[RESOLVED] Best technology to create my website in?

[Nightwalker83]

Hi,

I am currently studying my diploma in web development and have been wondering what is the best technology to create my website (portfolio) in? At the moment I know xhtml, css, javascript, php, xml and flash. Now my experience with xhtml is not a very good one visually and so I prefer creating websites using flash. Now, the problem is there more of an advantage use xhtml over flash, if so why? I know that in flash you can dynamically create the pages but I want to know if there is anything going for xhtml in the case of what to create the website in.

Thanks,

Nightwalker

[Arsenal]

PHP, php and php once again.

why?
1. It's freeware
2. very very very much companies use this serverside language.


But, do you really need a serverside-technologie for you portfolio? (okay, you may want that for your contact page, but besides that, I don't really see the need for serverside-programming in a portfolio.)

[Nightwalker83]

I am not asking about php but xhtml and flash!

[Arsenal]

Hi,

I am currently studying my diploma in web development and have been wondering what is the best technology to create my website (portfolio) in?

hey, just answering the question

[techgnome]

The answer is the same as it is in all things development: It depends.

What are you going for? A flash dev job? Or an (x)html development job?

Let me put it like this: Let's say I'm looking for a web developer. You bring me your portfolio, and it's full of flash sites... "OK great," I say, "but our standard here is to use XHTML Strict 1.0 with 802 Accessibility standards. Can you do that?" ....

Conversely, if I'm looking for a flash developer... and you bring me XHTML sites.... you see where that's going?

Point is, you need to decide what you want to go for. Do a mix. Show off the flexibility. If you're aiming for a flash job, then make it flash heavy (but not too much so), with some more standards parts to it....

-tg

[Nightwalker83]

The answer is the same as it is in all things development: It depends.

Ah ok! However, seeing as I want to design my own website/portfolio I guess it would not matter which technology I use? I was just asking because I know flash can display objects dynamically while xhtml can't but I don't know if flash is capable of doing everything I'd be able to do with xhtml?

One example of such is accessibility! I know you can use a-prompt, etc to check xhtml to see whether it is accessibility compliant. However, is flash accessibility compliant how would I check this?

[DigiRev]

Well, definitely don't make your entire website in flash. A lot of people still do this. Not only will it load really slow, and run slow on older computers, but if for some reason the visitor doesn't have the flash player installed, or flash content is disabled, then you just wasted a lot of time...

I would use XHTML and CSS. Definitely keep all styling separate in the CSS file, and make sure your XHTML validates with the online W3 validator. If you want to show off your web design skills, don't write invalid markup...

I would use flash for any presentation you want on your front page, like a short/flashy video. A lot of sites (like Adobe) use this to showcase new products somewhere on the site. I would also avoid using any sounds.

I would use CSS for the navigation menu, maybe with a drop-down effect. For any sort of animated effects (ex: hyperlinks that fade from one color to another when you hover over them), I would use a combination of JavaScript and CSS.

XHTML + CSS + JavaScript really removes any need for flash content, unless it's a short animation or something.

[tr333]

I would use flash for any presentation you want on your front page, like a short/flashy video. A lot of sites (like Adobe) use this to showcase new products somewhere on the site. I would also avoid using any sounds.

HTML5 includes elements to do this in (X)HTML, notably <video>, <audio>, and <canvas> tags.

I would use CSS for the navigation menu, maybe with a drop-down effect. For any sort of animated effects (ex: hyperlinks that fade from one color to another when you hover over them), I would use a combination of JavaScript and CSS.

Again, HTML5 has a new tag for navigation menus: <nav>.

Keep in mind that HTML5 spec is not yet finalised, so some of it is still not yet implemented in client browsers. Webkit/Gecko/Presto currently support the <video> tag, but I'm not sure what else of HTML5 they support yet.

Check out Mozilla Bespin for a cool demo of HTML5.

[Nightwalker83]

@ DigiRev,

Yeah, I know what you mean! I have done that for a website I created for my basic flash class last year. I created the basic website in xhtml with css and javascript then used flash to create the buttons, animations and a video. I also included accessibility options in the website to use links if javascript is disabled.

[mendhak]

Do it in ASP.NET, then fit your life around it.

[Nightwalker83]

Do it in ASP.NET, then fit your life around it.

I would if I know asp!