What’s the meaning Letter “S” in spaceman (plan[o]gram)

What’s the meaning Letter “S” in spaceman (plan[o]gram)

Superman hanya hidup di dunia rekaan manusia. Kita kenal tokoh komik populer ini: datang dari planet Krypton, berjubah merah, berkostum ketat warna biru, dengan lambang ‘S’ warna merah kuning di dadanya. Dia tampan dan atletis. Dan kemampuannya bikin kita takjub: dia terbang melawan gravitasi, badan kebal peluru, penglihatan tembus-pandang, telinga super-tajam, gerakan super-cepat dan segudang kemampuan super lainnya.

Dengan kekuatannya itu, Superman mengalahkan musuh-musuhnya, menyelamatkan dunia dari ancaman para penjahat, membantu memadamkan kebakaran, membendung tanggul kota yang hancur, menegakkan Menara Miring Pisa, atau sekadar menyelamatkan kucing tetangga. Pendek kata, Superman adalah jagoan super yang baik hati. Dan sehari-harinya, Superman “menyamar” sebagai Clark Kent, wartawan kikuk berkacamata, yang menaruh hati pada Lois Lane, rekan kerjanya di suratkabar Daily Planet di kota Metropolis.

(sumber : http://zine.rukukineruku.com/?p=143)

Begitulah sekilas mengenai si manusia super yang super hebat dari segi fisik maupun non fisiknya. Nah apakah yang dimaksud dengan letter “S” didada si manusia super tersebut. Di wikipedia dijelaskan sebagai berikut :

Superman adalah karakter superhero pertama yang memakai eblem atau sebuah logo di dadanya. Rancangan karakter aslinya tidak memakai emblem apapun, tetapi karena perkembangan zaman dan waktu, maka ditambahkanlah Tanda “S” tersebut. Bagi para penciptanya “S” juga bisa berasal singkatan dari “Shield” (tameng). Bentuk original Logo nya adalah contekan dari Lencana Polisi di Amerika, tetapi setelah superman menjadi terkenal, logo itu lebih dikenal dengan sebutan “The Knight Shield”.

Begitulah sekilas mengenai superman dan arti logo “S” nya. Akan tetapi didunia consumer goods arti “S” mempunyai arti yang berbeda. Di Consumer Goods sendiri ada sebuah departemen yang menamakan dirinya category management (http://papathong.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/simple-understanding-8-steps-category-management/). Ada sebuah keahlian yang mana mengatur sebuah space di suatu rak yang disebut dengan spaceman, yang mana spaceman tersebut berasal dari kata space and management.

Selain itu spaceman sekarang sudah identik dengan suatu software untuk pengaturan tata letak suatu product di gondola baik di modern trade ataupun general trade, yang sekarang sering disebut dengan planogram (http://papathong.wordpress.com/2009/11/).
Untuk menguasai program tersebut, diperlukan keahlian seseorang dengan basic IT yang lumayan. Untuk itulah bila kita analogikan dengan Superman seorang Spaceman wajib memiliki criteria sebagai berikut :

1. Strong

Disini seorang spaceman harus kuat fisik, sebab dengan beban yang dibawanya berupa lepi kemana-mana tidaklah ringan terutama bila mereka harus visit ke HO untuk updatean planogram. Dan tidak lupa juga bila mereka akan melakukan implementasi di store/toko kemampuan fisik pun di uji dengan menaikan ataun membongkar rak/gondola dan product sesuai dengan planogram yang telah di approved oleh HO

2. Tall

Tinggi disini bukan berarti tinggi seperti seorang tokoh yang memerankan Superman, akan tetapi kemampuan dalam bidang IT yang sangat tinggi, baik dalam visual atapun dalam data. Sebab selain mereka harus mampu familiar dengan software yang digunakan, mereka terkadang harus mampu untuk bidang pengolahan datanya.

3. Charming

Disini bukan berarti tampan seperti yang diperankan CR dalam superman, akan tetapi mereka harus charming dalam co-operative dengan clientnya. Dia juga harus pandai-pandai mengetahui bagaimana tawar-menawar dengan pihak took mengenai implementasi planogram. Dan pandai juga menerapkan Category Management sebagai toolsnya.
Begitulah kira-kira, profile seorang spaceman, yang mana tugas mereka janganlah dianggap enteng semata, sebab dengan memanfaatkan spaceman kita pun bisa mengatahui activity competitor (competitor intelligence), space share, DOS dll. Yang mana sangat membantu perusahaan/user spaceman tersebut.
Dan sekarang pun spaceman tidak hanya untuk laki-laki saja, mungkin ini sudah lama bahwa sang perempuan pun sudah terjun kedunia ini yang disebut dengan spacegirl. Adakalanya pun seorang spaceman merangkap beberapa jobdesk, begitulah seorang spaceman yang saya analogikan Superman sebagai manusia yang serba bisa. Jadi Logo S itu Superman atau Spaceman… nah terserah anda dech..

Yayan Mulyana

Category Management Specialist

yayan.m@gmail.com

Co-Marketing Versinya Category Management

“Best Practice Category Management is like getting a man on the moon. The first time you do it, nobody cares about the time and cost. But then, if you want to make a business on the moon, and come back every day, cost, time and overall ease become highly important matters. Fortunately, day-to-day management helps to decrease cost and time dramatically, and it is much easier than getting a man on the moon”

Luigi Sergio, Unilever

Dalam sebuah social networking (jejaring sosial) ada status dari seorang yang saya kagumi dari segi ilmunya juga sebagai atasan saya. Istilah tersebut adalah co-marketing. Mungkin bagi saya istilah ini masih awam, apalagi yang saya sendiri berkecimpung di dunia FMCG masih perlu belajar dan bertanya kepada ahlinya.

Co-Marketing itulah istilahnya. Terdiri dari dua kata yakni Co dan Marketing. Co sendiri mempunyai arti bersama-sama, sedangkan marketing sendiri berarti sebuah cara bagaimana suatu perusahaan memutuskan sebuah produk atau jasa yang bisa menarik perhatian kepada calon pembeli (shopper) dan strategy dalam penjualannya baik dari segi komunikasi maupun bizdev nya (source wikipedia). Jadi Co-Marketing adalah sebuah marketing praktis dimana dua buah perusahaan bekerja sama, kadangkala meliputi sharing profit.

Co-Marketing juga bisa digambarkan dua perusahaan yang notaben nya berbeda category menciptakan dan bergabung untuk menghasilkan dan mengembangkan sebuah produk, baik jasa ataupun brand. Sebagai contoh yang nyata adalah dalam web 2.0, dimana di web/blog tersebut kita sering melihat adanya tautan link atau banner. Ataupun seperti pelayanan jasa untuk para pelari dimana sebuah produk sepatu yang terkenal yaitu nike bekerja sama dengan ipod. Alat ini dinamakan Nike + iPod yang mempunyai kelebihan untuk para pelari dapat mendeteksi sejauh mana mereka berlari.

Dalam dunia Consumer Goods ada suatu divisi yang namanya Category management, dimana saat ini category management ini ada di divisi yang berbeda-beda. Ada yang masuk ke Trade Marketing, ada juga yang masuk ke divisi Key Account, itu semua tergantung dari kebutuhan tiap perusahaan. Kenapa penulis mencoba mengaitkan co-marketing ini ke dalam Category Management, karena saat ini orang beranggapan bahwa Catman sangat-sangat identik dengan spaceman atau planogram. Dan mungkin ini hanya sebagian jobdesk dari catman tersebut, akan tetapi kalo kita telaah lebih lanjut catman tersebut sangat luas dan bisa didevelop ke yang lain.

Secara Harfiah CatMan adalah suatu proses di suatu retailer/supplier dengan mengatur category sebagai bisnis unit, menciptakan bisnis yang besar dengan pengantar consumer value. Ada juga pertanyaan kenapa diperlukan Category Management, sebab disuatu perusahaan Catman sangat identik dengan Spaceman ataupun divisi yang tidak terlalu penting. Mungkin untuk menjawab pertanyaan tersebut diatas diperlukan penelitian lebih lanjut mengenai catman ataupun kita bisa pahami bahwa untuk catman tersebut sangatlah sulit untuk diaplikasikan di suatu perusahaan sebab, akibatnya ujung-ujungnya hanya mengenai spacemanagement.

Sebagai Flashback ajah mungkin telah dibahas oleh penulis bagaimana sech jobdesk spaceman (coba lihat di artikel sebelumnya). Nah untuk itulah sebagai bahan pertimbangan diperlukannnya CatMan adalah, kebutuhan retailer saat ini lebih cepat, lebih baik dan sangat berbeda, hal ini dijelaskan karena

1. Mereka menginginkan solusi (win win solution)
2. Mereka menginginkan jawaban dan insight bukan hanya data
3. Mereka menginginkan solusi personalisasi untuk membedakan mereka di challenging world yang mana saat ini terjadi perang antar retailer dia segala sektor
4. Mereka mencari langkah selanjutnya seperti (langkah masa depan dan apa yang mereka tidak tahu)

Nah dari 4 point tersebut lah diperlukan kerja sama antara pihak retailer dan supplier dimana untuk meningkatkan sharing profit antara mereka, baik dari segi brand maupun category. Untuk itu diperlukan perbaikan dalam Catman yang bukan hanya sebagai tools spacemanagement tapi kearah sebenarnya. Maka untuk itulah diperlukan re-focus 8 Step Catman , kemudian tambahkan mengenai Shopper needs, hubungkan aktifitas Marketing dengan Catman.

Sebagai contoh yang simple adalah di Hero Group tiap tahun sering diadakan aktifitas yang namanya fameous brand yang hanya satu bulan. Fameous brand sendiri berupa aktiftas untuk meningkatkan sales dengan promo brand brand terkenal. Ini sendiri merupakan salah satu contoh co-marketing antara beberapa supplier (fameous brand) di hero tersebut. Ada juga aktifitas co-marketing seperti zone di suatu hypermarket, yang mana disini terjadi penggabungkan lorong/aisle beberapa category dengan saling mendekatkan category lain.

Mungkin bila kita jalan-jaln ke Giant Hypermarket Hypermall Bekasii, bila kita ke paling pojok bisa kita lihat ada zone yang dinamakan insect solution, dengan warna hijau khas dari sang market leader. Ataupun bisa kita promo seperti banded dengan produk lain yang berbeda category, sebagai contoh adalah bila kita beli salah satu produk baby toiletries sering kali kita lihat ada banded dengan baby diapers.

So Catman its not all about the spaceman/planogram….

Yayan Mulyana (Category Management Specialist) – @ymulyana, yayan[dot]m[at]gmail[dot]com

Co-Marketing Versinya Category Management

“Best Practice Category Management is like getting a man on the moon. The first time you do it, nobody cares about the time and cost. But then, if you want to make a business on the moon, and come back every day, cost, time and overall ease become highly important matters. Fortunately, day-to-day management helps to decrease cost and time dramatically, and it is much easier than getting a man on the moon”

Luigi Sergio, Unilever

Dalam sebuah social networking (jejaring sosial) ada status dari seorang yang saya kagumi dari segi ilmunya juga sebagai atasan saya. Istilah tersebut adalah co-marketing. Mungkin bagi saya istilah ini masih awam, apalagi yang saya sendiri berkecimpung di dunia FMCG masih perlu belajar dan bertanya kepada ahlinya.

Co-Marketing itulah istilahnya. Terdiri dari dua kata yakni Co dan Marketing. Co sendiri mempunyai arti bersama-sama, sedangkan marketing sendiri berarti sebuah cara bagaimana suatu perusahaan memutuskan sebuah produk atau jasa yang bisa menarik perhatian kepada calon pembeli (shopper) dan strategy dalam penjualannya baik dari segi komunikasi maupun bizdev nya (source wikipedia). Jadi Co-Marketing adalah sebuah marketing praktis dimana dua buah perusahaan bekerja sama, kadangkala meliputi sharing profit.

Co-Marketing juga bisa digambarkan dua perusahaan yang notaben nya berbeda category menciptakan dan bergabung untuk menghasilkan dan mengembangkan sebuah produk, baik jasa ataupun brand. Sebagai contoh yang nyata adalah dalam web 2.0, dimana di web/blog tersebut kita sering melihat adanya tautan link atau banner. Ataupun seperti pelayanan jasa untuk para pelari dimana sebuah produk sepatu yang terkenal yaitu nike bekerja sama dengan ipod. Alat ini dinamakan Nike + iPod yang mempunyai kelebihan untuk para pelari dapat mendeteksi sejauh mana mereka berlari.

Dalam dunia Consumer Goods ada suatu divisi yang namanya Category management, dimana saat ini category management ini ada di divisi yang berbeda-beda. Ada yang masuk ke Trade Marketing, ada juga yang masuk ke divisi Key Account, itu semua tergantung dari kebutuhan tiap perusahaan. Kenapa penulis mencoba mengaitkan co-marketing ini ke dalam Category Management, karena saat ini orang beranggapan bahwa Catman sangat-sangat identik dengan spaceman atau planogram. Dan mungkin ini hanya sebagian jobdesk dari catman tersebut, akan tetapi kalo kita telaah lebih lanjut catman tersebut sangat luas dan bisa didevelop ke yang lain.

Secara Harfiah CatMan adalah suatu proses di suatu retailer/supplier dengan mengatur category sebagai bisnis unit, menciptakan bisnis yang besar dengan pengantar consumer value. Ada juga pertanyaan kenapa diperlukan Category Management, sebab disuatu perusahaan Catman sangat identik dengan Spaceman ataupun divisi yang tidak terlalu penting. Mungkin untuk menjawab pertanyaan tersebut diatas diperlukan penelitian lebih lanjut mengenai catman ataupun kita bisa pahami bahwa untuk catman tersebut sangatlah sulit untuk diaplikasikan di suatu perusahaan sebab, akibatnya ujung-ujungnya hanya mengenai spacemanagement.

Sebagai Flashback ajah mungkin telah dibahas oleh penulis bagaimana sech jobdesk spaceman (coba lihat di artikel sebelumnya). Nah untuk itulah sebagai bahan pertimbangan diperlukannnya CatMan adalah, kebutuhan retailer saat ini lebih cepat, lebih baik dan sangat berbeda, hal ini dijelaskan karena

1. Mereka menginginkan solusi (win win solution)
2. Mereka menginginkan jawaban dan insight bukan hanya data
3. Mereka menginginkan solusi personalisasi untuk membedakan mereka di challenging world yang mana saat ini terjadi perang antar retailer dia segala sektor
4. Mereka mencari langkah selanjutnya seperti (langkah masa depan dan apa yang mereka tidak tahu)

Nah dari 4 point tersebut lah diperlukan kerja sama antara pihak retailer dan supplier dimana untuk meningkatkan sharing profit antara mereka, baik dari segi brand maupun category. Untuk itu diperlukan perbaikan dalam Catman yang bukan hanya sebagai tools spacemanagement tapi kearah sebenarnya. Maka untuk itulah diperlukan re-focus 8 Step Catman , kemudian tambahkan mengenai Shopper needs, hubungkan aktifitas Marketing dengan Catman.

Sebagai contoh yang simple adalah di Hero Group tiap tahun sering diadakan aktifitas yang namanya fameous brand yang hanya satu bulan. Fameous brand sendiri berupa aktiftas untuk meningkatkan sales dengan promo brand brand terkenal. Ini sendiri merupakan salah satu contoh co-marketing antara beberapa supplier (fameous brand) di hero tersebut. Ada juga aktifitas co-marketing seperti zone di suatu hypermarket, yang mana disini terjadi penggabungkan lorong/aisle beberapa category dengan saling mendekatkan category lain.

Mungkin bila kita jalan-jaln ke Giant Hypermarket Hypermall Bekasii, bila kita ke paling pojok bisa kita lihat ada zone yang dinamakan insect solution, dengan warna hijau khas dari sang market leader. Ataupun bisa kita promo seperti banded dengan produk lain yang berbeda category, sebagai contoh adalah bila kita beli salah satu produk baby toiletries sering kali kita lihat ada banded dengan baby diapers.

So Catman its not all about the spaceman/planogram….

Yayan Mulyana (Category Management Specialist) – @ymulyana, yayan[dot]m[at]gmail[dot]com

Masih Kosong

ബെലും കേപികിരന്‍ മു നുളിസ് അപ, ചുമ പെങ്ങേന്‍ ങ്ങേടിക് ദോന്ഗ് മുദഹ൨അന് ദാപെറ്റ് ഇന്സ്പിരാസി...

ADVANTAGES OF INTEGRITY

ADVANTAGES OF INTEGRITY
Bulletin a faithful reader, in this month we still talk about how to be a personal focus and leadership with integrity. In the last edition this month we will dig more deeply about the integrity of the real action in the field of work each of us.
Synonyms of the word integrity continues to grow as more and more people have to understand the meaning of the word integrity itself. Included in that list is honesty, trustworthy, steadfast, character, consistent and correct. but how can someone translate these words into action? It is not our purpose at this time, something more concrete than the words.
In the field of work each of us, we can try to act or do something that simple actions that can reflect the personal integrity of each of us. There are several characteristics that consistently can be shown by people of high integrity:
1. Recognizing that small things are important
There is a story about two frogs who put in a place full of hot water to make soup. Frogs first to realize the dangers that it faces directly jump. While the second frog was reluctant to do that because he felt the water was really comfortable. He decided to stay there for a while and enjoy the warm water. he sure can jump when he realized the water was too hot. When the water temperature rises, the frog adjusts itself and did not realize it, until it was too late. Her life was frog end up being a delicious soup.
Similarly, the employees how to lose the integrity of himself, little by little until they realized the center was in danger and can no longer turn away. Rarely do people lose their integrity suddenly or all of a sudden, it usually starts with a gradual decline in standards of integrity to the subtle and difficult to stop until it reaches the end of the deadly. Important point in this case we must always be sensitive and often to evaluate yourself for as much as possible can quickly understand the changes that occur within each of us.
2. Always act Consistent
If we look at the Mc Donald's which has experienced tremendous success in the fast food industry, it is because of consistency. Not only because of the sauce, chicken meat, drink and advertising marketing. It was all part of the secret formula of Mc. Donald's, but the real strength of the company lies in the consistency of service indicated by each of the outlets that stretched nearly every state.
Consistency also provide results on a personal level. First, because it is difficult to be found another place. Second, because the people who showed consistency is a real person, what you see is what you get.
Diane Peck said, "People who demonstrate integrity, consistency between what he says and he did."
3. Honest but Humility
If you often say to others just how honest you are, maybe then you're lying. honesty is not something you claim, such as a high degree. That is the assessment made by others based on the actions you take every day in your life and your work.
Joe Badaracco (Harvard) said that, people with integrity usually move patiently, carefully and calmly. They fix or prevent moral mistakes in the work environment quietly and usually without any casualties. I finally called them as "Leaders in silence" because of modesty and restraint capabilities that make them successful.
The reader, if we want to try to build integrity within each of us, then we are actually consciously setting up success in careers and our lives for the long term. integrity is not only good for the scope of work, but also will make you feel good about yourself when practicing. Your relationship with others will be much better, and generally you do things much better.
________________________________________
Creative adaptive by FHO, reference: Adrian Gostick and Dana Telford, Excellence Integrity.

FOREWORD TO 20 THINGS

M
FOREWORD TO 20 THINGS
any of us these days depend on the World Wide Web to bring the world’s information to our fingertips,
and put us in touch with people and events across the globe instantaneously.
These powerful online experiences are possible thanks to an open web that can be accessed by anyone through
a web browser, on any Internet-connected device in the world.
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But how do our browsers and the web actually work? How has the World Wide Web evolved into what we
know and love today? And what do we need to know to navigate the web safely and efficiently?
“20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web” is a short guide for anyone who’s curious about the
basics of browsers and the web. Here’s what you’ll find here:
First we’ll look at the Internet, the very backbone that allows the web to exist. We’ll also take a look at
how the web is used today, through cloud computing and web apps.
Then, we’ll introduce the building blocks of web pages like HTML and JavaScript, and review how their
invention and evolution have changed the websites you visit every day. We’ll also take a look at the modern
browser and how it helps users browse the web more safely and securely.
Finally, we’ll look ahead to the exciting innovations in browsers and web technologies that we believe will
give us all even faster and more immersive online experiences in the future.
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Life as citizens of the web can be liberating and empowering, but also deserves some self-education. Just as
we’d want to know various basic facts as citizens of our physical neighborhoods -- water safety, key services,
local businesses -- it’s increasingly important to understand a similar set of information about our online lives.
That’s the spirit in which we wrote this guide. Many of the examples used to illustrate the features and
functionality of the browser often refer back to Chrome, the open-source browser that we know well. We hope
you find this guide as enjoyable to read as we did to create.
Happy browsing!
The Google Chrome Team, with many thanks to Christoph Niemann for his illustrations
November 2010


W
WHAT IS THE INTERNET?
OR, “YOU SAY TOMATO, I SAY TCP/IP”
hat is the Internet, exactly? To some of us, the Internet is where we stay in touch with friends, get the
news, shop, and play games. To some others, the Internet can mean their local broadband providers, or
the underground wires and fiber-optic cables that
carry data back and forth across cities and oceans. Who is right?
A helpful place to start is near the Very Beginning: 1974. That was the year that a few smart computer
researchers invented something called the Internet Protocol Suite, or TCP/IP for
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short. TCP/IP created a set of rules that allowed computers to “talk” to each other and send information back
and forth.
TCP/IP is somewhat like human communication: when we speak to each other, the rules of grammar
provide structure to language and ensure that we can understand each other and exchange ideas. Similarly,
TCP/IP provides the rules of communication that ensure interconnected devices understand each other so that
they can send information back and forth. As that group of interconnected devices grew from one room to many
rooms — and then to many buildings, and then to many cities and countries — the Internet was born.
The early creators of the Internet discovered that data and information could be sent more efficiently when
broken into smaller chunks, sent separately, and reassembled. Those chunks are called packets. So when you
send an email across the Internet, your full email message is broken down into packets, sent to your recipient,
and reassembled. The same thing happens when you watch a video on a website like YouTube: the video files
are segmented into data packets that can be sent from multiple YouTube servers around the world and
reassembled to form the video that you watch through your browser.
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What about speed? If traffic on the Internet were akin to a stream of water, the Internet’s bandwidth is
equivalent to the amount of water that flows through the stream per second. So when you hear engineers talking
about bandwidth, what they’re really referring to is the amount of data that can be sent over your Internet
connection per second. This is an indication of how fast your connection is. Faster connections are now possible
with better physical infrastructure (such as fiber optic cables that can send information close to the speed of
light), as well as better ways to encode the information onto the physical medium itself, even on older medium
like copper wires.
The Internet is a fascinating and highly technical system, and yet for most of us today, it’s a user-friendly
world where we don’t even
think about the wires and equations involved. The Internet is also the backbone that allows the World Wide Web
that we know and love to exist: with an Internet connection, we can access an open, ever-growing universe of
interlinked web pages and applications. In fact, there are probably as many pages on the web today as there are
neurons in your brain, as there are stars in the Milky Way!
In the next two chapters, we’ll take a look at how the web is used today through cloud computing and web
apps.
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M
CLOUD
COMPUTING
OR, WHY IT’S OK FOR A TRUCK
TO CRUSH YOUR LAPTOP
odern computing in the age of the Internet is quite a strange, remarkable thing. As you sit hunched over
your laptop at home watching a YouTube video or using a search engine, you’re actually plugging into the
collective power of thousands of computers that serve all this information to you from far-away rooms distributed
around the world. It’s almost like having a massive supercomputer at your beck and call, thanks to the Internet.
This phenomenon is what we typically refer to as cloud computing. We now read the
news, listen to music, shop, watch TV shows and store our files on the web. Some of us live in cities in which
nearly every museum, bank, and government office has a website. The end result? We spend less time in lines
or on the phone, as these websites allow us to do things like pay bills and make reservations. The movement of
many of our daily tasks online enables us to live more fully in the real world.
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Cloud computing offers other benefits as well. Not too long ago, many of us worried about losing our
documents, photos and files if something bad happened to our computers, like a virus or a hardware malfunction.
Today, our data is migrating beyond the boundaries of our personal computers. Instead, we’re moving our data
online into “the cloud”. If you upload your photos, store critical files online and use a web-based email service
like Gmail or Yahoo! Mail, an 18-wheel truck could run over your laptop and all your data would still safely
reside on the web, accessible from any Internet-connected computer, anywhere in the world.
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I
WEB APPS
OR, “LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE
PURSUIT OF APPINESS”
f you play online games, use an online photo editor, or rely on web-based services like Google Maps, Twitter,
Amazon, YouTube or Facebook, then you’re an active resident in the wonderful world of web apps.
What exactly is a web app, anyway? And why should we care?
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App is shorthand for an application. Applications are also called programs or software. Traditionally, they’ve
been designed to do broad, intensive tasks like accounting or word processing. In the online world of web
browsers and smart phones, apps are usually nimbler programs focused on a single task. Web apps, in particular,
run these tasks inside the web browser and often provide a rich, interactive experience.
Google Maps is a good example of a web app. It’s focused on one task: providing helpful map features
within a web browser. You can pan and zoom around a map, search for a college or cafe, and get driving
directions, among other tasks. All the information you need is pulled into the web app dynamically every time you
ask for it.
This brings us to four virtues of Web Appiness:
1. I can access my data from anywhere.
In the traditional world of desktop applications, data is usually stored on my computer’s hard drive. If I’m on
vacation and leave my computer at home, I can’t access my email, photos, or any of my data when I need it.
In the new world of web apps, my email and all my data are stored online on the web. I can get to it on a
web browser from any computer that’s connected to the Internet.
2. I’ll always get the latest version of any app.
Which version of YouTube am I using today? What about tomorrow? The answer: Always the latest. Web apps
update themselves automatically, so there’s always just one version: the latest version, with all the newest
features and improvements. No need to
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manually upgrade to a new version every time. And I don’t have to go through a lengthy install process to use
my web apps.
3. It works on every device with a web browser.
In traditional computing, some programs work only on particular systems or devices. For instance, many programs
written for a PC won’t work on a Mac. Keeping up with all the right software can be time-consuming and
costly. In contrast, the web is an open platform. Anyone can reach it from a browser on any web-connected
device, regardless of whether it’s a desktop computer, laptop, or mobile phone. That means I can use my
favorite web apps even if I’m using my friend’s laptop or a computer at an Internet cafe.
4. It’s safer.
Web apps run in the browser and I never
have to download them onto my computer. Because of this separation between the app code and my computer’s
code, web apps can’t interfere with other tasks on my computer or the overall performance of my machine. This
means that I’m better protected from threats like viruses, malware and spyware.
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W
HTML, JAVASCRIPT, CSS
AND MORE
OR, THIS IS NOT YOUR MOM’S AJAX
eb pages are written in HTML, the web programming language that tells web browsers how to structure
and present content on a web page. In other words, HTML provides the basic building blocks for the
web. And for a long time, those building blocks were pretty simple and static: lines of text, links and images.
Today, we expect to be able to do things like play online chess or seamlessly scroll around a map of our
neighborhood, without waiting for the entire page to reload for every chess move or every map scroll.
The idea of such dynamic web pages began
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with the invention of the scripting language JavaScript. JavaScript support in major web browsers meant that web
pages could incorporate more meaningful real-time interactions. For example, if you’ve filled out an online form
and hit the “submit” button, the web page can use JavaScript to check your entries in real-time and alert you
almost instantly if you had filled out the form incorrectly.
But the dynamic web as we know it today truly came to life when XHR (XMLHttpRequest) was introduced
into JavaScript, and first used in web applications like Microsoft Outlook for the Web, Gmail and Google Maps.
XHR enabled individual parts of a web page — a game, a map, a video, a little survey — to be altered without
needing to reload the entire page. As a result, web apps are faster and more responsive.
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Web pages have also become more expressive with the introduction of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). CSS
gives programmers an easy, efficient way to define a web page’s layout and beautify the page with design
elements like colors, rounded corners, gradients, and animation.
Web programmers often refer to this potent combination of JavaScript, XHR, CSS and several other web
technologies as AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML). HTML has also continued to evolve as more
features and improvements are incorporated into new versions of the HTML standard.
Today’s web has evolved from the ongoing efforts of all the technologists, thinkers, coders and organizations
who create these web technologies and ensure that they’re supported in web browsers like Internet Explorer,
Firefox, Safari and Google Chrome. This interaction between web technologies and browsers has made the web
an open and friendly construction platform for web developers, who then bring to life many useful and fun web
applications that we use daily.
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M
HTML5
OR, IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS NO