The Electronic Business XML (ebXML) project released three
more technical specifications for review on 28 March, including a new draft
document on messaging services. This part of ebXML — formerly known as
transport, routing, and packaging — had made more early progress than the other
technical features, but it also came under more pressure to include the work of
other initiatives, specifically the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).
Enhancements to the original SOAP specification made it easier for ebXML to join
forces. But it also marked something of a change in operation for ebXML, now
more willing to make accommodations with other related initiatives in order
achieve its goal of a single worldwide e-business standard.
SOAP in a Nutshell
ebXML Ropes in SOAP
A Brief History of SOAP
It’s been a little more than three years since I first
started working in XML in general and SOAP in particular. For the past year or
so, my own SOAP work has been pretty minimal, mainly because without a stable
XML Schema specification, the thought of building tons of SOAP support plumbing
seems pretty futile. Now that the XML Schema WG has more or less completed its
work, it’s time to get back to work (for me at least).
My first "official" act in this next phase of SOAP’s development is to take a
few minutes to retrace the steps that got us here. Hence this article.
Separating data and presentation with XML and XSL
Introduction
There’s an awful lot of information floating around out there about XML and how
it’s reshaping the way we communicate, both to people (end users) and between
applications or processes. Introductions abound, giving simple examples of how
to separate data from presentation without presenting real world examples where
this makes sense. There are also many in-depth articles on practical uses of
XML, but these are often extremely complicated and rarely have anything to do
with the real world concerns of many developers (how many of you are developing
applications for the air-line industry?).
Enforcing data integrity with DTDs
In part one of this series we showed you how to separate your data from
presentation using XML to store the data and an XSL stylesheet to control the
presentation. At this point you should know what an XML document is and have a
pretty good idea of some situations where it would be useful.
In this article, we’re going to explain what a Document Type Definition (DTD) is
and how it helps you describe and enforce rules on the mark-up (or elements) in
your XML documents.
Document Object Model: An Introduction
Introduction
With the preview release of Netscape 6 (Alpha) the Mozilla project is finally coming full circle. It has been about two years since the project’s inception, and depending on who you ask it has been a great success or a horrible example of open-source gone wrong.
Whichever opinion you lean towards, one fact is clear: The Mozilla project has brought us the most standards compliant browser to date. However, this compliance comes with a price: It’s not backwards compatible with all the Netscape specific pages and tags. (At least, not yet. Netscape might pull an “all-nighter” at the last moment and add this support). Read the rest of this entry »
Subheadings Increase Response
Subheadings help your ad or sales copy sell. These are
smaller headlines that appear every few paragraphs in your
copy. Put them in bold for printed material. Put them in all
caps or set them off with **, >>, or => for email.
Proven to be successful. Many studies have shown that
copy with lots of enticing subheadings encourages readers
to read further, understand better, and get more involved
with your offer.
Colors that SELL!
Color is a big deal to people. Scientists say we are one of
the few creatures that sees color and it was critical to our
ancestors’ survival.
Color works great in marketing. There are lots of theories
and opinions about what works best. Many say Blue lends a
feeling of quality and trust. Red makes people want to act,
now! Green makes people want to spend money (I’m a
little suspicious of this one, but some marketers swear it’s
true).
Read the rest of this entry »
So You Wrote an E-book..Now What?
E-books are one hot marketing tool. For those of you who
don’t get out much an e-book is basically HTML docs that are run through a
software program known as a compiler, that churns out an .exe file. The concept
being that of an electronic book you can read page by page and download and pass
around easily online. Some e-books are sold where as others are given away
freely and those who download them are also encouraged to give it away to their
friends or business associates. The "give away" part is what makes it such a
powerful marketing tool. Also, known as a form of viral marketing, when done
right your book can be passed around to thousands of people all over the world.
For this reason it is my opinion that e-books work best when there in no charge
involved. Think about it who doesn’t like something for free. Read the rest of this entry »
E-mail do’s and dont’s
Along with the advent of the Internet came a new way of
communicating called e-mail. If you spend a lot of time online and especially if
you’re running a web based business, odds are your main tool for communication
is through e-mail. Now e-mail is a wonderful thing. Don’t get me wrong, but
unlike the telephone or face to face communication if you don’t watch your words
you can easily be mis-understood. It’s all too easy to offend or even hurt
someone’s feelings just by what you type even if that wasn’t your intention at
all. Allow me to explain; on the phone your voice sets the stage for what you’re
trying to say.You raise your tone when angry, laugh or giggle when joking, so
it’s easy for the other person to understand the main focus of your message. Read the rest of this entry »
Are you Ready for WAP & WML?
Acronyms make the computer world go round. Things like HTML, DHTML, XHTML;
it’s enough to make a grown man cry. Well, look out! There’s a new player in
alphabet-town: "WAP." So what is it and why should you care? WAP stands for
"Wireless Application Protocol" and it allows people to access the Net using
wireless devices like mobile phones and other gadgets.
It’s estimated that by the year 2002 there will be over 800 million wireless
users around the world. Eventually all wireless tools will come equipped with
WAP as standard issue. That’s a lot of possible viewers for your website. The
problem is that wireless net-surfers will not be able to access your HTML-driven
site. Their devices can only read sites built in (get ready for another
acronym!) WML.