Days & Nites of MJ

General sites
CGI & Perl
Cliparts
Fonts
Graphics
Hardwares
JavaScript
JSP, JavaBeans & Java
PHP
Programming
Publishers
Security
Softwares
Tech Speak
VRML & 3D
W3C
Web Design
Mobile Stuff
File Naming Conventions

General sites

Annoyances.org
Annoyances in Technology & how to trouble shoot (detect & solve) them

APCMag.com ***
Lots of information on how to improve PC performances, s/w, h/w

Chip.com
Info on hardwares & softwares
Chip.com.my

Comdex
Comp trade show

ComputerHistory.org
Comp in 100 yrs

ComputerWorld.com

Corel's Office
Word Perfect

Computimes (NST) *** and Business Computimes (NST)
New Straits Times, one of the leading newspaper in M'sia on Computers, technology, new products, people in IT, MIS, security, events, games, softwares, etc.

CyberWalker.com
Cyber Info

Download.com ***
Download free/shareware or buy softwares, updates on technology and other stuffs

eMedia.com.my
NST's Computimes (printed on every Mon & Thurs)

Forbes.com
Business, Technology, Markets, Work, Lists, $, Lifestyle

GetWebWired.com
Online website for the same tv show, informative, entertaining

DOS tutorial: The Basics
Separated into 6 lessons - starting with DOS, directory, files manipulation, disk. Before Microsoft OS came, DOS dominated the computer industry in handling commands.

Hoovers.com and Hoover's Online: Company Directory ***
Business information on 12 million public and private companies worldwide, including company profiles, in-depth financials, contact names, competitors, industry trends, news, and more

InformIT.com ***
Articles, book store, Software, eLearning, Discussion, latest updates in IT!

ITDaily.com
Daily updates on IT

IT World.com ***
Serious IT stuff!

Linux.com ***
Open Source software that is Microsoft's competitor

marauderzstuff
free applications & source codes , games, PDA, C

MIT Awards.org
Malaysia IT Awards

GetMega (previously known as MsMegaByte.com.au)

Page Resource
HTML, Flash, web

PCMag.com ***
online version of the magazine on latest PC and computer info

pcwebopedia.com
personal PC dictionary

pikom.org.my


sms.ac
Free SMS msg

StarDock
tools/tips/sw tweak 4 Windows, change cursor, etc

Sun.com
Sun created Java - the language that enables you to create applications for different devices and areas

Tech Bargains

techweb.com/encyclopedia
The Comp Desktop Encyclopedia by Alan Freedman

USB.org
All about Universal Serial Bus.

WebMergers.com
studies on dotcom strategies, companies that merge to create greater force and gain wider audiences, free marketing tools - submission, rating, forums, meta tags, how to increase traffic to ur site.

AutoSubmit.com
Submit ur URL to lots of search engines,

The Middle five percent of the Web
in search of averageness

W3 Schools
Lots of tutorials in web and programming languages.

META Check
Free META Tag Analyzer and META Tag Help

CGI & Perl

ActivePerl.com
Server for Perl

freecode.com/cgiprog.html
CGI & Perl codes

hotscripts.com/Perl ***
Tutorials on Perl

CGI-Perl References at CGI City ***

Cliparts

iconbazaar.com
3D images, Gifs, Buttons

Bird ClipArt
Cartoonish and sketches of birds

Mickey's Country and Craft Graphics - Clipart
External links to graphics categorized in (A-Z)

100topclipart.com ***


Animation Factory ***
Free/Buy Web Animated Gifs, Presentations and 3D Clipart (A-Z)

ButtonMaker.com ***
make buttons 4 web

ClipArt.com
Free Graphics and Fonts, Ideas, Search

coder.com/creations/banner
The Banner Generator

coolgraphics.com ***


free-backgrounds.com
Backgrounds in Artistic, Authors, Borders, Business, Classic, General, Holidays, Natural, Patterns, Personal, Textures, Wallpapers & links to other similar sites

Fonts @:

Typography is the technique and art of arranging fonts and styles to suit your message. Some fonts are easier to read on paper but not on the screen. Others are pleasing to the eye on screen (including tv, PDA, PC monitor) than on paper (cards, posters, books, leaflets). However, there are some fonts that suit both - that's why they are called (no guessing here) Universal Fonts.

It also depends on the type of occasion as well as the image you want to present. Fonts that are wild, big, flowery and decorated reminds people of art, creativity and fun. Fonts that are simple and clean presents a serious, classy and professional image.

For a company dealing with chemical and serious mathematics stuff, using flowery and italic fonts like Jokerman, Curlz MT, Bradley Hand ITC, Algerian, etc would not be suitable. The worst that people could perceive about the company would be it is not professional enough! That could being negative perception that the people in the company are just mixing chemicals for fun!

That's why organisations that want people to think that they are serious, steady, practical and logical use a lot of bold or primary (red, blue, yellow) colours, straight to the point logo or geometry images in their logos.

On the other hand, for more artistic/graphical and fun fields like wedding planning, art classes, beauty and hair salon, it wouldn't hurt if the company uses flowery/ more decorated fonts.

Creative

potrays for artistic, dreamy, new age, personal doodles
Jokerman
Curlz MT
Bradley Hand ITC
Algerian
Mickey
Viner Hand ITC

I'm SERIOUS!

serious, steady, practical and logical
Arial
Impact
Times New Roman
Courier New

Universal Fonts

While some fonts are easily categorized into serious or creative fonts, there are also fonts that fit into Universal Font Types. These fonts are easy to read online and offline. Have you ever noticed that it is easier to read fonts that have less curves and 'decorations' online, like Arial ? On paper, it's easier to read fonts that have edges like Times New Roman.

Monotype (Andale Momo)
Webdings  (Webdings)
Trebuchet MS
Georgia
Verdana
comic sans
Arial? Black
Arial
Impact
Times New Roman
Courier 	

Fine. Why use would using these fonts be better than others?

Well, for one thing, most of the computers have these fonts available already. So, that means that everyone can read what you write. Some of us also print out the webpages - and readability becomes an issue. What looks cool online may make you squint trying to analyse what u have on print. For ease of reading materials on soft copy (anything digital and displayed on a screen) and hard copy (on surfaces that u can hold like paper), Universal Fonts would be ideal.

Graphics

Most companies in IT have several softwares/hardwares and packages. Adobe is still a fav among artists, web and graphics designers, Corel getting more customers.

Corel

Corel.com
Corel has CorelDRAW (Graphic Suite) and WordPerfect? Office suites, recent bought Micrografx, Inc. and SoftQuad Software Ltd.

Micrografx.com
softquad
iGrfx
deepwhite
to quote Corel site: represent a new category of products and solutions that will deliver improved efficiencies by combining leading content creation and intelligent graphics applications with the world's premier XML editing technology..reduce content creation costs, maximize content reuse, and accelerate productivity, helping enterprise customers become more competitive.

designer
procreate ^TM
for creative professionals. The products under procreate are Painter 7, KPT effects and KnockOut 2.

Other graphics company coming soon

AvantGo
graphics, Java applets, Active X, Macromedia's Shockwave

Hardwares

compaq.com
Compaq
compaq.com.my
Compaq M'sia

dell.com
Dell
dell.com.my
Dell M'sia

hp.com
Hewlett Packard
hp.com.my
Hewlett Packard M'sia

ibm.com
IBM
ibm.com.my
IBM M'sia

JavaScript

JavaScript Security
describes the security models of the JavaScript language for Navigator 2.0 and later releases. This model was extended significantly between the Navigator 3.0 and Navigator 4.0 releases.

javascript.internet.com
dynamicdrive.com ***
Free JavaScript codes examples and tutorials

js-examples.com
Samples of JavaScript codes, search for JavaScript patterns

Java Server Pages (JSP), JavaBeans & Java

Sun created Java to be used in different platforms. As long as the machine (PC, Palm, Laptop, Tablet) has Java Virtual Machine (JVM), it can process the Java program. Java, an object-oriented language is a lot more flexible and user-friendly than other OO languages like C++. Java also allows programmers to tinker in network, database, graphics, real time processing, etc.

When Internet access expanded, naturally, Sun created another language - JSP and JavaBeans to interact with Java as Java was designed for back end processing, not front end (that's the interface that u c!).

The architecture is called 3-Tier Architecture:
HTML/JSP (Client) - JavaBean (Middleman) - Java (Server)

* Other languages can be used in this architecture.

The 3-Tier Architecture

3 Tier Architecture diagram

So how do u know whether you are accessing Java or JavaBean or JSP or HTML? Well, u can't- except for the webpages in the Client. UNLESS u have X-ray eyes.

Seriously, u can't see exactly what is happening beyond the Client - I mean the Middleman and Server. It's called abstraction (from you the user/Client).

For complex Web applications, JSP, JavaBeans and Java Servlets are combined. JSP was created to enable programmers fluent in Java to write processing codes for Web. JSP can manipulate the many functions and methods already pre defined in Java easily for Web applications, which results in easier, code maintenance and increasing reusability (based on the reusable objects and properties of JavaBeans).

Unlike PHP, ASP and Perl; JSP code is first converted into a servlet and then invoked by a servlet engine (like Tomcat) to perform the processing or actions. Once the servlet is executed, the results are sent back to the client. As the servlet engine has to compile the servlet the first time around, displaying a JSP page can take a little longer compared to using other Web programming languages mentioned just now for the first time you access it.

However, for the subsequent access, response time will be faster because the servlet has already been compiled and therefore ready for immediate use.

JSP was also to solve problems encountered in using servlets (application logic) by becoming the middleman between the servlets and visual interface. It is like MVC (Model View Controller). Any changes to interface properties like colour, layout would not affect the processing logic. It is also very suitable to interlace Web and Database using JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) - programmers need not create a database containing the same information just for Web, they can use back the existing database.

JavaBean is a java class which uses particular public method naming conventions which enable other classes to get at its private properties.

archive.coreservlets.com
Source code archive for Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages

JavaServer Pages(TM) Technology ***
from Sun

bitterjava.com ***
Learn from mistakes in Java, JSP. Alternate doc in PDF

hotscripts.com/Java/JSP_and_Servlets
JSP, Java, Servlets, JavaBeans

ibazaar.com/jasp ***
Jasp! - The online Java Server Pages magazine

List of Q&As on Java for i-mode **
General Java is used in PCs and servers while Java for i-mode is used in handphone, handhelds (small devices that have limited CPU, memory and power consumption. The goal is to create efficient programs within limited capabilities.

PHP

dotcomma.org's Perl & PHP
Perl to PHP Migration

PHP.net ***

PHP Builder ***
Extensive Articles, Forums, Docs, Code library

PHP World ***
PHP FAQ, Articles, Help, Manual, 1st Timers, C#

Zend.com ***
Tutorials, articles, documentation, maintenance, Case Studies for learning PHP, XML, Graphics, Databases, E-Commerce (available in English, Japanese, German & French)

Programming

VRML / Java / Javascript FAQ
A little bit old but enuff for beginners to get ideas about VRML, Java and JavaScript

bravenet.com
Bravenet.com Webmaster Resources on Flash, JavaScript, CSS, DHTML, tools

David Bailey Web Design
HTML JavaScript and PERL Assistance

devplanet.org ***
Client (HTML, DHTML, JavaScript),
Server (PHP, Perl, Python, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Apache),
Applications console & Graphical User Interfaces (C, C++),
Operating Systems (FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Linux),
Tools, tutorials on programming

devshed.com ***
Client (DHTML, Flash, Graphics, JavaScript, Style Sheets, XML),
Server Side (Administration, JServ, MySQL, Perl, PHP, Python, PostgreSQL, Roxen, Wireless, Zend, Zope),
Tools (HTML & Graphics Editors, FTP Programs),
Dev Talk (Career, Forums, Book Samples..)

hotscripts.com
ASP, C/C++, CFML, Flash, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Perl, Python, Remote Hosts, Tools, XML

JavaScript vs Perl Discussion
Comparisons between Client Side (JavaScript) and Server Side (Perl) languages

javascript.com ***
Free javascript codes with explainations

wrox.com
Search4scripts.com - Find Perl, PHP, ASP, Java, Javascript, XML, C-C++, Cold Fusion and Python scripts here.

WebReference.com ***
Like a search engine (Portal) - very thorough resources and articles on computer, web, softwares and hardwares as well as other stuff

websitetips.com
provides extensive information and resources to improve your website presence. Informative articles, color charts, tips, annotated website links, graphics, font sites

werbach.com/barebones ***
Barebones HTML

wrox.com ***
Articles, exercises, E-Books, App Design, ASP, C++, Databases, Java, JavaScript, Linuex, MacOS, Macromedia, Mobile, .NET, Open Source, PHP, Protocols, Security, Systems Admin, Visual Basic (VB), web design, Windows OS, XML

Programming tutorials
over 20 programming languages

Publishers / Books

mcgraw-hill


Macmillan Comp Publishing books


Osborne.com


prenhall


InformIT.com **
InformIT Online Books takes the full text from over 700 top IT books and integrates them into a powerful online technology reference tool. The content features titles from high quality publishers like Addison-Wesley, Prentice Hall PTR, Cisco Press, O'Reilly, New Riders, Peachpit, Que and Sams. I subscribe to the newsletter - to get the latest technology books and update general knowledge/trend in IT. The 1st 14 days are free - you can read the books online.

Security

CyberAngels.org ***
Protect Cyber users - the largest online internet safety program since 1995

AnkitFadia.com ***
Hacking Truths by Ankit Fadia - What they don't teach in computer security manuals

bugnosis.org
Diagnose Bugs in ur computer

catalog.com/kevin
Famous ex-hacker now writes about security

Quality Security Tools **
Top 50 Security Tools

NetworkIce.com ***
Protect PC & Network

Pretty Good Privacy
security 4 e-mail

Security Focus


SpyChecker.com
Checks for spy/snoopwares

spydetect.com/news
Detect snoopware

symantec.com ***
Norton anti-Virus

ZoneLabs.com ***
Zone Alarm firewall

Softwares

Adobe.com ***
Adobe is de leading graphics software nowadays with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat

antivirus.com **
Trend Micro Anti-Virus

Apache.org
Currently de #1 Web server!

GoToMyPC.com **
Remote access to your own PC

Macromedia.com
Macromedia's famous for Flash (small size & fast loading animation s/w), Director, Extreme 3D, Lingo

reallusion.com
Reallussion N Crazy Talk (Text 2 Speech)

redhat.com
for Linux

DriversHQ.com
Download Driver Detective to check which drivers in ur computer needs to be updated.

GoToMyPc.com
Remote access to PC. All u need is Internet connection on both PC.

TextAloud
Convert text to MP3 - useful for accessibility to disabled users and just for fun.

Dr. Dobb's
Software Tools for Professional Programmer

Tech Speak

Smiley

SMS

VRML & 3D

Builder.com - 20 questions on VRML **
What do users need to browse my VRML content?

Stroud's VRML Browser Reviews ***
Reviews on CosmoPlayer, Cosmo PageFX, Cosmo Worlds, HomeSpace Designer, WorldView, Community Place (formerly known as CyberPassage), Microsoft's VRML Viewer, V-Realm, Pioneer, Amadeus VRweb, VR Scout, WebSpace, etc

eye.box.sk
Multimedia portal

VRML Galleries and Worlds
Real & Fantasy worlds, Arts, Sciences, tools

Lara's VR Page **
Links to other VR pages

VRML Links
Based on 3 * rating system

ovrt.nist.gov/projects/VRMLaccess ***
Making VRML Accessible for disabled people

Das ultimatieve VRML Verzeichnis! ***
(A-Z) VRML worlds

3dcafe
Gallery and downloads of 3D models

amazing3d.com
Amazing 3D Graphics, Inc. Online 3D model sales, custom 3D modeling, free models meshes and objects, free textures and images, 3D modeling books and tutorials

cix.co.uk/~stclub/sh_ware/gr.htm
FaST Club's Lists of tools for graphics & 3D

Chris's Collection of VRML Stuff **
Not updated anymore but has lots of useful links

sdsc.edu/vrml
VRML

stars.com/Authoring/Graphics/3d **
3D Graphics Tools

stars.com/Authoring/Graphics/3d/Tools.html
star.com's 3D Graphic Tools

virtual-reality.com


virtualmalaysia.com
Tourism & Info - Malaysia with VR (need QuickTime)

VR Depot NET
VRML tutorials & links

web3d.org **
VRML & 3D tutorials

VRML/3D Plug-in Gallery & Demo Links
Lists homepages, new version of softwares and demo pages for plugins & VRML Browsers, links to galleries

Among the notable softwares for 3D:

3D Max Studio - THE software for animation movies Bryce - now under Corel's company. Create high resolution and realistic/fantasy scenery. Need sometime to learn how to use it though Caligari True Space Maya LightWave Ulead - more for creating small animations / GIF CyberWorld- uses XML to incorporate the 2D images, sounds into 3D. Final product is smaller size but not as flexible than using pure 3D software/languages.

W3C.org

World Wide Web Consortium develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. W3C is a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding.

W3C Site Index - technology Keywords

Among the technologies and issues discussed are - Accessibility, CSS, CSS Validator, DOM (Document Object Model), HTML Tidy & Validator, HTTP, Internationalization, Jigsaw , MathML (branched off from XML), PNG, Privacy and P3P, Style, SMIL, SVG, TAG, URL, WAI, XHTML, XLINK, XML, XML Schema, XSL, XSLT, etc

HTML is unlike other programming languages where if there is any error in the codes, the browser tries to guess what it (the HTML codes) is trying to do. Whenever, it has error, the browser would still execute the codes but it depends on your luck whether the browser displays exactly what you wanted. If there is error for other languages, like Java, C++ and Visual Basic, the compiler / interpreter would complain and post an error message to you.

Whenever there is an error that the browser cannot understand/ execute further while displaying to user, it would just notify to the user about it to debug. There are not many rules in HTML compared to XML (Extensible MarkUp Language). Among them are:

HTML

Open and close tags are not compulsory for some tags like

Tags like

still apply to HTML and XML.

Case insensitive
large heterogeneous
loose coding
rigid tag set - limited to use existing tags

XML

Must have open and close tags.

Case sensitive
Small specialist - used in specific areas like Mathematics, Chemistry (formulas)
Conform to DTD (Document Type Definition) which defines the type of attribute in specific XML doc.
Specific rules for element (names & containment) and attribute (names, values, entities) like

validator.w3.org
Validate HTML & CSS codes

W3C.org - Markup - HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
about HTML, XHTML, web design, HTML Tidy, latest news on HTML, tutorials

XSL Tutorial

Web Design

goodpractices.com
Web Site Development Information, Good Site Design Practices

Yale Style Manual ***
Tutorials on how to create styles that have positive impact on visitors. Graphic designers and web developers take note!

Malaysia : Computers and Internet : Web Designer

Bravenet.com ***
The Webmaster Ezine/ Bravenet - web services - DHTML, JavaScript, CSS, HTML codes, web tools, promote site, profit

coolhomepages.com
Rates (cool)pages in categories. One of the ways to get ideas on how a good site should look like is to browse other good (and bad) sites.

WebDesign
Galleries of 3D, animation, architecture, art, fashion, film, music, games, photography, sports, etc

InternetAwardsAcademy.com
Top sites, Web's Best, Design and software Resources

make-your-own-website-free.com
Design, templates, graphics

Verifi.net
Check colors & settings 4 web

Verisign: How to Create an E-Commerce Web Site ***
Detailed article and related links

WebPagesThatSuck.com
Know the bad web pages so that you know what NOT to do with urs

Ten Reasons Why Visitors Leave a Site: How to Avoid It! ***

The Matrix Vault: Meta Tag Creator

Tucows HTML - Aren't frames bad?
When to use frames

Cascading Style Sheets - The Web and HTML
from the book Cascading Style Sheets - designing for the web

Web Hosting Stuff
Has lots of links in alphabetical order! Over 5,900 hosting plans listed in 9 web hosting categories.

Mobile Stuff

Handphone / hp

With so many % of people in developed countries and developing countries whipping $ for hp, hp makers and network companies are trying to gain loyalty from customers as well as pull competitor's customers to use their own brand. For countries saturated with hp users like Taiwan and Japan, companies are finding it hard to convince users to buy new hp when they already had bought and sold hp more than tv. So, these companies are branching out their services and extend these services to other untapped countries like China (imagine if 1/10 citizen use hp! Hp companies owners could afford not to work in the next lifetime!)

Hp makers are marketing mulitmedia phones (with colours, enable sending images, sound and text in sms, more graphical games) with extra features. These companies spend lots of $ in R&D on which extra services would veer (potential) customers choice in selecting hp.

Some companies employ celebrities to adorn their hp and hope that the celebs's fans rush to buy the hp that the celebs claim *watever hp brand* is their fav. Ayumi Hamasaki, the young Japanese singer who looks a lot like Beyonce Knowles of Destiny Child advertised for Sony; and Takeshi Kaneshiro for Ericsson. The ad for Sony was played in cinemas a lot in last season (2002). This boost the celebs and hp companys' images and oozes "cool & smart". Hmmm.. fans can feel closer to their idols already! :P Hey, maybe fans could send sms to their idols (instead of love letters to fan club)! Haha!

Nokia.com.my
Still the 1st handphone maker in the world because of it's user friendliness (ease of use) and quality in reception/calls

Samsung.com.my


Alcatel
Complex menu and not very user friendly but affordable. Still there are other affordable handphones and user-friendly.

Sony.com.my
Sony handphones are stylish but ah, I don't know about other stuff. Hey, if you wanna send me a free Sony Hp, I can check it out ;)

Maxis.com.my
(prefix) 012 have the widest coverage in Malaysia but yet to go widely used globally.

Hotlink.com.my
Services offered by Maxis

Digi.com.my
(prefix) 016 used to have terrible line in underground/ inside buildings but it's improving...

Time.net.my

tm.net.my
TELEKOM

my-siemens.com
Siemens

samsungmobile
True i

File Naming Conventions

Webmaster Tips and Tricks 18/02/03

Our support center receives queries on a regular basis from members having problems getting their pages to show on the internet. They have spent, in many cases, a great deal of time creating the pages on their own computers only to find that they don't work when uploaded to their websites. Below are some suggestions that will eliminate many of these types of problems.

The eight-dot-three naming convention.

In the early DOS days of computers, files were named using the eight-dot-three naming convention. The filename would be followed by a dot and then the three digit file type extension. (i.e. yourfile.htm) This convention is still used widely in many respects on modern web servers. The most commonly used web server in the world is the Apache web server. This server, while being the most respected and dependable in the world, is not very forgiving.

Many people create their web pages on their own computers. Most of these people pride themselves in having operating systems that are more and more user friendly, and as a result, many typical errors are forgiven by the operating system. When those same files are then uploaded to the web server, they don't function.

To avoid these problems, it is a good habit to get into the practice of using the most common convention for naming your web site's files and directories. Using the eight-dot-three model will ensure that your files will be read on any server currently available, including Apache.

Other key points to remember are to pay attention to character cases.

Upper and Lower case characters are not the same thing. A capital "U" is not the same as a lower "u". It is wise to use only lower case characters when naming your files and your directories. Consistency can reduce errors.

There can't be any spaces in the name. If a file name consists of two names, separate them with and underscore _ or dash -

File type extensions are limited to three, or in some cases, four characters (for example, .htm or .html).

When targeting files from within your website and your directories ensure all the names are correct, spelled properly and indicated in order (i.e. http://www.yoursite.com/images/mypic.gif). ^ DAYS & NITES OF MJ > TECHNOLOGIES & COMPUTERS NAVIGATION

Notebook, tablet & Palm coming soon...