Rafe Colburn, a Senior Software Engineer with over 10 years of experience designing and building Web applications for clients, is the newest member of the hesketh.com team and will head its Technology Practice. 

Thoughts on the internet, email, and web standards, from a Steve Champeon presentation at Webstock.

With the struggling US economy, many businesses have had to implement steps to curb expenses and pinch pennies. One of the first areas to feel these cutbacks is the web site design and development group. Employees have been asked to fill roles previously held by other employees due to staff reductions. At the same time, these remaining employees are expected to execute robust and efficient mechanisms for their corporate web sites on a tight or non-existent budget. Developers and designers are looking for shortcut tools to get there. It's all about getting more bang for the buck. Web design on a Shoestring is the tool these web site developers and designers need. It reveals all sorts of free or inexpensive resources that are available but unknown. More specifically, Carrie Bickner shows you how any individual can do the things a team of web professionals are often brought in to do. Learn how to create a pennywise plan so that you avoid being nickled and dimed to death later. Find out the best ways to test your web sites efficiencies and functionalities. Understand the most effective content management systems, and the commercial products to use or avoid - all with no dollars being spent.

Web design must mature and accept the developments of the past several years, abandon the exclusionary attitudes formed in the rough and tumble dotcom era, realize the coming future of a wide variety of devices and platforms, and separate semantic markup from presentation logic and behavior.

The Art & Science of Web Design will help you understand the Web from the inside. It is structured around core Web concepts that often get only a passing mention in books on Web design. This book is not a reference book or a style guide. It is your mentor, whispering in your ear all the answers to those ubiquitous questions, and reminding us that there are now new rules and new ways to break them.

The story you are about to read is absolutely true — so true that I haven't even bothered to change any names to protect the innocent (we're all guilty in this sordid little tale, so there are really no innocents to protect). What you read may shock, enrage, and confuse you and — when I get to the part about Barney — may even make you snort that two-buck-a-bottle "soft drink" laced with St. John's wort, ginseng, and taurine right out of your nose and onto your keyboard (a favor, really, if you're using one of those annoying split keyboards). In any case, don't say I didn't warn you.

XHTML promises to expand the power and versatility of the Web and pave the way for XML. With crystal-clear explanations and compelling case studies, this step-by-step guide shows you how to take advantage of this exciting new Web standard. From working with the rigorous XHTML structure and retrofitting your HTML code to extending XHTML with XML, this guide is just what you need to position yourself and your sites for the XML future.