home page

[nachiket deshpande]

hi all!
i am a beginner learning JAVA.i want to develope a home page too.i am bit confused.what do people use mostly for page designing?is it pure applets or just JAVA script is sufficient.also is it good to learn this togheter with learning JAVA for certification?or i am going a bit out of track?please help.
thanks and regards
nachiket

[Jane Griscti]

Hi Nachiket,
It might be better to prioritize what you want to learn. If you're main focus is becoming Java certified I would suggest concentrating on Java. If you're more interested in building a web site, focus on HTML and JavaScript.
You can build a site using a text editor and HTML tags. One good place to start with HTML is The Barebones Guide to HTML. Or, you can invest in one of a number of front-end site builders; believe DreamWeaver is the most popular but it's also expensive. You could try the free site-builder 1st Page 2000 from Eversoft.
For JavaScript, check out Netscapes' JavaScript Documentation
For Java, you might start with the Sun Tutorials. Also a good idea to pick up a book on Java Programming. There are a number of good one's out there.
You can eventually build a site that uses all three disciplines along with many others .
Hope that helps.
------------------
Jane

[nachiket deshpande]

thanks Jane for your reply.i just read the new exam details of sun systems.since i dont have a programming background at all, will the certification help me in job finding?i am a doctorate in physics but decided to change my carrer to software.though i have some knowledge of C++.but if sun is looking for experienced programmer to sit for the exam i would not gain at all.please help me.Though i am very much interested in learning JAVA and home page development.kindly advice
thanks and regards
nachiket

[SANDEEP N]

Hello Nachiket,
It is nice to hear that you want to learn JAVA, even though your background is not programming. In my opinion, it is not absolutely essential to have a background in programming to take JAVA certification. Nevertheless you will have a head start if you are familiar with one of the programming language ( preferably Object Oriented one ). I think, in a way you are better off because you can learn JAVA with a fresh perspective as againts anyone coming to JAVA from some other programming language like 'C' .
As far as getting job is concerned, the certification will count.. no doubt.. especially since you will be changing your field. Remember though it is entirely dependent on the employer. There are some employers who trust years of experience with various languages and overall understanding of the project lifecycle rather than any certification. One good thing though is that Java Certification is one of the most respected one in the Industry.
As far writing the home page , Knowing JAVA is not essential. There are various tools which you can use to develop a site. All the resources pointed out by Jane would give you a start help in that area. I have tried FrontPage 2000. It worked fine for me.
Hope This Helps
-Sandeep

[nachiket deshpande]

thanks sandeep!
again one more doubt.i want to build a site (just for learning purpose).and want to applets etc.is it O.K. because i feel java script is not much interactive.is it true?in this way i want to learn JAVA.i think i will become more familiar with the language fundamentals if i try to do some application such as site development.please help.
thanks and regards
nachiket

[bill bozeman]

Hey nachiket, to do a web page I would learn HTML first. This is a really simple thing to learn and it will give you your page. After that, JavaScript (which by the way has no relationship to Java, so don't get confused on the two) will help you juice it up a little. JavaScript can help make your site interactive with the use of Cascading Style Sheets and Layers, what most refer to as DHTML. And it is getting to where you can do a lot with DHTML that you can do with Applets now.
But if you want to learn Java, then I would say yes, create some Applets for you site. One thing to remember though, Java Applets need to adhere to the Java 1.1 API's because the browsers are not up with the times and don't support 1.2 (Java 2). Also, the awt package, the package that has applets, I have heard that is the most buggy package in Java, could be wrong in that, but that is what I heard.
But if you really want to learn Java, and you want to create a web site that helps you in learing it, the best advice I would give you is find an ISP that supports Servlets and JSP. Here you can use all of Java 2's power because only the server needs to be up to date and not the client's browser. Plus servlets and JSP are becoming more popular and in demand. Hope this helps.

[nachiket deshpande]

thanks Bill
i know html and java script is lot more simple than using JAVA for web page designing.but that's how i want to learn the use of applet.i have a book on script which is far more easy to grasp also.do people really use JAVA in designing pages?or i am doing it a wrong way?is it that one does'nt need JAVA2 for web site designing?some how i am more fasinated by applets than by script.
please advice

[bill bozeman]

In designing web pages, I don't think you need Java. In making web pages dynamic, then you may use Java along with ASP, ColdFusion, CGI, Perl, etc... When I say dynamic I mean server side processing, interacting with a database, holding sessions, reading from text files, processing forms, etc... In a strict designing standpoint, I don't use Java for that all that much. But creating applets can be fun, and there are a lot of cool applets out there, so don't let that stop you. If that is how you want to learn Java, then go for it. It is a good way to learn Java. I am not a designer by nature, I am more of a business person, so I tend to learn Java from JSP or Servlets and JDBC. Other people are not web people, so they are learning java as application developers. All depends on where your strengths are and what you are comfortable with. If you go the applet way, just remember there are some classes that you may not be able to use because of browser support. Good luck to you!!

[nachiket deshpande]

thanks a lot Bill for your suggestions!

[nachiket deshpande]

Hi Bill!
i want to summarize the above discussion.guide me if i am wrong.
one does'nt need JAVA for web page designing.java script is sufficient for interactive documents.applets is a better way of learning java.
one more doubt.how can we put animation in our web pages.for images we need gif files.but how to load them in our page.help

[Angela Poynton]

If you want to design a web page you need to learn HTML. It's pretty easy to get the basic stuff!
JavaScript will help you do some more stuff with your page.
you can insert Images, Applets as well as other objects into your page using HTML tags.
My advice is to learn HTML ... take a look at the HTML and Javascript forum and feel free to ask anything in there and we can help you out!
Good Luck

[bill bozeman]

Angela is right. Pick up a basic book like Sam's Teach Yourself HTML in 24 hours. Those books you can breeze through in a day or 2. It will give you a lot of basics, and then when you start designing your page, and you decided you want to do something like rollovers, that is where you get into Javascript. But once you have the basics and want to move up to more advanced stuff, search and post messages to the HTML/Javascript forum.
HTML really is a piece of cake, so I would guage how well you do in HTML to figure out how you want to proceed in Java. If you have no troubles at all with HTML and Javascript, move right on into Java next. But if you find HTML very confusing, it will only get worse with you when you go to Java. Good luck to you and feel free to post specefic problems you run into.
[This message has been edited by bill bozeman (edited October 11, 2000).]

[nachiket deshpande]

I have one more question.how to put images in a page.(i know that a gif file is required for an image).suppose i dont have a gif file at all how can we put photographs etc in a page?do we need a scanner to scan the photos and then store them as a gif file and later put them in the page?i am a bit confused.please help.
thanks

[bill bozeman]

I would start asking in the HTML/Javascript forum as this question is more appropriate over there.
With that said, here is your answer. If you have a photo and you want to put it on the web, you need to scan it in, or use a digital camera. The software will turn it into some format probably jpeg or bmp. You use image processing software (most popular is Photoshop) to clean it up and add words, shadows, filters, change size, or anything else you want to it and convert it to gif, tif, jpg, etc...
Then you use html to put it on your page like this (left off the brackets since HTML is turned on):
img src="../images/pic.jpg" height="50" width="50" border="0" alt="This is my picture"
There are more attributes you can assign in HTML, but that is the just of it.
[This message has been edited by bill bozeman (edited October 12, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by bill bozeman (edited October 12, 2000).]

[Peter Lyons]

From my own recent experience getting into Java, I'd say $1500 well-spent was enrolling in a couple of evening and weekend Java courses at a good technical college. That way I always had someone to turn to with questions (a paid professional instructor) and in my opinion I probably learned Java much better and faster that way than I would have left completely to myself. Someone with professional experience may do much better on their own, but that was not my background.

[Thomas Paul]

I'm glad to hear you say that since I teach Java at Hofstra University.

[Ling Wu]

Originally posted by Peter Lyons:
From my own recent experience getting into Java, I'd say $1500 well-spent was enrolling in a couple of evening and weekend Java courses at a good technical college. That way I always had someone to turn to with questions (a paid professional instructor) and in my opinion I probably learned Java much better and faster that way than I would have left completely to myself. Someone with professional experience may do much better on their own, but that was not my background.

I agree. I had very limited programming experience any one language myself and decided to take a Java class at a local technical college.I don't think I would have been able to accomplish as much doing it on my own. Both the interactions with the instructor and with the fellow students (you can never underestimate how resourceful some of them are) were extremely valuable to me (of course discovering JavaRanch during the semester was a big plus as well ). Although I haven't needed to look for a Java job myself (I decided to learn Java in case my current job calls for it in the future), I'm not sure diving into a Java certification exam by reading a book or two will get one a Jave programmer job if one does not at least already have much programming experience in other language(s). I myself would want to get plenty of code writng experience first.

[Steven YaegerII]

Originally posted by Thomas Paul:
I'm glad to hear you say that since I teach Java at Hofstra University.

Hello Thomas,
If you're ever in the area of Georgetown, Delaware, you ought to stop in and convince the Del. Tech. Community College to get some Java classes. I'm curious, did you take much of a pay cut as far as being a teacher instead working as a programmer?...of course, Hofstra is probally wealthier than little Del. Tech. I suspect that either they can't afford it, or cannot find any teachers/students that are into it. I may see what a petition could accomplish.

nachiket,
There's a small links page here , where the frames will be up as soon as I get time. Go to the "Other Stuff" section and click "So, you want to make a web page". Also, I would stick with this site if I were you. Join the cattle drive when you understand a little. Don't give up, persistence is the key.
[This message has been edited by Steven YaegerII (edited October 12, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Steven YaegerII (edited October 12, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Steven YaegerII (edited October 12, 2000).]