atw: Re: XML - a requirement for a TechWriter looking for work?
- From: "Christine Kent" <christine_kent@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:35:40 +1000
I have been watching this discussion with interest, and I suspect the answer
is that it is a good idea to know ABOUT HTML and XML, but that it is not
necessary to know HTML and XML.
Writing school books has led me through the new and wondrous world of Web
2.00. I don't think anyone knows exactly what it is, and where it is all
going, but it is certainly going somewhere significant. Whilst it is
powered by the newest and best technologies, the user has to know less and
less about those technologies to achieve quite high-level results.
It is possible for someone who just knows the basics of windows and internet
explorer to put up a website, optimise it, have it hosted, get a domain
name, use a shopping trolley, collect and distribute money, organise
advertising - in fact, everything that is necessary to run an on-line
business, all free of charge or close to free, and all using very simple and
very fast, front-end, drag and drop style, web-based facilities.
Looking into the crystal ball ... I suspect that independent web developers
operating from their suburban street front offices will disappear as small
business operators realise just what their computer savvy receptionist can
achieve for a bit of time (less time than it would take to specify their
requirements to a web developer) and zero dollars. Also I suspect that, over
the next few years, the whole face of business internet and intranet work
will change as employers realise their lower level workers can do more and
more front-end editing, and that they need their technical staff less and
less to do back-end work.
The industry will always need the few "Judas sheep" - those HTML and XML
experts who are willing to sell out their peers in favour of implementing
user friendly systems that anyone can use, and supporting that process -
support roles will increase but not as much as coding roles decrease.
Anyone who is interested, at the simplest level, you can code yourself a web
page that is up an running in half and hour using www.weebly.com or a blog
that can look like a web page at https://www.blogger.com/, which includes
getting an auto-generated web address for that page (or buying your own
through them), and free hosting.
Graphically they are template based, but most have a huge range of templates
with components that are customisable so that every website can look
different. So allow another half hour to play with the look and feel.
(Many allow you to pay to remove their logos.)
Then allow another hour to insert a few widgets. These sites are able to
run any viable widgets such as those provided by Google for AdWords and
AdSense, by PayPal for shopping trolley transactions, by YouTube etc. So
they are fully functional commercial sites. It is quite stunning how much
you can actually achieve through them, and how different each site can look,
for a base of absolute zero understanding of HTML or XML. The bulk of your
time will be in setting up your Google and PayPal accounts to access these
widgets.
If you have been struggling for a while to find the time to put up your own
business website but can't find the time, set aside a morning, bite back
your professional pride and experiment with one of these. The sites below
are all drag and drop, much is experimental, and they are all work in
progress, but they give an idea what you can do.
Christine
http://www.christinekent.net/
http://christinekent.blogspot.com/
http://stores.lulu.com/christinekent
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