Reusing pieces of HTML code is a common way of making web sites (or web applications) more consistent, reliable, and more manageable. Even a small web site consisting of perhaps 20 or 30 web pages can benefit from reusing code for header and footer sections, for example. If the same header or footer is used across all the pages on the site, it makes sense to put the header and footer code in separate files, and then call those files to insert their contents where required.

PHP offers two statements that can be used for inserted the contents of one file inside another: include() and require(). These two statements are virtually identical, with the only real difference being that if require() fails, it gives a fatal error, whereas if include() fails it just gives a warning. For this reason I tend to use the include() statement as it just seems slightly more friendly.

So, to include the contents of a file called header.inc inside a web page called index.php, you would just need to insert the following line of code (wrapped in PHP opening and closing tags) inside index.php.

Include 'header.inc';

As PHP takes no notice of the extension used for the included file, you can use whatever extension you want to. Be careful though, if you put passwords inside an include file with a .inc extension, they will be visible. You can get around this by putting include files that contain sensitive information outside the document tree to prevent people from browsing to them.

In Part 2 we'll look at the use of functions when developing web sites and applications.

In fact easy web programming languages are already here right under our noses. Awareness of easy alternatives to popular but more complex systems based on Apache, Perl, PHP, and Ruby and their frameworks is minimal because of marketing forces.

Technology is supposed to make our lives easier but this promise has not been delivered to web developers especially. The page centered way that web applications are created forces programmers to tie many parts together with extra code that isn't needed in traditional (non-web) programming. The complexity of it all scares away the beginners and causes professional developers to be unproductive (and bald).

The popular web development culture advocates programming features like REST capability and stateless pages but these features actually complicate the development process. If you don't know what REST is, or what stateless pages are then you'll appreciate what I'm about to say: You shouldn't need to understand those ideas to create web applications. There are some programming systems which abandon these ideas, and in so doing they make web development simpler and even enjoyable. They also do receive a certain degree of disdain by the "establishment", but for those willing to think outside the box the benefits can be substantial for some kinds of web projects. This article will discuss some of these systems in short.

Seaside, http://www.seaside.st- The Seaside web development framework (also known as the Heretic web framework) is a system which provides almost a complete stack (provide your own database). It includes an HTTP server, automatic application sessions, transparent state management, live development and debugging, Ajax libraries and more.

Seaside developers code in the venerable Smalltalk language to build their applications. With a combination of an easy to use component-style page generation metaphor, support for cascading style sheets, and the powerful expressiveness of Smalltalk the Seaside developer enjoys tremendous productivity.

Seaside is an open source project with a liberal license and is available for both free and commercial Smalltalk platforms.

Run BASIC, http://www.runbasic.com- Run BASIC is a zero configuration web application server that features an extremely easy web development metaphor, suitable for the beginner. In one easy install it provides an HTTP server, automatic application sessions, transparent state management, tightly integrated BASIC programming language, inline CSS capability, graphics library, an XML parser and SQLite database support. Even with all the included functionality, the programmer is not confronted with a lot of complexity because of Run BASIC's built-in easy to use commands.

Run BASIC brings to the web the easy programming that BASIC has historically been known for. It is suitable for personal projects, educational situations, small business apps and more. There is an interactive version of the system hosted at the Run BASIC website so that anyone can try their hand at writing code. Cost: $59.95

Sun Labs Lively Kernel Project, http://research.sun.com/projects/lively- The Lively Kernel project is a web programming system developed at Sun by the inventor of the Smalltalk programming language. It is very cutting edge and very novel. It turns your web browser into a Javascript development environment and it includes a scalable vector graphics based windowing library. While this system may not be appropriate for some commercial websites, it is suitable for online games and educational curricula. Lively Kernel provides a kind of personal laboratory for building very dynamic applications that work in a browser.

Lively Kernel is supported in Safari and Firefox 2 and 3, but Safari is the recommended platform as of the writing of this article. It is licensed under the GPL2.

A system that can be used to manage the content of a website is called content management system (CMS). In other words, CMS is a tool to create, edit, and remove details/information in a website. The definitive advantage of the CMS being that you can carry out most of the task without any technical expertise.

The contents managed can be of various types that include web contents, media files, e-documents, online transactions, etc. and they are classified based on the requirements.

Types of CMS

The different types of CMS are as follows,

Browser based CMS:

The most convenient and the cheapest CMS is the browser based CMS. It is easy to access and can be edited from anywhere in the world. Most of the other CMS require software to be installed but whereas this CMS does not require any software and can be simply logged in by using a username, password and the contents can be edited.

Transactional based CMS:

This type of CMS can be employed by E-commerce organization where they need to manage large data of transactions though online.

Digital based CMS:

Information is also stored in digital format, hence the digital equipment needs to be organized and kept in a system that is effective and functions properly. For this purpose, you can use a digital asset management system which will help in organizing all the media files. The digital media may contain audio, video, stills, graphics, and other media related files.

Business Process CMS:

This is a CMS which is related to transaction details such as invoices, sales order, application forms, etc. Further, the system offers the businesses to integrate and expand in the corporate environment and also provides the support to organize the work steps systematically and improve better communication among the users.

Enterprise CMS:

This system offers the users to access, scan, store and manage all information within an enterprise. The system supports all types of functions, it can be web based or E-commerce based or CRM. The enterprise CMS is designed in a way that can integrate with client server and hosted solutions.

Finally, it is very essential that you need to understand the various types of CMS which enable you to decide on the one that best suits your business. If you are not sure about the CMS that works cost effectively and efficiently for your business, contact us and we are happy to offer you the best possible help.

Vijayakumar Palaniappan
Marketing Manager
Samran Technologies