My AT1 ICTWEB304

A HTML sitemap is located on the website itself, where the viewer can locate a page on the website, through an organised array that lists each and every page on the website.

An XML sitemap is for search engine indexers and web crawlers, so they can easily see the information of your website, and translate that into content on their own website (e.g. Google Search) for viewing.

The benefits of a HTML sitemap are that if someone is of need of a specific page (e.g. a page describing types of ultra fine iridescent teal glitter on a website dedicated to information on all sorts of glitter) they can easily go to the sitemap and go to that page, instead of navigating through more pages to get to their desired page. The HTML sitemap is meant for human viewers of a website.

The disadvantages of HTML sitemaps are since that they are more optimised for humans, “robots” have difficulty with these pages, unlike an XML sitemap just for them. And, if the sitemap is not updated to reflect current additions of the website, or is poorly organised, a human viewer will be confused.

The benefits of a XML sitemap is that it will optimise your search engine optimisation, as it is meant for web crawlers to look at, as well as search engine indexers.

The disadvantages of XML sitemaps are that you need to exclude certain pages to avoid them being seen, and that they are not meant to be viewed by humans.

1 – Adobe Dreamweaver

Adobe Dreamweaver is a paid web-focused IDE that is subscription based, through Adobe’s Creative Cloud. It runs on Windows and macOS.

Since Dreamweaver is obtained through an expensive paid subscription, an entry level trainee code developer may not be able to obtain it. But, it is reccomended that one use a IDE like Visual Studio Code and learning materials so they can learn each precise part of HTML and CSS, before using Dreamweaver.

Positives

• No need to pay for the recent version outright
• Industry-standard for webdev
• Integration with other Creative Cloud applications like Photoshop and Illustrator
• Uses the Bootstrap framework for those who use Bootstrap on top of HTML and CSS.
• Multiple ways to view code and previews

Negatives

• Subscription money can add up for hobbyists
• Complex interface

A free standalone code editor for multiple OSes. Great for beginners due to it being free, it being available on both macOS, Windows and Linux, and autocompletion for HTML and CSS.

It is easy to obtain and learn for an entry level trainee code developer, as it is free to download for major desktop operating systems, and is widely used. With the IDE, it is very flexible for any purpose, and has an easy learning curve.

Positives –

• Free
• Can do more than just webdev if someone wishes to
• Error checking, colour coding, auto-complete and memory of other strings
• FTP support with third-party plug ins
• Multi-tasking and organisation methods
• Plenty of customization to fit the needs of the user for web development

Negatives

• No external support
• A bit slower and resource-consuming on certain computers

3- Notepad (windows)

Notepad is a basic plaintext editor, bundled with Microsoft Windows, that can be used for editing .html files.

There really is not that much to Notepad, but there are some positive aspects to using Notepad.

The negatives wear it down though, to the point it should only be used as a last resort.

For an entry level trainee code developer, Notepad should only be used as an emergency, as it is very user unfriendly, due to it’s use as an basic plain text editor.

Positives

• Free with Windows, does not need to be seperately installed due to this
• Can be used for more than just HTML and CSS

Negatives

• Very primitive, as it is a general plaintext editor, not meant for heavy coding.
• No auto-complete, memory or error checking
• No FTP support
• Can not view project folders or more than one file on the same tab

When the internet was new, all sites were plaintext to fit with early browser specifications.

But, as websites graduated from plaintext to more complex code, each browser on the market had their own features, which were confusing to developers as a site optimised for Internet Explorer, would not work with Netscape Navigator, as an example. So, developers had to decide whether to code more than one site (more time consuming, and costs more money) or to only have one site that caters to a certain browser, as there was an ongoing “browser war” due to these confusing propietary features.

Web standards were developed by the W3C in 1994, but were obscure due to lack of enforcement, due to companies and customers seeing no need for a W3 certified browser. It was only until the late 1990’s and early 2000’s that the standards began to be used, as developers brang awareness to them, and companies like Microsoft began to release compliant browsers, like 2000’s “Internet Explorer 5 for Macintosh”. Sites like Acid3 can test how compliant a browser is to standards.

Website testing methodologies are all the different ways that someone can test their website.

Someone can test their website, by using it on both WebKit based browsers, Chromium based browsers, and Gecko based browsers, as well as specific devices, like cell phones and gaming consoles, to see how it functions on said browser and device. Care should be taken to see if every function works, like links, images and forms, and to see if it is compatible with all browsers that are commonly used (Chrome and Firefox need the support, but a 2015 version of Internet Explorer and the 3DS browser does not need support)

The W3C Validator can be used on pages to ensure no errors in the code, and if there is any errors in the code, one can fix them in their favourite IDE with the Validator’s guidance, telling the user what is exactly wrong with a validated web page.

The NT Government endorses the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0). The Government goes out of their way to comply with these guidelines on their webpages.

On the root folder of your website, it is reccomended to have separate folders for CSS, and images. And directly on the root, you can put your webpages, and your XML sitemap on there, for the crawler to recognise.

Locally on your computer, you should have all website assets on one folder, and have the folder be in an organised space. You can treat this folder like the root on your website, so you can easily transfer them to the server if done manually, or for seamless syncing if your IDE syncs your local folder to your webserver.