tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63356665804368862652024-02-06T21:12:39.298-05:00Cubicle H on Blogger - a blog about information system and technology"Cubicle H on Blogger" is a blog about various information systems/technology topics, including news discussion, casual thoughts and ideas, reviews and recommendations, sharing of resources, tips and experiences, etc.Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-86087035744515189452020-01-08T00:12:00.000-05:002020-02-16T19:00:51.301-05:00Website Mobile Friendliness<h4>
Mobile unfriendly website examples</h4>
This is a collection of sample websites that are not optimized for mobile devices like smartphones. The list is updated as of Jan 2020.<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.cefconnect.com/" target="_blank">https://www.cefconnect.com</a></li>
<li></li>
<li><a href="https://www.georgiastandards.org/" target="_blank">https://www.georgiastandards.org</a></li>
<li><a href="http://art.yale.edu/">http://art.yale.edu</a></li>
<li><a href="http://berkshirehathaway.com/">http://berkshirehathaway.com</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.weather.gov/">https://www.weather.gov</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.blue-ray.com/">http://www.blue-ray.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.senate.ga.gov/">http://www.senate.ga.gov</a></li>
<li><a href="https://finviz.com/">https://finviz.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://cobb.com/">http://cobb.com</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.ngresa.org/index.php" target="_blank">https://www.ngresa.org</a></li>
<li><a href="http://houston.china-consulate.org/eng/">http://houston.china-consulate.org/eng/</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gwdonate.org/">https://www.gwdonate.org</a></li>
<li><a href="https://visualgo.net/">https://visualgo.net</a></li>
<li><a href="http://superior-web-solutions.com/">http://superior-web-solutions.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.excoded.com/" target="_blank">http://www.excoded.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.cablematters.com/">http://www.cablematters.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.arrl.org/">http://www.arrl.org</a></li>
<li><div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.meccanoandcomp.com/">http://www.meccanoandcomp.com</a><o:p></o:p></div>
</li>
</ul>
<h4>
Three major types of mobile website friendliness test tools</h4>
<ol>
<li>Website based tools</li>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://material.io/tools/resizer/">https://material.io/tools/resizer/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.responsinator.com/">http://www.responsinator.com</a></li>
</ul>
<li>Automated online testing tools</li>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly">https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.bing.com/webmaster/tools/mobile-friendliness">https://www.bing.com/webmaster/tools/mobile-friendliness</a></li>
<li><a href="https://ready.mobi/" target="_blank">https://ready.mobi</a></li>
<li>Loading speed test: <a href="https://testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com/">https://testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com</a></li>
</ul>
<li>Browser tools</li>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-devtools/device-mode/">https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-devtools/device-mode/</a></li>
<li><a href="https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-devtools/device-mode/emulate-mobile-viewports">https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-devtools/device-mode/emulate-mobile-viewports</a></li>
<li><a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Responsive_Design_Mode">https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Responsive_Design_Mode</a></li>
<li><a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/devtools-guide/emulation">https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/devtools-guide/emulation</a></li>
</ul>
</ol>
Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-87540826581869153162019-01-09T09:44:00.000-05:002019-01-25T09:26:30.728-05:00Free Online Utility Tools for Web Developers<h2>
My list of free online tools useful for web development</h2>
<h3>
Online practice, test, and share</h3>
<a href="http://cssdeck.com/">http://cssdeck.com</a><br />
<a href="http://liveweave.com/">http://liveweave.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://jsbin.com/">http://jsbin.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://jsfiddle.net/">http://jsfiddle.net/</a><br />
<a href="http://tinkerbin.com/">http://tinkerbin.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://codepen.io/">http://codepen.io/</a><br />
<a href="http://plnkr.co/">http://plnkr.co/</a><br />
<a href="http://dabblet.com/">http://dabblet.com/</a><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="https://htmlcodeeditor.com/">https://htmlcodeeditor.com</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="https://www.w3schools.com/tryit/">https://www.w3schools.com/tryit/</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="https://htmledit.squarefree.com/">https://htmledit.squarefree.com</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="https://html5-editor.net/">https://html5-editor.net</a></span></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="https://htmleditor.tools/">https://htmleditor.tools</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><a href="https://htmleditor.io/">https://htmleditor.io</a></span></span><br />
<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="https://htmleditor.tools/html-editor/" target="_blank">https://htmleditor.tools/html-editor/ </a></span><br />
<h3>
Multi-service</h3>
<div>
<a href="http://www.freeformatter.com/">http://www.freeformatter.com/</a><br />
<h3>
Website review and analysis</h3>
<div>
<a href="http://www.woorank.com/en/www/">http://www.woorank.com/en/www/</a></div>
<div>
<a href="http://iwebchk.com/">http://iwebchk.com/</a></div>
<div>
<a href="http://builtwith.com/">http://builtwith.com/</a></div>
<div>
<a href="https://wappalyzer.com/">https://wappalyzer.com/</a></div>
</div>
<h3>
Validation and debugging</h3>
<a href="http://validator.w3.org/">http://validator.w3.org/</a><br />
<a href="http://html5.validator.nu/">http://html5.validator.nu</a><br />
<a href="http://www.modern.ie/en-us/report">http://www.modern.ie/en-us/report</a><br />
<a href="http://www.csstrashman.com/">http://www.csstrashman.com</a><br />
<a href="http://jsonlint.com/">http://jsonlint.com/</a><br />
<h3>
Crawling and monitoring</h3>
<a href="http://web-sniffer.net/">http://web-sniffer.net/</a><br />
<a href="http://gsnedders.html5.org/outliner/">http://gsnedders.html5.org/outliner/</a><br />
<h3>
Code generators</h3>
<a href="http://www.visualcsstools.com/">http://www.visualcsstools.com/</a>: including CSS and SVG<br />
<a href="http://css3generator.com/">http://css3generator.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://cssmenumaker.com/">http://cssmenumaker.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.css3maker.com/">http://www.css3maker.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.css3.me/">http://www.css3.me/</a><br />
<a href="http://html-color-codes.info/">http://html-color-codes.info/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.colorzilla.com/gradient-editor/">http://www.colorzilla.com/gradient-editor/</a><br />
<a href="http://gradients.glrzad.com/">http://gradients.glrzad.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://cubic-bezier.com/">http://cubic-bezier.com</a><br />
<a href="http://matthewlein.com/ceaser/">http://matthewlein.com/ceaser/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.roblaplaca.com/examples/bezierBuilder/">http://www.roblaplaca.com/examples/bezierBuilder/</a><br />
<a href="http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/graphics/hands-on-css3/">http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/graphics/hands-on-css3/</a>: has a number of good visual generators.<br />
<a href="https://code.google.com/p/svg-edit/">https://code.google.com/p/svg-edit/</a><br />
<a href="http://dataurl.net/">http://dataurl.net</a><br />
<a href="http://toolspot.org/data-uri-generator.php">http://toolspot.org/data-uri-generator.php</a><br />
<a href="http://stylebootstrap.info/">http://stylebootstrap.info/</a><br />
<h3>
Mobile and responsive design preview:</h3>
<a href="http://www.mobilephoneemulator.com/">http://www.mobilephoneemulator.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://ipadpeek.com/">http://ipadpeek.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://responsivepx.com/">http://responsivepx.com</a><br />
<a href="https://quirktools.com/screenfly/">https://quirktools.com/screenfly/</a><br />
<a href="http://www.responsinator.com/">http://www.responsinator.com/</a><br />
<a href="http://responsive.is/">http://responsive.is</a><br />
<a href="http://mattkersley.com/responsive/">http://mattkersley.com/responsive/</a><br />
<a href="http://dfcb.github.io/Responsivator/">http://dfcb.github.io/Responsivator/</a><br />
<h3>
Reference</h3>
<a href="http://www.quirksmode.org/compatibility.html">http://www.quirksmode.org/compatibility.html</a><br />
<a href="http://ascii.cl/htmlcodes.htm">http://ascii.cl/htmlcodes.htm</a><br />
<a href="http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_symbols.asp">http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_symbols.asp</a>Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-10596589907956600472018-09-25T20:00:00.000-04:002018-09-26T00:24:55.768-04:00Mobile Web OverviewMobile computing has been a major trend for the past a few years. I first did a talk to the ACM student chapter at GSU in 2014 which gave an overview of web site design and application development for mobile devices and discussed key issues of adapting to this change. Topics include choices of mobile application development and delivery, basic principles and best practices of mobile friendly web sites and web applications, and major tools and frameworks. The talk eventually led to a lecture in my several courses including mobile web development, mobile system overview, introduction to mobile development, etc.<br />
<br />
The slides are hosted on Edocr<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe height="425" src="https://www.edocr.com/embed/k52p5vj4" width="560"></iframe><br />
<div style="font-size: 0.8em; text-align: center;">
<strong> <a href="https://www.edocr.com/v/k52p5vj4/jgzheng/Mobile-Web-Overview" target="_blank" title="Mobile Web Development">Mobile Web Overview on edocr</a> </strong>from <strong><a href="https://www.edocr.com/user/jgzheng" target="_blank">Jack Zheng</a></strong>
</div>
</div>
Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-8361471237092873362018-08-21T09:14:00.000-04:002018-09-26T00:31:31.845-04:00Business Intelligence and Analytics OverviewBusiness intelligence is a broad term to describe a set of methods, processes, architectures, applications, and technologies that transform raw data into meaningful and useful information to support business operation and growth (Cardin, 2007). It is used to enable more effective strategic, tactical, and operational insights and decision-making. BI systems combine data gathering, data storage, data integration, and knowledge management with analytical tools to present complex internal and competitive information to planners and decision makers (Negash, 2004). Traditionally it has evolved from executive information systems and management information systems to specifically focus on data driven decision making (Power, 2007).<br />
<br />
With each new iteration, BI system’s capabilities increased as enterprises grew more sophisticated in their computational and analytical needs and as computer hardware and software matured (Negash, 2004). A complete BI enterprise system is able to cover the full spectrum of a BI process, including major components of data management and integration, analysis, presentation, delivery, and domain applications which involve all components.<br />
<br />
<div>
<strong>Please read more in my lecture <a href="https://www.edocr.com/v/r4dg6mjr/jgzheng/Business-Intelligence-and-Analytics-A-Comprehensiv" target="_blank" title="Business Intelligence and Analytics Overview">Business Intelligence and Analytics Overview</a> (updated in fall 2018)</strong><strong></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe height="425" src="https://www.edocr.com/embed/r4dg6mjr" width="550"></iframe><br />
<div style="font-size: 0.8em; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.edocr.com/v/r4dg6mjr/jgzheng/Business-Intelligence-and-Analytics-A-Comprehensiv" target="_blank">View more on edocr</a></div>
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 5px;">
<br />
References:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Cardin, L. (2007). The Forrester Wave: Project Portfolio Management Tools, Q4 2007.</li>
<li>Negash, S. (2004). Business intelligence. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 13(1), 177–195.</li>
<li>Power, D. J. (2007). A Brief History of Decision Support Systems. Retrieved from http://DSSResources.COM/history/dsshistory.html</li>
<li>Zheng, G., C. Zhang, and L. Li (2014), “Bringing Business Intelligence to Healthcare IT Curriculum: A preliminary investigation,” Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE), Atlanta, GA, March 5-8, 2014</li>
</ul>
</div>
Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-87728314539335803442018-01-23T10:25:00.000-05:002018-09-26T21:21:20.144-04:00Business Data VisualizationThis is the first lecture for a data visualization course I developed in 2016. It is part of our data management and analytics certificate now.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe height="420" width="550" src="https://www.edocr.com/embed/yqwmqeba"></iframe><p style="text-align: center"><a href="https://www.edocr.com/v/yqwmqeba/jgzheng/Business-Data-Visualization" target="_blank">View more on edocr</a></p></div>Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-23737016379811180902015-08-20T10:19:00.000-04:002015-11-30T10:54:15.965-05:00Gartner Hype CyclesHype Cycle 2015 is published by Gartner.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3114217" target="_blank">http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3114217</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img src="http://na2.www.gartner.com/imagesrv/newsroom/images/emerging-tech-hc.png;wa0131df2b233dcd17" height="400" style="-webkit-user-select: none;" width="640" /></div>
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Hype cycle collection:</div>
<embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&hl=en_US&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=https%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2F114558849972260058568%2Falbumid%2F5652933174987438945%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_US" height="400" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="https://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/picasaweb.googleusercontent.com/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600"></embed> <br />
Reference:<br />
<a href="http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/hype-cycles/">http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/hype-cycles/</a>Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-12817038468883596232014-11-24T10:38:00.000-05:002015-04-08T15:29:02.899-04:00Web Navigation Systems for Information SeekingWeb browser is used as the major tool for information seeking on the Internet today. However, because of the vast information space on the Web, people often feel entangled and disoriented when overloaded with massive amount of information, a problem often referred to as “getting lost”.<br />
<br />
Web navigation systems provide assistance to guide users in the web information space. A good navigation system can ease the problem of getting lost and improve information seeking effectiveness. Common navigation tools include menu, sitemap, navigation trail, etc. Navigation is also a key factor of web usability (Palmer, 2002) which studies the ease-of-use of web applications and interfaces.<br />
<br />
Here I present an evaluation framework to examine major web navigation systems from a human information behavior and user interface perspective. The framework focuses on content structure and ease-of-access, two of the most important features of web navigation systems. The advantages and weaknesses of each type of web navigation system will be discussed.<br />
<br />
I organized it in a course module (see below) and the manuscript can be found here: <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265685771_Web_Navigation_Systems_for_Information_Seeking" target="_blank">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265685771_Web_Navigation_Systems_for_Information_Seeking</a> <br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="420" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/41618652" style="border-width: 1px; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="510"> </iframe> <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 5px;">
<strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/jgzheng/web-navigation-systems-for-information-seeking" target="_blank" title="Web navigation systems for information seeking">Web navigation systems for information seeking</a></strong></div>
Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-5747463048742274042013-11-26T10:28:00.000-05:002014-07-10T16:12:03.565-04:00Web Browser Development TrendWhy Do I think Google Chrome is leading the browser market at this time? Please take a look at the following screenshots of the default browser "blank" page of Chrome, IE, and FireFox. Chrome's page offers much more information and applications (although all Google's) including search, social networking, email, notification, and many other Google online services, with simple access.<br />
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Chrome 35 <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd6sQjs8TXiMC4QvJv96GWhPA0BVFTv-VHWCXa4-SCLcgdNU54w9-4jaHS6hhi93OKLnmWfdonpBIGAuzNcaLwg_cZgSfIyQ2ynXJ0O__2N0x8z3W-lX5KXDQykB9LnBN4QwKDHcuyLZ8/s1600/chrome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd6sQjs8TXiMC4QvJv96GWhPA0BVFTv-VHWCXa4-SCLcgdNU54w9-4jaHS6hhi93OKLnmWfdonpBIGAuzNcaLwg_cZgSfIyQ2ynXJ0O__2N0x8z3W-lX5KXDQykB9LnBN4QwKDHcuyLZ8/s1600/chrome.jpg" height="191" width="320" /></a></div>
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(Update: you can even customize the apps to see in the top right corner.)</div>
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IE 11<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Zrg5LtozV8XPWNQ3pVGZekdmtgwo_ACrSW8YgH4Aer7fNwRjKculx4NcavycQnzNEx4SzipJu0ZILC1U0gwEKUgC-U5qFaS6JPWmdlrZy_wZhMtCB4lw9UI78hThD4fVXa6LBMAVBtY/s1600/firefox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Zrg5LtozV8XPWNQ3pVGZekdmtgwo_ACrSW8YgH4Aer7fNwRjKculx4NcavycQnzNEx4SzipJu0ZILC1U0gwEKUgC-U5qFaS6JPWmdlrZy_wZhMtCB4lw9UI78hThD4fVXa6LBMAVBtY/s1600/firefox.jpg" height="185" width="320" /></a></div>
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FireFox 25<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjegBo_UIfuHCsUySw_ObeNTMpgP1LKgtnLX4WicWbpp46XVBYwQoWrIfpADkQjywPkZ_8MdH2G6iADbTqASTHWh5QrzxjfBANcW7OSruHzaUaIyde_PvzaSZbK0IUmIvE7NdeZR8wxnVc/s1600/ie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjegBo_UIfuHCsUySw_ObeNTMpgP1LKgtnLX4WicWbpp46XVBYwQoWrIfpADkQjywPkZ_8MdH2G6iADbTqASTHWh5QrzxjfBANcW7OSruHzaUaIyde_PvzaSZbK0IUmIvE7NdeZR8wxnVc/s1600/ie.jpg" height="205" width="320" /></a></div>
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Chrome is clearly going beyond a traditional browser. It is growing into a versatile online service client, or Google service client, or, what I prefer, the personal web portal. While IE and FireFox have not jumped out the pure browser concept, Chrome clearly separates itself and heading to a new direction. There are still a lot of things to improve on this "browser homepage" and I hope IE and FireFox can catch up.<br />
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Related:<br />
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/google-chrome-browser-blurs-os-lines/d/d-id/1110127">http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/google-chrome-browser-blurs-os-lines/d/d-id/1110127</a></li>
</ul>
Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-75090526457981472032013-05-15T22:05:00.000-04:002014-05-06T17:52:51.782-04:00Web Analytics Collection and Tracking Methods<div>
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This blog is an excerpt from the book chapter:</div>
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Web Analytics Overview. In Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, 3rd Edition.</div>
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There are two major methods to collect usage data: web server logging and page tagging.</div>
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Web server logging is a traditional method of usage data collection. A log file is generated by a web server to record server activities and HTTP headers in a textual format. There are various formats of log files. Most commonly logged data in the NCSA Common Log Format (<a href="http://www.w3.org/Daemon/User/Config/Logging.html" target="_blank">http://www.w3.org/Daemon/User/Config/Logging.html</a>) are server IP, date/time, HTTP request command, response status, and response size. The figure below shows an example of the Common Log Format implemented in Apache Web Server 2.2. Additional data, such as HTTP headers, process id, scripts, request rewrite, etc., can be logged in proprietary formats or Extended Log File Format (<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-logfile.html" target="_blank">http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-logfile.html</a>). Log analysis software can be used to extract and analyze log files. Popular tools are Analog (<a href="http://www.analog.cx/" target="_blank">http://www.analog.cx</a>), Deep Log Analyzer (<a href="http://www.deep-software.com/" target="_blank">http://www.deep-software.com</a>), Webalizer (<a href="http://www.webalizer.org/" target="_blank">http://www.webalizer.org</a>), and AWSstats (<a href="http://awstats.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank">http://awstats.sourceforge.net</a>).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbMSEqLvN-bNSH53_n9EQKUyuI66hz9m1N4QAEeGnNCg6W6GUdsWTJU7XAyhwrjTB2M8TcPaC0ZeZVLBTXz6YxdK5aYWhFdEGeWLfEQrPOpExfHeL2XPmJr9FWn8IdxViMawf1EUj1Ryo/s1600/Figure-3.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbMSEqLvN-bNSH53_n9EQKUyuI66hz9m1N4QAEeGnNCg6W6GUdsWTJU7XAyhwrjTB2M8TcPaC0ZeZVLBTXz6YxdK5aYWhFdEGeWLfEQrPOpExfHeL2XPmJr9FWn8IdxViMawf1EUj1Ryo/s1600/Figure-3.tif" height="87" width="400" /></a></div>
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The second and more recent method uses client side programs such as embedded scripts, browser add-ons and plug-ins. For example, in a typical JavaScript tracking method, a piece of JavaScript code included in a page tracks user activity and stores information in a cookie. The information is sent to a processing server (not necessarily the same server that hosts the website) using web beacons or web services. This method is commonly used by third party service providers such as Google Analytics and Open Web Analytics. For many organizations, it has become a major type of web usage data collection.</div>
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Web server logging is less invasive and does not require page modifications. Compared to the web server logging method, page tagging has a number of advantages. First, client scripts may have access to additional information about the client such as computer screen size and color depth. Second, JavaScript can track client side user actions or events such as keyboard pressing and mouse clicking. This is particularly useful in today’s context of rich internet applications (RIA). RIAs support many client side user interactions that do not communicate with the server; therefore server side logging cannot track these actions. Last but not least, data management and reporting become simpler as many of these services are provided through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model without local maintenance. This is a preferred method for small and medium websites.</div>
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A third method of data collection, application level logging, is on the rise lately. Application level logging is tightly coupled with an application, which is a functional feature of the application itself. This is an expansion of the traditional web analytics which focuses on generic HTTP requests and user actions. An application can be a shopping site, a web portal, a blog service, a learning management system, a forum, or a social networking service. Each of these applications has its own unique usage data that is collected beyond generic web requests or user actions. The usage data is processed by the application itself or by a functional module tightly coupled with the application, but not by independent logging or analytics services. For example, SharePoint 2010 provides framework specific analytics data, like usage of templates and web parts.</div>
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Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-12168538708522318482013-04-10T10:47:00.000-04:002014-05-06T17:51:28.451-04:00Web Analytics: Data and Sources<div class="IGIBodytext">
This blog is an excerpt from the book chapter:<br />
<br />
Web Analytics Overview. In Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, 3rd Edition.</div>
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The fundamental goal of web analytics is to collect and analyze web traffic and usage patterns. A common way to study this data is to use the dimensional model. Under this model, there are two major types of data: facts or measurement data and dimensional data that describe facts from different aspects and levels. Facts data are mainly about usage count and time. The most basic measure is a page view, which is a single request for a web page. Count of user actions such as mouse clicks can also be used as a measure. Various metrics are calculated based on basic measures and dimensions. Dimensional data are much more complex. Major types of dimensions include time, content, location, user client information (such as operating system, browser type, screen size, etc.), and user or session.</div>
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Both measurement data and dimensional data come from a number of sources, which can be categorized into the following 4 types:<br />
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<li>Direct HTTP request data</li>
<li>Application level data sent with HTTP requests</li>
<li>Network level and server generated data associated with HTTP requests.</li>
<li>External data</li>
</ol>
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<i>Direct HTTP request data</i> directly come from HTTP request messages. An HTTP request is a message sent by a web client (browser) to a web server to request a resource (a web page or a web page element like an image). Traditionally, web traffic measurement is directly based on web resource visits (commonly called page view). Then each request is further described by a number of dimensions, such as page, visitor, technology, etc. The format of the HTTP 1.1 request is specified in IETF RFC 2616. A typical HTTP request message is shown in the following Figure.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij5rGGDW0QZ_j56zB5wPQnlW12KZFlCajfeiHSz4D2HTIgAtcG7gPT-LUg_0_nfskdZzO0RspMC_nG3WMP-Z-MOWB0z_4NEXL6ovuowvtJyTdRa94J_JUgRqRJDBQhUm-0Tp7uDjd-a0Q/s1600/Figure-1.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij5rGGDW0QZ_j56zB5wPQnlW12KZFlCajfeiHSz4D2HTIgAtcG7gPT-LUg_0_nfskdZzO0RspMC_nG3WMP-Z-MOWB0z_4NEXL6ovuowvtJyTdRa94J_JUgRqRJDBQhUm-0Tp7uDjd-a0Q/s1600/Figure-1.tif" height="145" width="400" /></a></div>
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An HTTP request consists of a request command (the first line) and HTTP headers. The request command includes the required URI (unified resource identifier) information. A URI generally includes a host's domain or IP and a directory path. If the host information is not included as a part of the URI, then the “host” header has to be provided. The URI is the key information that leads to the count of a page/resource views. HTTP headers are pairs of field names and values. HTTP 1.1 specification defines a set of headers that can be included. These headers describe request and client characteristics. Most of the header data are dimensional type of data used in web analytics. Some commonly used header fields for tracking are:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="IGIBulletListLevel1">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i>User-Agent</i> field holds client information such as browser type and operating system type. This information can be used to profile client technologies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="IGIBulletListLevel1">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Referer</i> (not “referrer”) field keeps the previously visited URL that leads to the current URL. This header can be used for the clickstream analysis where user visiting paths can be constructed by chaining a serial of requests. It also can be used for metrics like entry rate, exit rate, etc. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="IGIBulletListLevel1">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Accept-Language</i> field contains the list of natural languages that are preferred in the response. The list is determined based on the OS default locale. This can be used to track user’s language, e.g. en, en-US, es (Spanish), zh-cn (China).<o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Cookie</i> field holds application level information stored at the client side. This can hold various kinds of data that is beyond HTTP’s role, such as keyboard and mouse actions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Application level data</i> is generated and processed by application level programs (such as JavaScript, PHP, and ASP.Net). Some common examples are:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="IGIBulletListLevel1">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Session</i> data identify a client interaction with a website consisting of one or more related requests for definable unit of content in a defined time period. HTTP itself is stateless and cannot provide session information. Thus, this data is managed at the application level. Session data are usually sent as URL parameters or session cookies. They are important for calculate metrics like number of visits, time on site, number of page views per visit, etc. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="IGIBulletListLevel1">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Referral</i> data is different from the “referer” header in HTTP requests. HTTP referer is at the page request level and is usually a URL. Application level referral represents different sources leading to the current web resource and is usually a coded value. It can be used to analyze traffic levels from expected and unexpected sources, or to gauge channel effectiveness in advertisement tracking.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="IGIBulletListLevel1">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i>User action</i> data mainly include keyboard actions (e.g. user input of search terms) and mouse actions (e.g. cursor coordinates and movements). It also includes application specific action such as voting, playing of video/audio, bookmarking, etc.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Client/browser side </i>data include computer status information like display resolution and color depth, or any other information a user chooses to make available.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Application level data is usually embedded in HTTP requests. There are three common places to hold this information. First, they can be appended to a request URL as URL parameters. Server side programs can parse these parameters. For example, Google uses specifically constructed URLs in their search results to redirect users to the target while capturing extra information. Second, application data can be sent as the HTTP cookie header. Cookies are small text files that usually store user profile and activity data. The type of data that can be stored is directly determined by the client software and settings. Third, application data can also be included in the HTTP request body when an HTTP “POST” method is used (common for form submission).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Network level data is not part of an HTTP request, but it is required for successful request transmissions. The most prominent example is an IP address of a requestor. The requester's IP address and port number are required in order to return a response. This information is sent at the TCP/IP level and is logged by a web server. Server generated data is usually used for internal reference and is recorded in server log files. The log file commonly records file size, processing time, server IP, request events other than HTTP request, etc.</div>
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External data can be combined with on-site data to help interpret web usage. For example, IP addresses are usually associated with Geographic regions and internet service providers. Third party databases or services provide such mappings, e.g., MaxMind’s GeoIP and GeoLite (<a href="http://www.maxmind.com/" target="_blank">http://www.maxmind.com</a>), IPInfoDB (<a href="http://ipinfodb.com/" target="_blank">http://ipinfodb.com</a>), GeoBytes (<a href="http://www.geobytes.com/" target="_blank">http://www.geobytes.com</a>), and hostip.info (<a href="http://www.hostip.info/" target="_blank">http://www.hostip.info</a>). Another example is user information that was collected and stored during a separate process (e.g. registration). If user identity information is required in a visit, then this profile data can be associated with usage data. Revenue and profit can be classified as external data if they can be associated with particular webpages. Search terms and advertisement keywords requests are also external data and are usually provided by third party services.</div>
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<div class="IGIFigureCaption">
Web Analytic Major Data and Source Summary</div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="background: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-background-themecolor: background1; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;"><tbody>
<tr> <td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 189.9pt;" valign="top" width="317"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
<b>Data<o:p></o:p></b></div>
</td> <td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 129.3pt;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
<b>Type<o:p></o:p></b></div>
</td> <td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 159.6pt;" valign="top" width="266"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
<b>Source<o:p></o:p></b></div>
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 189.9pt;" valign="top" width="317"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Page view</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 129.3pt;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Measurement</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 159.6pt;" valign="top" width="266"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
HTTP request</div>
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 189.9pt;" valign="top" width="317"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Client profile/User-Agent (browser, OS)</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 129.3pt;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Dimension</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 159.6pt;" valign="top" width="266"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Application, HTTP request</div>
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 189.9pt;" valign="top" width="317"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
User action (keyboard and mouse)</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 129.3pt;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Measurement</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 159.6pt;" valign="top" width="266"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Application</div>
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 189.9pt;" valign="top" width="317"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Geo location</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 129.3pt;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Dimension</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 159.6pt;" valign="top" width="266"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
External</div>
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 189.9pt;" valign="top" width="317"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Visit or session</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 129.3pt;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Measurement, dimension</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 159.6pt;" valign="top" width="266"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Application</div>
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 189.9pt;" valign="top" width="317"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Referrer (preceding webpage)</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 129.3pt;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Dimension</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 159.6pt;" valign="top" width="266"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
HTTP request (“referer” header)</div>
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 189.9pt;" valign="top" width="317"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Referral (channel identification)</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 129.3pt;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Dimension</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 159.6pt;" valign="top" width="266"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Application</div>
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 189.9pt;" valign="top" width="317"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Client profile (screen size, color depth)</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 129.3pt;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Dimension</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 159.6pt;" valign="top" width="266"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Application</div>
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 189.9pt;" valign="top" width="317"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
IP address</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 129.3pt;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Dimension</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 159.6pt;" valign="top" width="266"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Network protocol</div>
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 189.9pt;" valign="top" width="317"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
User profile</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 129.3pt;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Dimension</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 159.6pt;" valign="top" width="266"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
External</div>
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 189.9pt;" valign="top" width="317"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Revenue or profit</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 129.3pt;" valign="top" width="216"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
Measurement</div>
</td> <td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 159.6pt;" valign="top" width="266"><div class="IGIEquationPara">
External</div>
</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>
Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-51290698050397641842012-10-22T05:58:00.000-04:002015-11-30T10:26:40.762-05:00SCOPeS Properties in Information Visualization DesignIn business intelligence, the presentation component is a more recently focused layer which brings sense-making and decision support directly to users. It includes various interaction and visualization techniques that add additional intuition and cognition to decision makers. Common tools include reporting (static and interactive reports), digital dashboards, and more complex analytical visualizations.<br />
<br />
Most of the data in BI systems is multidimensional in nature. How do we present multidimensional data in a way that is clear, meaningful, and easy to understand? The design of visualization involves the effective use of fundamental visual elements and visual properties.<br />
<br />
Visual elements are the basic building blocks in a chart or diagram to visualize data items. The most fundamental and abstract elements are: point, line, surface (area), and volume (3D). These basic elements, and the more complex elements built up on them, can represent almost anything in a visualization.<br />
<br />
Visual properties or variables are used to "decorate" visual elements, so that the values or meanings of data items can be directly and easily perceived and understood by human. The most commonly used properties can be summarized as SCOPeS: Size, Color, Orientation, (spatial) Position, Texture, and Shape:<br />
<ul>
<li>Size: the size of an element is an important property used for continuous data values. It can be implemented as length, width, height, area, angle, etc. For various reasons, it is common that the size property does not directly and truly represent the underlying value. In these cases, it must be very careful to design the size property, because unreasonable distortions will impact human perception.</li>
<li>Color: color is the most common visual property used for both categorical data and continuous data. It also include hue, brightness, and gray scale.</li>
<li>Orientation: it is closely related to shapes, and can be seen as variations of a particular shape or pattern. An common example is arrows or hands pointing to different directions.</li>
<li>Position: data values can be visualized as absolute positions in the visualization, or as the relative distance between elements. It is commonly used to visualize the position of data items against a pre-established scheme (such as a Cartesian coordinate system), categorization and grouping of date items in terms of similarities and differences, or spatial distances (especially used with maps).</li>
<li>Texture: texture is important when color sensitivity is an issue. Implementations include fill patterns, border patterns, shadow, etc.</li>
<li>Shape: shape can be applied to any visual elements. When used to visualize individual objects or data items, it usually represents nominal or categorical data values.</li>
</ul>
More complex visual elements (such as icons and symbols) can be built based on the basic elements and properties discussed above. Combinations of these properties can be used to represent multi-dimensional data in the same visualization. Animations (such as blinking, movement, spinning, etc.) are based on some dynamic changes of these properties, and they can be used for richer meaning and grab greater attention. Remember it is always a good idea to provide user customization of these properties.<br />
<br />
See more:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="486" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/15076588" style="border-width: 1px 1px 0; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="597"> </iframe> <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 5px;">
<strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/jgzheng/business-data-visual" target="_blank" title="Business Data Visualization">Business Data Visualization</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/jgzheng" target="_blank">Jack Zheng</a></strong> </div>
Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-76029305495022905942012-07-18T11:33:00.000-04:002014-04-09T09:19:20.310-04:00Metro style on the wallI found this on the wall of the SPSU Stinger restaurant. I like the metro style.
<br />
<div style="font-size: 0.8em; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 10px 0; padding: 0;">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/91514575@N06/8723704930/" title="Metro style on the wall"><img alt="Metro style on the wall by Dr.jz" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7402/8723704930_4c9b9e84a2.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="margin: 0;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/91514575@N06/8723704930/">Metro style on the wall</a>, a photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/91514575@N06/">Dr.jz</a> on Flickr.</span></div>
Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-23058101478486301192012-04-30T20:17:00.000-04:002014-04-09T09:55:46.454-04:00Developer Tools in Browers<span style="background-color: #dddddd; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333015441895px; line-height: 16.999998092651367px;">This is short video demo on using developer tools in major web browsers including IE, FireFox, and Chrome. I recorded this for the IT 5302 class in spring 2012.</span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GJuQbxAhN1w?list=PLdiVex6HxQcvIQ2SQA5W_hirIGa1OQkHk" width="640"></iframe><br />Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-12520779664257719042012-01-09T12:49:00.000-05:002014-03-12T13:31:59.160-04:00Information System: A System Perspective<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="421" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/32044506" style="border-width: 1px 1px 0; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="512"> </iframe> <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 5px;">
<strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/jgzheng/information-system-a-system-view" target="_blank" title="Information system a system view">Information system a system view</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/jgzheng" target="_blank">Jack Zheng</a></strong> </div>
</div>
<br />
Reference:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_thinking" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_thinking</a></li>
</ul>
Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-20767183838928945642011-11-30T11:03:00.000-05:002013-01-09T13:06:29.926-05:00Web 2.0 User Interface and InteractionHere I summarize (and envision) some major features of "web 2.0" rich web user interfaces. The question is what features are usually considered to be rich and usable. Let us know if there are things missing. <br />
<ul>
<li>Dynamic content changes and animations: auto-fill, marquee, slides, etc.</li>
<li>Traditional GUI controls and interactions: drop-down/pop-up, expanding/collapsing, selection, highlighting, etc.</li>
<li>Advanced user interactions using mouse: hold and move, drag and drop, and multi-touch. </li>
<li>Within page action: to complete a task, especially that with a number of steps, within the same web page: sorting, filling out forms, log in, add new or change content, seeing additional content, etc.</li>
</ul>
Technologies and tools that can be used to achieve these features: <br />
<ul>
<li>Traditional and basic DHTML, JavaScript.</li>
<li>Client side embedded component: Applet, Flash, Silverlight.</li>
<li>Recent AJAX, JavaScript library (JQuery/Prototype).</li>
<li>Advanced UI language: XUL.</li>
<li>Browser GUI integration.</li>
</ul>
Here are some other good readings:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://blog.lab49.com/archives/779">http://blog.lab49.com/archives/779</a></li>
<li><a href="http://woork.blogspot.com/2009/01/10-beautiful-web-ui-libraries.html">http://woork.blogspot.com/2009/01/10-beautiful-web-ui-libraries.html</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Internet_application">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Internet_application</a></li>
</ul>
Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-4464781850378196612011-03-12T11:57:00.000-05:002014-01-11T22:26:51.540-05:00Site Map 2.0Just some casual thoughts about the new site map features for better information organization, search, and share:<br />
<ol>
<li>Structured and separated from its presentation: this makes it searchable. The search based on the structure is much more effective and efficient than search the whole page. Google site map is on the right track.</li>
<li>Multi-perspectives (path): the structure of the site map should reflect multiple perspectives or dimensions of information. Current site map or menus are always fixed and the same in every session. Many types of information have the characteristics of multi-categorization, which means they can be categorized in different schemes by different dimensions.This will lead to a resource with multiple path.</li>
<li>Rich navigation information embedded: it is not just in a hierarchical structure, but also with rich navigation information, such as tags, links to related resource, etc.</li>
<li>Dynamic and client oriented: it can be customized in presentation on the client side, supporting common information seeking features like filtering, marking (favorites), tracking (most visited, history), etc. The customization can be saved and synchronized from the server when the site map is changed.</li>
</ol>
Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-43871505599094068012011-01-12T11:50:00.000-05:002014-04-09T10:03:03.159-04:00Explain IA Creative WorkIA Institute had a nice competition event on explaining IA. Below is the slide show of all submissions, which are hosted on flickr.com.<br />
<object width="480" height="320"><param name="flashvars" value="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fgroups%2Fexplainia%2Fpool%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fgroups%2Fexplainia%2Fpool%2F&group_id=1326826@N23&jump_to=&start_index="><param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fgroups%2Fexplainia%2Fpool%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fgroups%2Fexplainia%2Fpool%2F&group_id=1326826@N23&jump_to=&start_index=" width="480" height="320"></embed></object>Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-17175121652229851652010-12-14T07:45:00.003-05:002013-11-26T10:41:55.704-05:00Web Hosting Experience (updated)<div>
I have tried several web hosting companies (Windows platform, shared hosting) since 2006: GoDaddy, 1and1, webhost4life, and recently Arvixe. They all have their own advantages, as well as disadvantages. Below is a brief comparison of their shared hosting of the middle level plan (as of Dec 2010 and to the best of my knowledge and experience).<br />
<br />
Arvixe<br />
- As many websites (domain and subdomains) as you want to setup with only $8/M.<br />
- Good database support<br />
- Very flexible settings<br />
but<br />
- The web admin UI is slow<br />
- Their own website is bad design in terms of information architecture; difficult to find information. <br />
- Support/help is a separate system.<br />
<br />
GoDaddy (stopped using its Windows platform since 2009)<br />
- Cheap ($6.99/M)<br />
- Big storage (150G for $6.99/M)<br />
- Comprehensive domain management<br />
- Easy switch between Linux and Windows<br />
but<br />
- Limited database storage and support for SQL Server (only 2 databases with 200MB with managment studio support)<br />
- No easy data transfer<br />
- Only one FTP account<br />
- Weird sub-domain setup<br />
<br />
1and1 (stopped using it since 2008)<br />
- Big storage <br />
- 3 free domains - Limited database storage for SQL Server (only one<br />
database with 200MB)<br />
but<br />
- No easy data transfer<br />
- No static IP offered<br />
- Switching platform is a pain<br />
<br />
Webhost4life<br />
- Big SQL Server database storage (up to max storage)<br />
- Remote SQL Server access<br />
- Latest Windows platform<br />
- Static IP included (needs to request setup though)<br />
- Support ticket system is good - More expensive ($20 setup fee)<br />
but<br />
- Domain on sub-directory is not free<br />
- sub-domain setup is not flexible<br />
- Only ASP.net 3.5!<br />
<br />
In summary, Arvixe is what I am using now for .Net websites; GoDaddy and 1and1 are cheap with big storage, but offer weak database support (good for beginners); Webhost4Life is more expensive, but is (was) more flexible and more configurable (good for advanced users). You get what you pay for.</div>
Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-54756533631067866932010-07-24T11:17:00.001-04:002014-01-31T01:30:29.577-05:00Free XML/XSD/XSLT Tools (Updated)I have tried and used a number of free XML/XSD/XSLT editors and just want to share my experience. If you have a different view or a better free tool to suggest, please let us know.<br />
<ol>
<li>Recommended comprehensive </li>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.softpedia.com/get/Programming/File-Editors/XMLPad.shtml" target="_blank">XMLPad</a>: a pretty powerful XML/XSD/XSLT editor; providing multiple views for XML content. But sometimes there is ad.</li>
<li><a href="http://xmlfox.com/" target="_blank">XMLFox</a>: a nice tool to view and edit XML schemas (and XML content) with multiple views; requires .Net 2.0.</li>
</ul>
<li>Recommended unique </li>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://xpathvisualizer.codeplex.com/" target="_blank">XPath Visualizer</a>: great tool to test XPath expressions.</li>
<li><a href="http://treebeard.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank">Treebeard</a>: a open source XML/XSLT editor, based on Java. easy for transformation (side by side view); but lack of visual mode and advanced features.</li>
<li><a href="http://symbolclick.com/" target="_blank">XML Marker</a>: XML editor, very unique in visualizing XML data using tables, which is very helpful for editing structured relational data.</li>
</ul>
<li>Others <ul>
<li><a href="http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank">Notepad++</a>: a general editor for many languages including XML.</li>
<li><a href="http://free.editix.com/" target="_blank">EditiX Lite</a>: very nice visual (diagram style) editor; it's good to get XPath<br />information for any nodes; based on Java. limitation on the free edition (cannot generate schema).</li>
<li><a href="http://xmlnotepad.codeplex.com/" target="_blank">XML Notepad 2007</a>: a basic XML editing tool <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=72d6aa49-787d-4118-ba5f-4f30fe913628&displaylang=en" target="_blank">downloadable from Microsoft</a>; requires .Net 2.0.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
Online XSLT transformation tools<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.shell-tools.net/index.php?op=xslt">http://www.shell-tools.net/index.php?op=xslt</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.w3schools.com/xsl/tryxslt.asp?xmlfile=cdcatalog&xsltfile=cdcatalog">http://www.w3schools.com/xsl/tryxslt.asp?xmlfile=cdcatalog&xsltfile=cdcatalog</a></li>
</ol>
For other tools recommended, see <a href="http://jackzheng.net/cubicleh/software/?part=software_b.htm">http://jackzheng.net/cubicleh/software/?part=software_b.htm</a>Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-44534059574433173662010-07-13T10:22:00.007-04:002013-11-26T10:44:00.888-05:00Who uses ASP.Net?I am preparing an advanced web development course based on ASP.Net. The first question coming to mind (and probably students want to know) is:<br /><br />Who uses ASP.Net?<br /><br />I did a quick research and below is part of the list:<br />
Large company site:<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://dell.com/">http://dell.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.costco.com/">http://www.costco.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.nestle.com/">http://www.nestle.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.jcpenney.com/">http://www.jcpenney.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://lego.com/">http://lego.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://match.com/">http://match.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.monster.com/">http://www.monster.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.morningstar.com/">http://www.morningstar.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="https://chaseonline.chase.com/">https://chaseonline.chase.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.membershiprewards.com/">http://www.membershiprewards.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.atlanta-airport.com/">http://www.atlanta-airport.com/</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.newegg.com/">http://www.newegg.com/</a> </li>
</ol>
Governments, institutions, and non-profits<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="https://etax.dor.ga.gov/">https://etax.dor.ga.gov/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://access.wa.gov/">http://access.wa.gov/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.toastmasters.org/">http://www.toastmasters.org/</a></li>
</ol>
Microsoft affiliate websites<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://bing.com/">http://bing.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://asp.net/">http://asp.net/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.codeplex.com/">http://www.codeplex.com/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.xbox.com/">http://www.xbox.com/</a></li>
</ol>
Web application frameworks and products built upon ASP.Net<br />
<ul>
<li>SharePoint </li>
<li>DotNetNuke</li>
<li>ASP.Net MVC </li>
<li>mojoPortal </li>
<li>Other smaller ones like: BlogEngine.NET, DasBlog, Gallery Server Pro, nopCommerce</li>
</ul>
Well, ASP.Net is not just used for websites; it is an enterprise capable technology that is used by many large companies for intranet use and enterprise application development, together with other technologies.<br />
BTW, you can use <a href="http://web-sniffer.net/">http://web-sniffer.net/</a> to see the HTTP header returned from websites. Some of them tell what technology they are based on.Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-30396868743141544562010-04-28T17:10:00.000-04:002011-10-10T18:55:41.853-04:00Bye Floppy Disks and Drives[04/25/2010] <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-20003360-92.html" target="_blank">Sony delivers floppy disk's last rites</a><br /><br />Sony announced last Friday it will end the domestic sales of floppy discs in March 2011. Considering that Apple iMac eliminated the floppy completely in 1998, Dell dropped the floppy as standard equipment on one of its Dimension desktops in 2003, and I have not purchased floppy drives for all my desktops since 2000, I am a little surprised at this news - I thought it's gone already!<br /><br />If you have never seen or used floppy disks before, or you just want to recollect your memory, here is some information about floppy disk from Wikipedia: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk</a><br /><br />Nonetheless, the news did make me think about the old days when using floppy disks. Here are some of the fun experience I can remember:<br /><ul><li>The MS-DOS (and PC-DOS) operating system was on 2 or 3 floppy disks (about 4MB).</li><li>I played this game called F-16 or something, which was on a single floppy disk. See it here on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pO88OZbxoA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pO88OZbxoA</a></li><li>I used to collect student work via floppy disks; and that's a 300 student big class.</li></ul><p>Did you use these floppy disks before? What alternatives have you used?</p>Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-72407889492711649172010-04-10T20:54:00.000-04:002011-10-10T18:55:41.890-04:00Google Docs and Office Discussion SummaryAs usual, I summarized our discussion on Google Docs, Zoho Docs, and MS Office here:<br /><ul><li>Most people (if not all) like the idea of web based document editing and management.</li><li>Many people do realize that their pros and cons clearly.</li><li>I roughly categorized and counted your opinions, as shown in the following chart. Of the people who prefer Google Docs, 19 of them specifically prefer Google Docs over Zoho Docs while others did not try Zoho.</li></ul><br /><img alt="Google Chart" src="http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chs=450x100&chf=bg,s,ffffff&cht=p3&chd=t:21.10,60.55,18.34&chl=Who prefer Zoho Docs (23)|Who prefer Google Docs (66)|Who prefer MS Office (20)&chco=ff9933,0066ff,33cc66" /><br /><br /><p>Some selected student comments:</p><ul><li>Overall, all three applications are very god useful in many ways. I'm glad that i know about all 3 for any work i may have to do in the future.</li><li>Overall I like google docs better than Microsoft office especially for group projects and I prefer Microsoft office when working independently. </li><li>One of the drawbacks of Google Docs is that it does not provide as many editing options as Microsoft Office.</li><li>I think I'll keep using the Office products and if I need to share the file with someone I will upload it to Google Docs, but I don't plan on creating documents in Google Docs directly. </li><li>Clearly having the ability to access files from anywhere is a very attractive quality, especially to an irresponsible student like myself that habitually leaves disk drives in every computer I stick them into. </li><li>Ms office will, in my opinion, be phased out if not by consumer demand for a google doc like application, but an evolution of office software itself to a more web based program. </li><li>I compare using Google Docs to using a Mac for the first time after using a PC all your life.</li><li>(Zoho) seems like it is google docs on steroids. </li><li>Based on my experience (and i have been a Microsoft user for Years) I like Zoho a lot, i think Zoho is very straight forward, not complicated, and you can also work offline. </li><li>Base on my brief yet precise summary of Zoho Docs it’s rather easy to come to the conclusion that Zoho Docs out muscle Google Docs in terms of features and options. Zoho Docs is the ultimate online office application. I would like to encourage everyone to take a look at Zoho Docs if you haven’t yet. I promise you will not regret it. </li></ul>Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-71754702770515069162010-04-07T11:57:00.011-04:002010-08-06T14:45:19.847-04:00The Project Cartoon (updated)<div align="left">I created my version of the project cartoon on <a href="http://www.projectcartoon.com/" target="_blank">http://www.projectcartoon.com/</a> (updated!)<br /></div><div align="center"><a href="http://powerpoint.officeapps.live.com/PowerPointFrame.aspx?PowerPointView=ReadingView&Fi=SDC8EA32BEFA3BB810!150&H=emul&C=3__BAY-SKY-WAC-WSHI&ui=en-US&rs=en-US&su=-3969304325750278128&cy=akMiigdAEyTLPmKtsezEa21iz42TNnK%2fJxwl1%2borxTY%3d8&ad=en-US&SlideId=256&popout=1" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:130%;">System Development Life Cycle 101</span></a> (Office Live)</div><div align="center">This set of pictures show basic SDLC phases in the "Tree Project Cartoon" way.<br /><br /><iframe height="342" src="https://docs.google.com/present/embed?id=dcc6x3pj_452gwbn48g5" frameborder="0" width="410"></iframe></div>Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-72512469149126008112010-04-05T09:28:00.000-04:002011-10-10T18:55:41.892-04:00iPad Begins to Sell, and the future of the publishing and media business[04/04/2010] The iPad arrived in Silicon Valley last Saturday, and <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_14814960" target="_blank">an estimated 700,000 iPads bought on day one</a>.<br /><br />We have talked about slate PC and iPad (as computer hardware) earlier this semester. This week we are talking about e-commerce and m-commerce. This is where information technologies (like slate PC and iPad) have brought us many changes, and to some businesses, the change is huge. For example:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=32711" target="_blank">The print publishing industry</a></li><li><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/24/news/companies/blockbuster/" target="_blank">The media industry</a></li></ul><p>Is this a big deal? Watch this:</p><object width="460" height="300"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ntyXvLnxyXk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ntyXvLnxyXk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="460" height="300"></embed></object><br /><p>Share some of your own experience and thoughts of the publishing and media businesses (such as newspaper, magazine, TV, movie, music, book, etc.). Where do you think these businesses will go in 5 or 10 years? Will they (or any particular company) disappear?</p>Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335666580436886265.post-79215937145852591942010-03-29T15:05:00.000-04:002011-10-10T18:55:41.898-04:00Virtual Meeting/ConferencingSounds familiar? SecondLife again?<br />[March 21, 2010] <a href="http://digital.venturebeat.com/2010/03/21/venuegen/" target="_blank">VenueGen lets businesses stage quick and easy virtual meetings.</a><br /><br />Check out VenueGen's demonstration at DEMO Spring 2010 conference.<br /><embed height="400" name="flashObj" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=" width="460" src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/980795693" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashvars="videoId=73201845001&playerId=980795693&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&domain=embed&autoStart=false&" seamlesstabbing="false" swliveconnect="true"></embed><br /><br />Yes. This time it might work. Compared to video conferencing, virtual meetings may be better in many aspects. For example, you don't need web cams; you don't need to make yourself look good at home; and you don't worry about the surrounding environment; etc. Can you think more advantages compared to video conferencing? Do you think it will get popular?<br /><br />Check out more exciting new stuff at <a href="http://demo.com/">http://demo.com</a>Jack G. Zhenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09328851373930291874noreply@blogger.com8