★ wanayoo — archive 1999 http://stars.com/WDVL/About.html

The Web Developer's Virtual Library

The Webmaster's Illustrated Encyclopedia of web technologies and design principles

A comprehensive illustrated encyclopedia of web technology, The WDVL is a well-organized goldmine of tutorials, examples, and links to great resources. It's for webmasters, web designers and Internet developers who are creating web sites with HTML, CGI, Java, JavaScript, DHTML, CSS, graphics, VRML, multimedia, animation, scripting. etc. The WDVL is one of the oldest web developer web sites, founded in December 1994 by Alan Richmond. The material is unbiased, vendor-neutral and standards-based. The site has won several major awards. The content is painstakingly written and cross-linked to create a unique Webmaster's Illustrated Encyclopedia.

The WDVL currently has more than 2,000 pages and some 6,000 links
The WDVL is well-organized with several navigational aids to enable users to quickly and easily find what they are looking for.
The WDVL is for webmasters, web designers, Internet developers, and online publishers. The focus is on comprehensive coverage of all topics relevant to web development, especially the technical aspects. We firmly believe that this focus is what makes The WDVL unique and valuable. We are much more than a link store.
The WDVL is a collection of articles and links to information about developing World Wide Web sites. The main sections are Authoring, Internet, Location, Multimedia, Web Reference, and Software. It includes in-depth tutorials on the software technology available and pointers to additional resources, such as the language standards and other web sites with expertise in the particular field.

History

The project started as a hotlist on a NASA computer in late 1993, and was moved to Charm Net in 1994. It became part of The WWW Virtual Library (originally at CERN) in September 1994. The CyberWeb was announced in What's New, October 16, 1994 (528 Kbytes). The Stars.com domain name was granted on December 22nd 1994. The WDVL was founded at about the same time as the W3C - mid 1994. It's the oldest commercial web developer resource (supported by ads). It was the web's first comprehensive web developer resource.

Structure and Content

The WDVL is part encyclopedia and part e-zine (electronic magazine). There are usually two or three feature articles per month which are integrated right from the start with the faceted hypertree structure. Part of the editing task is to classify new articles and ensure rich cross-linking, to make The WDVL a valuable reference resource. We are web librarians.

Authoring with HTML, CGI, Java, JavaScript, Graphics

CGI: The Common Gateway Interface for Server-side Processing
Web Searchable Databases
Dynamic HTML
Web Design - More than Meets the Eye
Graphics Tools, Techniques, Examples and Resources
HTML - The Hypertext Markup Language
Learning to Write Java
Authoring JavaScript
Languages for the World Wide Web
Programming and Scripting
Style Sheets and Guides
VRML for Rocket Scientists, Astronomers, and Truck Drivers

The Internet and The Web

Electronic Commerce
Guide to Web Developer Resources
History of the World Wide Web
Internet and Web Law
Protocols
Publications
Security and Privacy
The World Wide Web

Resource Location

Web Maps
The Meta-Meta Page
Navigation
How in the WWW will they Find me ?
Search
Topics Index
The Web Librarian

Multimedia Mix

Animation
Design
Gallery
Java
Shockwave
Sound
Video

Software Tools and Technologies

Applications
Browsers
CGI Scripts
Java Applets
Perl Tools
A List of Browser Plugins
Servers
Tools

The Virtual Library of WWW Development

Authoring
Internet
Location
Mall
Multimedia
Software
Website Reference

About The WDVL

Associates and Staff
Authors and Contributors
Frequently Answered Questions
The Web Developer's Forum
Linking To The WDVL
Statistics: The Top 100

Operations and Maintenance

The functional staff positions are

The Managing Editor oversees all editorial processes, from proposal solicitation to publication.

The Editorial Associate introduces authors to The WDVL's style, procedures and standards (e.g. insistence on valid HTML) and guides them through to final publication.

The Contributors include a couple of regular columnists (e.g. Selena Sol, Ken Sall, Aaron Weiss) and the editors, and the occasional spontaneous contributor.

The Promotions Associate reports new features to newsgroups, mailing lists, etc.

The Webmaster installs new articles and ensures quality control, e.g. HTML validation, links checking, etc. She also ensures that all navigational components are kept updated, e.g. search engine index, the site map, Top 100, etc.

Authors or other content creators, e.g. graphic artists, submit proposals to us, and an appropriately knowledgeable editor reviews it for suitability according to our guidelines, editorial calendar, audience demand, etc. If accepted, the author is guided through the rest of the pipeline by the Editorial Associate. The final published article is required to be compliant to the latest HTML standard. Almost all HTML pages are generated by Perl scripts from flat files.

Articles or other media are also created by WDVL staff. In particular, we continually review the site for update possibilities. There is no concept of 'archival' - if an article can't be updated, it's removed or replaced. All articles are linked to other relevant resources, preferably onsite, by inline and supplementary links. WDVL pages are designed with respect for the user. Frivolous frames and graphics, gizmos and gadgets are avoided unless needed to illustrate a point. Pages should be fast-loading and get to the point without hype, fluff, or waffle.

WDVLJobs.com

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