Q1

Describe the difference between an XML Sitemap and a HTML Sitemap. List the benefits and disadvantages of using each.

The html sitemap focuses on making the website more readable for humans. While xml sitemaps are designed for search engines to ensure they find a sites url to index. This means that xml is better for the search engine as it provides more detailed information about each page. Html are good at making it easy for users to navigate while it isn’t as helpful as XML to allow search engines to find and index.

Q2

Evaluate three IDE’s (Integrated development environments) and provide a brief summary on the positive and negative aspects of each. Also, in your own words include how it would suit an entry level trainee code developer.

Notepad is simple and on every windows computer. However it offers no features in any way it is just text meaning that it wont highlight any mistakes in the document. Notepad++ has syntax for all languages, tabbed ui, fast and light weight, free open source and has plugins. However it has no default plugin manager and cant install more advanced packets. Visual studio code can be used with a lot of programming languages making it easier to include features into a website, has github intergration with lots of plugins with a easy to use ui, open source and free. However it has slow startup and weak ui design tools and support for some programming language is poor. The best one to support an entry code developer is probably visual studio code as it has a lot of online documentation and features to make it easier.

Q3

Provide a brief history on web browser development and the issues encountered by web developers, specifically, the adherence to web standards.

Browsers used different methods and files to display a browser which meant webpages needed to developed for many different browsers so they would display properly. This lead to the development of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in 1994 to standardise the protocols and technologies used to build the web so that it would be access able to as many people as possible. It wasn’t until 2000 that browsers started meeting most of W3C recommendations, this meant that web developers to start designing sites using web standards as they knew it would now work across multiple browsers instead of designing 5 different websites for different browsers.

Q4

What are website testing methodologies? Your answer MUST cover browser compatibility, and website functionality.

Website testing is essential and required to ensure the delivery of bug-free software. There is functionality testing, web ui, usabilty, performance, compatability and security testing. Functionality testing is to ensure that all of the functionality of a website is running smoothly without issues. This can be verifying all links are working correctly, testing cookies, reviewing forms, evaluating data bases and validating css and html. Web ui testing ensures the websites visual elements, keyboard and mouse inputs are as intended with no defects or problems on a large range of devices. Usabiliy testing involves having real people test the product as they will have an unbiased honest opinion allowing you to make it easier for other people to use for the first time. This process involves making changes to make the design intuative and usable to help users accomplish tasks seamlessly. Performance testing allows to make sure the website is able to handle multiple using it at once without issues and it is loading in a timely manour without using a lot of bandwidth. Ensure this test is carryed out on different hardware platforms, browsers and operating systems Compatability testing is ensuring it works on different operating systems, web browsers, hardware, phones and other printing options. All the tests should be performed within this test.