If you're planning to create a professional presence on the World Wide Web you need to master the tools and tactics the experts use. Treat yourself to a copy of the grand plan with "The Web Architect's Handbook" and find out how they do it. Basic HTML and graphics techniques will only get you part of the way; when it comes to creating a large web site, different methods are needed. "The Web Architect's Handbook" will provide you with an overview of web structure and show you how different types of web site have differing requirements. Along the way you will learn about maintaining large publications, creating dynamic documents, and building a site that is durable and useable. An essential desktop companion for professional Web Authors 'The Web Architect's Handbook' will provide you with: * The Big Picture: Understand how the pieces fit together with this detailed guide to the principles, standards and architecture of the Web * The Sum of the Parts: Get to grips with HTML, HTTP, and Perl. You will benefit from an understanding of essential components for creating interactive Web sites * Tools of The Trade: Few tools exist for structuring and maintaining your own web. Charles Stross discusses how to structure and maintain your own web site using one of the most common HTTP servers, the NCSA httpd program, and comments on issues of server security and web portability. * Programming CGI scripts in Perl: An introduction to the amazingly powerful and popular Perl programming language, used to automate 80% of the servers on the web! You will learn how the Common Gateway Interface works, how to build programs that take advantage of it, and how to create complex, dynamic web sites. * A Safety Guide to Spiders: You can use spiders to locate documents amongst the huge collection of hypertexts available on the web; you can also write or install your own, to maintain consistency in your local web. In this unique section Charles Stross describes how to go about writing a web-roving spider, what the pitfalls and perils are, and how best to go about using them. * A Commercial Snap Shot: Take time out to assess current developments in a field evolving at break neck speed. Explore the latest technolgies for ordering, customer privacy and secure cash transactions
Charles Stross, 46, is a full-time science fiction writer and resident of Edinburgh, Scotland. The author of six Hugo-nominated novels and winner of the 2005 and 2010 Hugo awards for best novella, Stross's works have been translated into over twelve languages.
Like many writers, Stross has had a variety of careers, occupations, and job-shaped-catastrophes in the past, from pharmacist (he quit after the second police stake-out) to first code monkey on the team of a successful dot-com startup (with brilliant timing he tried to change employer just as the bubble burst).
