Resources for Web Development Students @ Robin’s Blog

Google has introduced a new Web browser, called Chrome, aimed at wresting dominance of the browser market from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. The move takes the Google-Microsoft rivalry to a whole new level. If Google succeeds, it will be a big deal, with major ramifications for the future of the Web.
But just how good is Chrome? How does it differ from [...]

Yesterday in class I mentioned the new CSS unit using CSS: The Missing Manual. This will be a required book for all new students entering the program and an optional book for students who are currently enrolled.
I have to say that this is an outstanding book on CSS. It is an excellent introduction to CSS and also a great [...]

A collection of 40 CSS layouts is now available at Layout Gala. This is a wonderful collection of templates that you can use to get started when you’re building a CSS based web site.
I mentioned how useful cheat sheets were yesterday. Here are a few cheat sheets that you may want to print and add to your class [...]

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we would be installed Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Preview on the instructor workstation. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen as quickly as I had planned. It is installed on the instructor workstation now, so have fun checking your sites in this new browser!

It’s the day we’ve all been waiting for! After five years without changes to the rendering engine that defines (and limits) what the Web can do, Microsoft has released IE7 Beta 2 Preview for download by developers everywhere.
If you have anything to do with the design and layout of a web site, you need to download this and get started [...]

Yesterday I encouraged you all to read the article Fixing Browsers: Bugs and Hacks by Lorelle VanFossen. Lorelle was kind enough to share another article she wrote, Views of a Web Page. In this article, Lorelle describes in wonderful detail the testing process used when building a web page. The article discusses developing and testing for [...]

Checking Sites for Consistency
One of the really tough parts of web development is getting your site layout consistent in multiple browsers on multiple platforms (Windows (98, 2000, XP), Macintosh, Linux, etc.), with different resolutions when you’re using CSS. You must ensure that your site looks good in various versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Netscape, Mozilla, Safari, and Konqueror [...]

Next Up: Google Office? An interesting article on the possible joint venture of Sun and Google.
Treehouse, an online developer’s magazine, is now available. This first issue is free to all! (This is a 50+ page PDF file, please do not print it in the classroom.)
If you have an iPod, you may want to check out [...]

The Jackol’s Den has an htaccess cheat sheet that you may want to print and add to your resources. You can learn more about other ways the .htaccess file is used in the article Server Move. The .htaccess file can be used to prevent hotlinking as discussed in class yesterday.
Speaking of cheat sheets, Code by Matt, has [...]

IEBlog has an article Standards and CSS in IE – in a nutshell, little has been done to support standards and CSS in Internet Explorer 7 Beta 1. There is however an impressive list of “fixes” for Beta 2, so we shall see. For additional information on the update, head over to MezzoBlue. [...]