Occasionally, you hear that a Website is static, while a Web Application is dynamic. This distinction refers to how the pages are generated versus the content. Nor, does it refer to the timeliness of the information.
Anyone who works with the Web knows that the content must be current and it must offer something new to have repeat visitors. If a visitor sees an entry whose data has long passed, it is an immediate clue that the information on the site is not current. The side could is static, in one sense of the term, in that it is not timely.
The content of the site can be timely, and it can change, and still use static Web pages. If the content of a page is a fixed document, it is a static page. It does not make any difference whether it is written in HTML, DHTML, XHTML, because the content of the page is static. For many pages, this is the best solution. There are pages whose only change occurs when the information on the page is no longer timely.
A dynamic page is a generated page, using a language such as Perl, PHP, Java, or Ruby on Rails. The content of these pages change depending on the information requested. When delivering dynamic content, you often have a back-end database that provides the content.
On the mtlegion.org Website, dynamic content appears in a number of different Web Applications. I call them Web Applications because the number of PHP pages is small compared to the number of different pages delivered. For example, the Posts page only invokes two scripts. One for district information and one for post information. The district script only invokes the post script or the officer information script. The post script can inoke the officer information script. The entire department roster runs off of three scripts that invoke the same officer information script. When any change is made, it is made to the database, and every script automatically generates the new information. With dynamically generated pages, I can now add links to the chairpersons on the program pages, and not worry about changing those pages if the chairperson changes. Only the database changes.
The membership services section follows the same rules. Every post goes through the same scripts. What is offered as a service is defined in a database. If a post wants a dffierent level of service, it only takes one change to the database, and all generated pages change.
If any contact information changes for a post. It only requires a change to the database, and all pages change.
The visitor never sees the underlying code. It just makes maintenace and integration of the Web pages a lot easier.
Bill Anderson
Webmaster
American Legion of Montana
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Blog Archive
House Rules
General Orders:
Do not post messages/items that are unlawful, harassing, defamatory, or abusive.
Do not post Hate Speech, defines as "any comments intended to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against a person or group of people based on their race, gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, language ability, moral or political views, socioeconomic class, occupation or appearance.
"No spamming or flooding. Don't repost the same message/items or very similar messages/items, more than once. Relevance. Interesting posts that are off the current topic are acceptable. When that happens, we'll try to start another thread, and move the comments over. However, banal or repetitive off-topic posts lower the value of the conversation for everyone and may be removed.
No impersonating. Impersonating someone is not acceptable (however, impersonation of comical intent will be tolerated with reserved right to censor and/or reject base on our interpretations).
Links. Do not post stupid random links.
Copyright and the law. You own the copyright in your postings, but you also agree to grant to The American Legion a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicenseable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, play, and exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to any such work worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any media now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in such content. In other words, if you post a good comment, we may use it in our publications. If you do not wish to grant such rights, do not post to this site. You may not violate, plagiarize, or infringe on the rights of third parties including copyright, trademark, trade secret, privacy, personal, publicity, or proprietary rights. Phew.
Standing Orders:
Constitutions and By-laws. The American Legion is a resolution based grassroots organization. As such, The American Legion National Commander is the only spokesperson of the organization. Although personal comments and voices of dissent are welcome, any posted messages/items, implicitly or explicitly denoting representation of the whole organization not adhering to the resolutions passed by the National Executive Committee will be removed without notification.
Do not post messages/items that are unlawful, harassing, defamatory, or abusive.
Do not post Hate Speech, defines as "any comments intended to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against a person or group of people based on their race, gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, language ability, moral or political views, socioeconomic class, occupation or appearance.
"No spamming or flooding. Don't repost the same message/items or very similar messages/items, more than once. Relevance. Interesting posts that are off the current topic are acceptable. When that happens, we'll try to start another thread, and move the comments over. However, banal or repetitive off-topic posts lower the value of the conversation for everyone and may be removed.
No impersonating. Impersonating someone is not acceptable (however, impersonation of comical intent will be tolerated with reserved right to censor and/or reject base on our interpretations).
Links. Do not post stupid random links.
Copyright and the law. You own the copyright in your postings, but you also agree to grant to The American Legion a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicenseable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, play, and exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to any such work worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any media now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in such content. In other words, if you post a good comment, we may use it in our publications. If you do not wish to grant such rights, do not post to this site. You may not violate, plagiarize, or infringe on the rights of third parties including copyright, trademark, trade secret, privacy, personal, publicity, or proprietary rights. Phew.
Standing Orders:
Constitutions and By-laws. The American Legion is a resolution based grassroots organization. As such, The American Legion National Commander is the only spokesperson of the organization. Although personal comments and voices of dissent are welcome, any posted messages/items, implicitly or explicitly denoting representation of the whole organization not adhering to the resolutions passed by the National Executive Committee will be removed without notification.
1 comment:
this is great information. The only thing i would add, not to your post, but to the issue of backlinks. i thinkn you would find it useful to backlink some of the key words in yout post so the raders can access relevant inforamtion...
Post a Comment