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WWW108 Assignment - Emerging Technologies Homework

1) If a page is "valid" XHTML, what does that mean?

To have "valid" XHTML, it must follow the standards as set by the World Wide Web Consoritum and produce no errors when run through the code validator. This can refer to either strict validation (where depricated code is not allowed) or transitional validation (where previous versions of (X)HTML is permitted).

2) In one paragraph, describe what RSS is as if you were explaining it to a client.

RSS is a way for a site to dynamically push content updates to its users who subscribe to the RSS feed. In other words, you can check whether a site has updated content -- usually news articles -- without having to visit it. This is very useful for aggregating your favourite sites together to quickly determine what's new.

3) Give me at least 2 options that YOU could use to read RSS. For example, software that can be used.

Both Internet Explorer and Firefox have RSS readers built into the Web browser. RSS feeds can also be sent to My Yahoo!, Bloglines, or Google Reader.

4) What is an htaccess file?

htaccess is a plain text file that contains instructions on how the server should handle errors and controls the files/directories that users can view.

5) Give me a list of at least 3 things an htaccess file can do.

htacces file can:

  • filter file types that the user can see in a directory listing
  • prevent access to the directory listing if an index page is not present
  • customize the error page for a 403, 404, or 500 error

6) Tracking website statistics is important for some sites. Provide 2 statistic solutions with links as references.

Google Analytics is a free, widely used stats solution that resides on Google's servers. Mint is a self-hosted analystics program.

7) When this course is done, you'll need to stay current by reading and involving yourself. Provide 4 resources of information that are updated regularly.