Please help me. I have been assigned to input data in the CKEditor demo and store that input in a database. What is the code for this? Any help would be appreciated.
The question you are asking is very broad. There are a multitude of different ways to go about accomplishing your goal. The scope of answers we can provide vary greatly depending on your experience. I would recommend visiting W3 schools to get you started.
http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_mysql_intro.asp
Start off by making a new database, or connecting to an existing one. Then you can start by installing CKE and we can go from there.
This site is designed to answer specific questions, for example we would be more than happy to help if you hit a road block while trying to design or build a database. We do ask however, that you please provide us with what you know, and what you have tried and experienced problems with. Doing so not only makes it easier for us to answer, but helps beginners get in the proper mindset for development and makes it much easier to learn. There is an overwhelming amount of tutorials you can find via google to get you started. We will be more than happy to help once you come back with a more centered question.
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we're currently developing a fairly complex web portal. To improve the user experience, we want to provide a context-sensitive online help system that can aid the user in understanding certain aspects of the site.
In our case, the site has a variety of widgets that display all kinds of tabular data, graphs, etc. For instance, one such widget may display the VIX and a the help system would offer a brief description of what the VIX is.
Now, I've looked around in the internet and found some interesting articles such as the Design Checklists for Online Help, but most of what I found seems fairly outdated. What I'm specifically interested in are design issues such as these:
whether (or when) to use popups, divs, or link to external pages
how comprehensive should the help entry be? how much is the average user willing to read?
what's a good way to provide access to the help system? cluttering the UI with questionmark-icons is certainly not optimal
should the help entry be loaded on demand with AJAX (kinda sucks, you want the info right away) or preload it (causing tons of unnecessary traffic)
other dos and don'ts
The answers to some of these questions may seem obvious, but when it comes to usability I've made the experience that the intuitive answer isn't always the best. Secondly, I'm a software developer and as such I tend to look at things from an engineer's point of view. And I think we all know that this is, more often than not, a pretty poor angle from which to approach the design of a user interface. This is why I would very much like get some feedback from people more experienced in this field.
See here:
https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/1351/best-practices-for-online-help
I am looking for nice looking sites that are good in terms of look and feel as well as usability.
Someone had to say it: Stack Overflow!
Seriously - it may not be immediately beautiful to look at, but for what it is, and for its target audience and how they use it, it's a great example of both visual design and interaction design.
The layout, the use of colour, the sensible use of AJAX, the lack of fancy graphics, all give a good experience IMHO.
It's also a good example of how to incorporate advertising in an effective but unobtrusive way.
Google.
It gets out of the way as much as possible and lets you focus on doing what you came there to do.
I think this is question is much like Share good examples of Web-GUIs question that was post in the site sometime ago. probably it will help you.
Zen Garden - beauty but especially showing you what different things can be done with pure accessible HTML. So having Usability in mind as well.
I don't know what kind/segment of site you want. But I`ll mention one that is kind of site to create site that helped me to create fast and beautiful things.
www.snappages.com is a example of nice/easy/friendly/pretty/dummyFriendly/niceExamples/easyToCreatePrettyThings/easyToMaintain/etc...
I really think that is a 'must know place'
Cheers :)
I think gmail is an example of a very usable UI.
I've always found that other people's great web sites are more of an inspiration than a practical help. Every site has particular needs. For example, this site is good for what it does, but it really isn't a site I need to build; likewise for this one and this one.
I think it is valuable to develop a philosophy/aesthetic for this, or at least be conversant with those who think a lot about design and accessibility. Here are two sites with some serious discussion along these lines, along with some coding howto:
http://stopdesign.com/
http://www.456bereastreet.com/
But even these reflect my personal taste. There are people in my family who really like Club Penguin. And I hear some folks can tolerate MySpace.
I know this is not a technical question, but this is something I believe could be best answered by the technology community. I've been in software development for ~2 years now, but most of the time, it has been a learn as is needed experience. I was recently asked by a friend on how to go about getting a strong foothold on technology so as to be able to easily adapt to new technology that comes up every day.
I'm not sure how to answer his question as my way of approaching this situation has been learn as you need. How would you suggest someone proceed if they were getting into Microsoft technologies today? Where would they start, and how would they proceed? To be able to expand their knowledge to the new advances we see everyday (linq, silverlight, entity framework, mvc framework and the ever expanding list).
Basically I think my question is a mix of both "how to be a better programmer" and how to get to the "next level" in technology (where you are no longer an intermediate programmer, but able to see the whole picture and easily assimilate new technology)
Thanks in advance.
One thing I enjoy is to listen to technology podcasts while I commute, exercise or do household work. You will net become an expert alone by listening to podcasts, but you will get a lot of input. In particular I enjoy .NET Rocks! but Stack Overflow also has a podcast to name a few.
Read, do and try new things. Do that for a few years you'll eventually end up an experienced programmer.
I think this post by the Misfit Geek could help you out a bit. I think it gives some great tips and gives some good advice on how a respected technologist has stayed up on technology.
How did you learn what you know
Hope these help. I also agree that podcast are a great source of info, at least to point you to the best new technologies. I listen to .Net Rocks, Hanselminutes, HerdingCode, and DeepFriedBytes just to name a few. I also follow some good .net releated blogs such as CodeBetter, Devlicio.us, and Los Techies.
Good luck!
I spend at least 1 hour a day just reading blogs, and listening to podcasts. You cant possibly get involved in everything new that comes along, but having knowledge of what's new is just as important as trying new things out.
If you want to specialise in one thing, then that's fine, but always try to include new technologies into your projects, and look for better solutions to things you have done in the past.
You need to follow what the technical community is interested in. Blogs are the best way that I've found to do this. Pick at least 50 that cover a wide range of topics, and you'll know what is coming down the pipe.
Keep involved in podcasts and blogs. Set aside at least 15 minutes a day to ready them or listen to them. Take their ideas, find which ones apply to you or are interested and add it to your personal development plan to learn them.
Here are a few previous posts regarding these:
Podcasts
OR
c# blogs
Interesting project + new technology = motivated learning.
There is no alternative to getting your hands dirty. Take one of the ideas you've had rolling around in your head and implement it using buzzword technologies. Be prepared to realize many hyped technologies are mostly just hype. Hopefully you will find some real gems, change your perceptions of what is possible, and add some tools to your toolbox all while achieving a goal.
Here's the list of Top 200 blogs for software developers. Try to read some of them and subscribe to what you like or find useful.
Blogs are great for spotting trends and finding some advice about the newest technologies, but if you want to learn something in-depth, you need books. Try to read 3 or 4 every year.
Finally, local user groups. Find and meet your fellow developers face-to-face and find out what they're doing and what's on their minds.
Attend meetings of local user groups.
Well I am sure that most people have seen the following:
This time, I did not install the local MSDN so I do not have the option of Local help, however I usually always use the first option of look online anyway.
I was wondering if there are any downsides to not installing MSDN?
The only one I have found so far is that dynamic help does not seem to work. As this is a feature I love, I think I will install MSDN.
I was just wondering, are there any other downsides and what do others use?
Edit -
It is hard to really select one answer here and I did various experiments and came up with my own conclusion. They are all good points so +1 to everyone - I was going to put this as an answer and mark it, but that feels rather cheap... so I have edited the question and will have to think about who to mark as answer.
I have been experimenting with different combinations and it is weird to say the least. On a new project, I just pressed F1 at random places and it is amazing that the differences are huge in the pages which are returned - For example, just selecting a <form> tag and pressing F1 came up with 100% different results between online and offline help.
I love the dynamic help feature but I always have an internet connection... I am confused and just not sure what I should do! Another benefit I have found is that through offline help, you can sync the sidebar and navigate around VERY quickly and find other articles - which is much harder online.
I think I will install help, but I am really not that happy... I hope the help feature is improved in VS2010 (haven't had a chance to play around or see) because it shouldn't be this hard to try and choose!
#blaketaylor.nameindex.ht - I personally find Google a bit mucky when I just want to figure out one property or item etc... I like looking in MSDN / Documentation first as there is usually a good example and then just look at Google after if I cannot figure it out - the dynamic help feature is a brilliant feature which I love and skips straight to the correct part in the library, and you do not get this without installing help.
#Shiraz Bhaiji - Agreed with your points, however, I think 2GB's is not really huge. I like your comparison.
#Yassir - It disabled the dynamic help feature, 2GB's isn't huge, I do like Google and SO but I like to try and get it done on my own first.
#Stephen Nutt - Agreed about speed, but it isn't really by much. How do you see local and online help at the same time? I love Dynamic help but when I click a link, it goes straight to local help and I see no options.
I have never found the local help to be of any use. I stopped installing it years ago and have never looked back.
Google is my help.
The main downside to not installing local help is that you do not have access to help if you do not have access to the internet.
The benefits of not having it local are:
Always up to date
Does not use space on your harddisk
I really don't think you might need it unless you don't have no internet connection all the time
also it takes about 2Gb of your hard drive !!
All you need is google and SO :)
I always use local help - it is much faster to navigate around in. When I do a search it always brings up the results count in my local help and online, if I see nothing in my local help I just click on the online tab and see the online search results.
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Back in the days of Unix, you couldn't even close a software without reading the man page first. Then came Mac and Windows with consistent menu layout and keyboard shortcuts, but you still saw paper user manuals shipped in the shrinkwrap box, which described each and every single operation possible in the app. After the Internet, help files became html documents.
Nowadays with Web 2.0 applications, you hardly see the Help. Even if it's there, they simply describe some specific tasks. In other words, the apps are relying more on the common sense or don't-make-me-think factor of the user base.
Years ago Microsoft came up with a concept called Inductive User Interface, which basically tells programmers to put in instructions on the apps itself, but I am not sure how popular that idea is.
Are help files, user manuals, and context sensitive online help with F1 key dead? Have I failed if user could not find out what to do from the UI? If not, what degree of help should I provide? (both for desktop and web app)
EDIT: How does documentation/help file mesh with agile development methods? For example, should the developers think twice before UI changes that may obsolete a bunch of screenshots?
Three notes on help:
F1 / stand-alone context-sensitive help was always doomed. It was hidden by default, and so the people who most needed it were least likely to read it. There was hope at one time that we would be able to train users to always hit F1 when they ran into trouble, but too many applications without useful context-sensitive help... combined with too many bizarre help interfaces... pretty much killed this.
Manuals are as important now as they ever were. Not so many printed manuals anymore, but online manuals are better than ever. The proliferation of wiki-as-a-manual systems has helped here, reducing the up-front cost of creating good online documentation. Of course, plenty of people just don't read...
The beauty of using web pages as an application interface is that you can combine useful context-sensitive help with the UI, removing the barrier for novices and others who otherwise couldn't be bothered to look for relevant information when they get stuck.
Of course, there are still plenty of apps, even online apps, designed with obtuse interfaces and a tiny little help icon in a corner somewhere, presumably hoping that the latter mitigates the former. Pity them.
No way. You look at the amount of documentation and training and marketing expenditure even MS puts up.. you'll get your answer.
Try using someone else's product, and you will learn the true value of documentation - I'm learning Godiagrams right now.. :)
So I can say without a doubt.. NO and it never will.. no matter how intuitive user interfaces get.. beyond a certain size, you will need help and training. But by understanding the user and what he needs to get done, you could design it such that the time he/she needs to learn the system to do his/her routine tasks is minimal.
Have I failed if user could not find out what to do from the UI?
If not, what degree of help should I provide? (both for desktop and web app)
They should be able to use your your app to do basic things from the UI. eg say for an image editor, they should be able to create a new image, and draw some lines then save it just by looking at the UI.
This is best done by following common layouts (like having new, open and save under file in the menubar, and using the standard open and save dialogs).
The same goes for webapps, people exspect to be able to do the basic stuff without having to read the docs, but for more advanced features people will still read the docs. (eg most pople will read the docs for say BB code, or markdown at least sometimes, but they expect to be able to post without having to know them)
Are help files, user manuals, and context sensitive online help with F1 key dead?
They still have their place. People will use them to learn about how to best use various features, for example markdown or bbcode, or how to use filters to get certain effects in an image editor.
I've been incorporating context-sensitive screencasts into my applications. I've found this helps non-technical users grasp the application quickly, without asking for live help.
The Idiot/Dummy books must be doing quite well. Imagine if the standard application help was as good as those books. The standard F1 help for a lot of apps is just awful.
Is help dead? No, but some of it should be taken out and shot.