hand-held browsers with very little monitor space, teletext displays, and other unusual output devices.

As the variety of web access methods increases, adjusting or duplicating websites to satisfy all needs will become increasingly difficult. Following standards is a major step towards solving this problem.

Sources

• http://www.webstandards.org/learn/faq/
• http://www.isolani.co.uk/blog/access/WaspOnBBCAccessibility
• http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria
• http://www.w3.org/WAI/mobile/experiences
• http://www.joedolson.com/articles/2008/06/spam-vs-accessibility/
• http://www.webstandards.org/buzz/accessibility/
• http://www.frozen-o.com/blog/2008/07/w3c-recently-posts-updated-docs-on.html

Title Tag

The <title> tag is placed between the <head> tags in an html document. Page titles should be short and descriptive and explain accurately what each page is about.

Description Meta Tag

The <description> meta tag is placed between the <head> tags in an html document. The page description is longer than a page title and should summarise the page content. Some search engines display descriptions on search results which can help visitors find the particular information they are looking for.

URLs

URLs containing relevant words are useful for visitors who may want to link to particular content. For example, http://www.vivreay.co.uk/wordpress/seo-basics/ is easier to remember than http://www.vivreay.co.uk/wordpress/2463479/.

Site Navigation

It should be easy for visitors to get around a website. Html sitemaps should be used, they can display a list of links to all the pages on the site. An XML Sitemap can help to ensure that search engines discover the pages on a site.

Content

Website content that is interesting, truthful, and useful may encourage word of mouth advertising. If new content is added frequently to a website and the quality of the content is good then it is likely that visitors will keep returning and link back to the website.

Anchor Links

Links to other pages on a website or links leading to other websites should be easy for visitors to understand and should stand out from the main body text on the page. Outgoing links should lead to sites that are relevant and offer quality content.

Sources

• Googles SEO Starter Guide
• Search Engine Ranking Factors
• The Ultimate SEO Checklist