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The following story may well be more one for the “anoraks” than the rest but I hope I can make it interesting for anyone to read and in the process, not over simplify for one or, over complicate for the other so that, is quite a challenge.

But in a sense and although about computer software, perhaps the main ingredients of the “tale” are little different from all those Hollywood Blockbusters in the sense of the “individual” taking on the “big guys”. However, it does all get a bit complicated in the sense of just who are the “big guys ?” I will start my story with a simple description of probably the No.1 software package for web design, Adobe Dreamweaver…

Web Sites

The truth is that anyone with the appropriate “knowledge” and understanding, can create the most sophisticated web site using just a plain text editor like “notepad” in Windows but that is not the way it is normally done at a professional level, tools such as Adobe Dreamweaver are used and I happen to be a legitimate owner/user of the latest version.

Building web sites and particularly using products like “Dreamweaver” is a breeze but sadly, not the “total answer” and the reason is that the world has moved on to a more interactive one and a static web page is just “so yesterday…” So, what has replaced it ? You might ask but the answer to that is either “The Back End” or, “Client Server” but the reality is access to information in ‘real time’ which is commonly known as “WEB 2”.

What Does That Mean ?

In simple terms and using one of my favourite suppliers “Amazon”, I can browse their stock, order goods and track their delivery to my own front door which, is quite amazing really. On my Bank Account and Credit Card, I can ‘monitor’ all my transactions so that I never “make a mistake”. My energy readings are entered via the Internet and, the ‘beat goes on’. In more ways than we realise, our personal ‘lives’ are already on the Internet in one way or another but, largely “Out There” and beyond our personal control.

What this is known as is a “Client/Server” relationship. “Out There” is a somewhere that holds the information or data, “Here” is where you want to look at it, you are a client. The real problem comes when as a vendor, you want to set up and design your own web site before it goes ‘public’, just how do you do that ?

The Best Client Server Model

I first met this in the early-mid nineties and it was called Lotus Notes but it was a client/server environment and was well ahead of its time in so many ways but also, slightly difficult to understand because it was “that good”. However rather than consulting IBM who own the product and likely couldn’t market their way out of a wet paper bag, the following may help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Lotus_Notes

How to Replicate in the Design phase…

The problem is, just how do you create a test environment on your own PC whilst you try and develop new designs, inter-activity and sales approaches ?

All my current focus is on WordPress an open source blogging come inter-active web presence and that involves a whole range of web technologies including ‘client/server’ but through a bit of research on the web, I came across the following: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html as a local web test environment.

It delivered all that I wanted including ‘local web servers’ on my own PC with the result that I could play and develop all kinds of ideas however, there were and still are, numerous barriers when using something called CSS – Cascading Style Sheets which at one level is brilliant – separating the display from the content, at the other end because the “Cascading Bit” gets complicated and is total pants for most people truth to tell as the number of incomprehensible books on the market will attest.

However, I have a “mate” called Tom Arah ( http://designer-info.com/Home/tom_arah.htm ), who runs his own design consultancy but also writes for the only PC Magazine I buy today, PC Pro. Actually calling him a ‘mate’ is rather presumptuous, we may have exchanged emails but, have never met but never the less, I think of him as an honest and wise chap that I will always listen to even if, I don’t take his advice.

An Occasion When …

Some years ago, Tom and I had an email interchange concerning A3 sized Wacom tablets. Tom’s point was that they were rather too large and heavy and…

I ignored him and not new, bought an A3 tab on E-bay for less than 25% the new price. However, I was wrong, he was right, on some key issues he probably knows more – oh bugger !

To me the loss of BYTE magazine was a body blow but PC Pro is as good as it gets and I have bought every edition since day one and always enjoy Tom’s contributions which are obviously geared to the graphics arts side but none more so than his latest contribution which recommended the following: http://www.artisteer.com/?p=home

Dear Tom, you are a Hero !

Right on the money ! If all this sort of stuff is strange, that is okay but, if you have followed through, you will need xampp installed but this product artisteer is magic and available as a trial download for free. After that, the home version is around £30 and the Pro version which most people won’t need, £80.

For me with a background in IT and a multi-disciplined project to get under-way, I love people who can cut the corners for me and make life simpler so that I can concentrate on my content, both words and pictures, please do check the following out it is of the standard and totally interesting:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2009/08/06/cms-and-css-problem-solved/

Artisteer

I must say, I was very impressed because it is an extraordinary product which is highly malleable and yet, keeps to the accepted ‘standards’ along the way, as a tool to go quick to market it is extraordinary as a ‘learning curve’ tool alongside appropriate ‘other sources’, even brilliant ! Whatever, I am once again indebted to Tom Arah and the PC Pro team for an excellent ‘steer’.