Data Protection

Most modern websites include a lot of interaction and in many cases they will also collect some personal information about users. The Data Protection Act 1998 requires organisations which hold personal data to protect the privacy of the people that data relates to and process personal information in accordance with the eight principles laid down in the act. In layman’s terms these principles are:

  • Personal data should be processed fairly and in accordance with the law.
  • Personal data must only be obtained for specific and lawful purposes.
  • Personal data should only be held if it is necessary and relevant to the specified purposes – particularly where the information is sensitive.
  • Personal data should be accurate and kept up-to-date.
  • Personal data should not be kept any longer than necessary.
  • Personal data should be processed in accordance with the rights of the people it relates to.
  • Appropriate technical and organisational measures should be in place for the security of personal data.
  • Personal information should not be transferred outside the European Economic Area unless adequate protection is in place.

Useful links

Information Commissioner’s Office

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Interviewing Clients

When it comes to finding out what a client’s specific requirements for a site are, interviews are a key part of the process.

Preparing Questions

Going to an interview with a client without doing any preparation first is a big mistake. Most clients will initially have a very vague idea about what they want for their website – and even less idea of how this is to be implemented. It is the developer’s job to make sure that the essential points are covered so there are no nasty surprises down the line.

The Interview

During the interview, the list of questions should be used as a guide rather than being followed too slavishly.

Consider recording the interview to play back and listen to later. This will mean you can focus your full attention on the client during the interview itself rather than being distracted by having to take notes. It will also reduce the risk of missing important points raised as you will always be able to refresh your memory by listening to the recording again.

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HTML5

What is HTML5 ?

HTML5 is the latest version of the Hypertext Markup Language following on from HTML 4 and XHTML 1.0. HTML5 has been developed as a result of cooperation between the W3C and the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG). HTML 5 is still being actively developed and it is not a W3C recommendation yet. The W3C decided to abandon development of the XHTML 2.0 standard in 2010 so HTML5 is set to become the new standard for HTML and XHTML. AOL, Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nokia, Opera and many others are all involved in the HTML5 working group.

New Elements

HTML 5 adds a number of new tags including new structural tags, new media elements for embedding audio, video and graphics, new form and input elements and the “canvas” tag which allows drawings to be created using JavaScript.

Some of the new structural elements in HTML 5 relate to common page sections including “header”, “footer” and “nav”.The 13 new form inputs include date pickers, number sliders, email and search fields. New inbuilt form validation is also a part of the revisions HTML5 has made in the way forms are created, with the addition of autocomplete and autofocus attributes.

Doctypes

An HTML5 document is defined using this simple and easy to remember doctype:

<!DOCTYPE HTML>

Unlike in previous versions of HTML and XHTML, HTML5 does not have separate Strict and Transitional doctypes.

Browser Support

HTML5 is backwards compatible which means that it will work in older browsers, although some features will not be available. No browser has full HTML5 support yet. Microsoft has announced that Internet Explorer 9 is to support HTML5. Currently the browser with most support for HTML5 features is Opera versions 9+.

CSS3

Closely allied to HTML 5 is CSS3, the latest version of the Cascading Style Sheet markup language. CSS3 adds support for graphic effects which are currently implemented using images. These include drop shadows and rounded corners for elements.

Important Dates

HTML 4.01 became a W3C Recommendation on the 24th December 1999.

XHTML 1.0 became a W3C Recommendation on the 20th January 2000.

On January 22nd, 2008, the W3C published a working draft for HTML 5.

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Top 10 Tips for e-Commerce Websites

Online shopping is really taking off and the ability to create an online store for a client is a very useful skill to add to your portfolio. However, examples of bad web design are never more in evidence than in the field of e-commerce. Taken from an article on Sitepoint, here are the top 10 tips for building a really bad e-commerce site:

  1. Don’t bother to customise the design of your store.
  2. Never use thumbnail images of products.
  3. Use unoptimised images.
  4. Make it really difficult to checkout and ask for as much unnecessary information as possible.
  5. Don’t have a specific target market.
  6. Don’t use an SSL certificate – https.
  7. Don’t provide a Privacy Statement and Terms & Conditions of Sale.
  8. Provide no product descriptions or only very vague ones.
  9. Make heavy use of Flash and other plug-ins.
  10. Don’t provide clear contact details.

Here is the link to the original article:

10 Easy Steps to a Horrible Ecommerce Site by Jason Chance

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