JavaScript Workshop

April 08 Meeting - jQuery Basics pt2

Frank Stepanski — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 09:39:30 +0000

A whole component of the jQuery library is dedicated to the detection and reaction of standard browser events which are likely to occur frequently (during every visit to our page) when visitors view our pages. One event that is used almost every time the jQuery library is engaged is the ready event. This can [...]

Beginning Web Development with ASP.NET @ LVS Online.com

Frank Stepanski — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:49:32 +0000

I am teaching a third online class called Beginning Web Development with ASP.NET at LVS Online. This 6-week class will focus on the understanding the basics of how the .NET framework works with creating ASP.NET web applications using the C# programming langauage. Students will use the free web development tool Visual Web Developer [...]

Future of Web Interfaces Podcast

Frank Stepanski — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:26:27 +0000

Cameron Adams, web developer and author of Simply JavaScript gave a presentation at Web Directions North 08 about how JavaScript has affected the design and development of web interfaces. Here are the presentation (.pdf) slides he used as well.

March 08 Meeting - jQuery Basics pt1

Frank Stepanski — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 01:33:21 +0000

A relative latecomer to this world of JavaScript libraries, jQuery has taken the web development community by storm, quickly winning the support of major websites such as MSNBC, Google Code, and well-regarded open source projects including SourceForge, Trac, and Drupal. Compared with other toolkits that focus heavily on clever JavaScript techniques, jQuery aims to change the [...]

ActionScript 3.0: Events

Frank Stepanski — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:00:23 +0000

Events are things that happen that Flash can recognize and respond to. A mouse click is an event, as are mouse movements and keypresses on the keyboard. Events can also be things that the user doesn't initiate. The completion of a sound, for example, is an event. Anytime an event happens, [...]

ActionScript 3.0: Display List

Frank Stepanski — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 23:30:37 +0000

The key to successful manipulating graphics on the Stage is to understand what is known as the display list. The display list is the hierarchy of visible objects on the Stage. The display list lets Flash keep track of what the user sees, the visual relationships between objects, and the stacking order (or [...]

Interview with Sas Jacobs

Frank Stepanski — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 02:51:40 +0000

Sas Jacobs is a web developer who set up her own business, Anything Is Possible, in 1994, working in the areas of web development, IT training, and technical writing. The business works with large and small clients building web applications with ASP.NET, Flash, XML, and databases. Sas has wrote a number of books such as [...]

FOWD Web Conference

Frank Stepanski — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 10:47:31 +0000

Last month, I attended the Future of Web Design conference in eclectic Manhattan, NY. The 1-day conference (plus a 2nd day for workshop) included speakers such as Andy Clarke, Keith Robinson, Jonathan Snook, and Jeffrey Zeldman. Apart from a few technical problems with the venue it was a great conference covering lots [...]

December 07 Meeting - script.aculo.us Library Basics

Frank Stepanski — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 19:28:39 +0000

Animation effect can reinforce a message, clarify a user interaction, and even entertain. But they can just as easily cloud the interaction , distract the user, and annoy your visitors. Properly utilized, animation effects should emphasize the message of the site, clarify or reinforce the user interaction, or mildly entertain. The script.aculo.us library is [...]

“A fast guy in tights and a movie about Coffee”

Frank Stepanski — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:48:41 +0000

November 07 Meeting - Prototype Library Basics

Frank Stepanski — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 23:13:01 +0000

JavaScript’s increasing popularity throughout the web makes it more important than ever to make sure our client side code is implemented with a nice mix of stability, speed, and reusability. One of the best ways for accomplishing this is to use a simple library and syntax to use as a foundation for every project. Prototype was [...]

What’s New in ActionScript 3.0?

Frank Stepanski — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 15:07:39 +0000

Like any language, ActionScript evolves over time. ActionScript 3.0 is simply the latest version of the Flash programming language that lets you control graphics, animation, sound, and interactivity. However, ActionScript 3.0 represents a significant change (some may say revolutionary) from the previous versions because in many ways it is conceptually and architecturally different. [...]

PHP Pagination

Frank Stepanski — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 12:38:24 +0000

The technique of splitting up a information into multiple pages is known as pagination. For web pages it normally means taking a resultset from a database query and only showing a specific number of records per page. There are many variations of how to do this no matter what technology (PHP, ASP, JSP, Coldfusion) [...]

XSLT In Action

Frank Stepanski — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 22:37:12 +0000

Raw XML is rarely suitable for direct presentation, and frequently must be organized, or transformed, to suit the needs of a specifc output device. The most widely used option for this is XSLT. Older techniques such DTD and Schemas can be used as well, but as discussed in my first post about XML, XSLT [...]

10 Tips for Writing Code for People not Computers

Frank Stepanski — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 02:45:14 +0000

In a recent article from Visual Studio Magazine, Rod Stephens wrote an article on how to write better code for yourself as well as other people who may view it. These tips can be applied to almost any programming language (JavaScript, .NET, PHP, etc.) so it is useful for any web developer. "A computer does [...]

Print Style Sheets - Video Tutorials

Frank Stepanski — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 22:46:18 +0000

All modern browsers support the most common media attributes, which are supplied within the link element to target specific style sheets in a specific situation. For example, to ensure only visitors viewing the web site on a monitor, you add media = "screen" to the link element to call your default style sheet. [...]

September 07 Meeting - Creating JavaScript Objects

Frank Stepanski — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 09:45:58 +0000

The more advanced JavaScript applications get, the greater the need for structuring the code well. One way to do this is by using OOP, object-oriented programming. JavaScript itself is not an object-oriented language, but rather an object-based language. There is a support for OOP, though it's somewhat limited. There is no distinctive keyword [...]

XML Basics - Video Tutorials

Frank Stepanski — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:46:43 +0000

XML (Extensible Markup Language) is based on the same parent technology as HTML or XHTML. XML looks a lot like HTML, complete with tags, attributes and values. But rather that serving as a lagnguage just for creating web pages, XML is a language for creating other languages. You use XML to design your [...]

JavaScript Libraries Panel Podcast

Frank Stepanski — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 02:09:00 +0000

JavaScript libraries like Prototype, Scriptaculous, YUI and Dojo are making a huge impact on the field of DOM Scripting. As AJAX matures and the complexity of the script to support it increases it becomes much less feasible to re-invent the wheel and produce code from scratch for every project. At the @media 2006 conference [...]

ASP E-Commerce Database Basics @ LVS Online.com

Frank Stepanski — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 19:33:31 +0000

I am teaching a 2nd online class called ASP E-Commerce Database Basics at LVS Online. This 6-week class will teach you how to interact with a database by displaying, retrieving and updating data. It is a continuation from where I left off in my first class teaching ASP basics. For this class [...]