BYTE MARKS
The Web is more than just HTML

By Burt Lum

While most of us spend our time surfing the Web looking for cool content and great buys, the stuff that makes our favorite sites sizzle remains tucked away behind the scenes. The programming that serves up those beautiful pages has become more complex than your basic HTML (hypertext markup language) code. Nowadays, to be a Webmaster you need to know how to program in Java, Perl, PHP, ASP, XML and a host of other languages.

To be honest, being sheltered from this technology is not a bad thing. Since when were you required to understand your microwave before using it? Simplicity and beauty often belie the need for complexity. But that's when an appreciation for the complexity is in order.

Organizations such as the World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3c.org) work behind the scenes to create the programming environments that support the Web. An excellent book that chronicles the development of W3C is Tim Berners-Lee's "Weaving the Web." Lee is an inventor and visionary of the Web.

When the W3C held its conference here in May, it came as no surprise that glimpses of the Web's future could be had. What better session to attend than one called Cool Web? There presenters discussed the latest development in a language called Scalable Vector Graphics, further detailed at www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG. This open source language is tightly coupled with another revolution to the Web called XML or eXtensible Markup Language.

Rather than get into details, seeing SVG in action is where all the fun is. First, find a viewer that suits your browser environment. I chose SVGviewer from Adobe at www.adobe.com/svg. You can then experience the cool demos at www.adobe.com/svg/demos. Check out the Visual Building Search.

The presentation I attended at www2002 is also available at www.w3.org/2002/Talks/www2002-SVG. If you work your way through the slide presentation, be sure to spend some time on Slide 4 called Eye Candy. Don't ask me why, but my favorite is the spinning blue squares. ;-)

You can reach Burt Lum at burt@brouhaha.net.