Advanced Web Technologies MSc. Publishing on WWW

Why are they Important ? Originally web pages were static: text and images. Information and data were stable. Changes in data were slow. The advanced technologies allow web pages to be dynamic.

XML: What is it? Extensible Markup Language. Language for creating other languages. Uses user defined tags and attributes to format data.

XML : An Example Duck Donald Internet Technologies Good

XML: Why use it? Many uses: Transfer data from server to server, application to application. Allows use of vocabulary relevant to the users. Allows experts to have a standard to transmit their info e.g. doctor/pharmacy – prescriptions.

XML: Why not to use it? Very few browsers can directly view XML pages. No browser currently supports Xlink and Xpointer. Temporary fix: convert XML to HTML or XHTML.

XML: How does it work? XML Doc XML DTD XML Parser e.g MSXML, W3 parser in Amaya, diy XML Application e.g. MathML, TimeMaps +

XML: Examples MathML Mathematical Markup Language SMIL Synchronised Multimedia Integration Language SpeechML Speech Markup Language

ASP: What is it? Active Server Pages. A program that runs within IIS. Microsoft specific technology. Example of server side scripting.

ASP: Platforms and Compatibility ASP is a Microsoft based technology. Typically WinNT, WIn95/98 etc. New software allows ASP to run on other platforms: ChilliASP for Unix InstantASP for Unix/Linux, Mac and others

ASP: Example A Simple ASP Example Simple ASP Example etc…

ASP: How does it work? Browser ASP software (e.g. ASP.dll) Server (e.g. with IIS)

ASP: Applications Dynamically change, add, edit web page content. Process data and queries from HTML from HTML forms. Access databases via web pages Security: ASP scripts are not visible in browsers.

VRML Virtual Reality Modelling Language. Means of creating 3D environments for the WWW. Used for visualisation e.g. artefacts/buildings. 3D interactive environments; simulated environments.