Semantic or Meaningful Markup

Here are the three article/blogs that I found.

1. Web 3.0 – The Semantic, Implicit, Mobile or Distributed Web?  http://impl.emented.com/2008/04/20/web-30-the-semantic-implicit-mobile-or-distributed-web/
2. Adding Meaningful Content with Resource Description Framework (RDF) http://patternsofdiscovery.blogspot.com/2008/06/adding-meaningful-content-with-resource.htmlA
3.  Web Standards Checklist, or How to make a proper website http://cope57.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/a-web-standards-checklist-or-how-to-make-a-proper-website/
4. On Web 3.0    http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/on_web_30.php
5. The road to Semantic Web     http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/semantic_web_road.php

 

What does semantic or meaningful markup in designing for the web mean?  ”The Semantic Web is an evolving extension of the World Wide Web in which the semantics of information and services on the web is defined, making it possible for the web to understand and satisfy the requests of people and machines to use the web content”, says Wikipedia. To me that means interpreting code so that we all understand it (meaningful).

The fact that I am still very new at scripting languages it is very important that I follow certain guidlines. Its not just because I can confuse others with it, but it is so that I can understand what I am doing. There has been several times I have just thrown code onto a screen until it worked and when I would go back to fix it I would be lost. It has taken several mistakes to realize that I HAVE to follow certain guidlines. I realize that I have to teach myself good habbits now, so that I dont struggle with it later down the road when I dont have a teacher there to correct my mistakes. If i have a problem in the future the browser will tell me that my code sucks by refusing to display it. Also it is nice to know that if I see something on a site that i think looks good, I can view the source and find the code. With semantic web it would be easier to share code, which will help me out tremendously.

The articles that I found are excellent, with a ton of information.  The one that helped me understand it the most was http://impl.emented.com. It was written by Jonas Bolinder. One of the reasons why is because he placed a lot of references on his page that directed me to others in the field talking about the same thing. Jonas also does en excellent job of explaining semantic web developing, and he backs it up with references. It is obvious that Web 3.0 is on designer’s minds right now, because it seems like every big name developer is talking about it.

Designing for the Web

I know that it is not good to start off a page with a question, but who cares! What does designing for the web mean to me? Well, I need to tell you a little about myself first. First of all, I grew up with a pencil in my hand. I love to draw. After high school I attended this fine school, and graduated with an Associates in computer animation in 2000. I specialized in 2-D animation, but of course the amount of jobs open in that field was slim. I ended up working for a graphic design company, where I designed sports posters. I really enjoyed who I worked for and I especially enjoyed what i was doing. The company ended up belly-up due to some poor decissions made by the owner, which put me back at square one searching for a job. About that time I began to search for any job that would pay me a steady paycheck, and I found it. I became a police officer. For the most part I enjoyed it, eventhough I broke some bones and lost several pints of blood during that time. I was a cop for about five years, and after a several bad events and an engagement I decided to turn in my badge and gun and return to school. Although the life of a student is never pretty, I am excited about what I am doing.

After searching the web for blogs, articles and sites that were geared around web standards and “well-formed” websites I found two big names Tim O’Reilly (the founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media, Inc.) www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/27 and Jeffrey Zeldman www.zeldman.com. Both of them have an endless amount of information on designing for the web. 

O’Reilly helped coin the phrase Web 2.0 at a brainstorming session with MediaLive International. His site is stocked full of his thoughts. In his article, “What is Web 2.0″, he comments on how important it is to network and to stay on top of what is new. Zeldman’s site is also packed with excellent information. The site is mainly geared toward designing for web standards. Zeldman an a couple of his colleagues actually coined the phrase “web standards”. Both sites were excellent and I plan to stay on top of what they have to tell us all.

Now, lets get back on track and answer my question. I love art, and I especially love creating the art. Before I returned to school I had to figure out what career has what I need to make me happy (to be creative and a steady paycheck). In designing a site I found that I can combine my drawing (when needed), graphic design thats interactive, and I can even design some animation. On top of that if we work hard we all have the opportunity to make a decent living. Its not very often you hear someone say that they are doing something that they enjoy. I feel designing sites is and will be something that I will love. To make it even better my fiance loves it too, because it has nothing to do with law enforcement… ha