Q and A

Question	Answer
Describe the difference between an XML Sitemap and a HTML Sitemap. List the benefits and disadvantages of using each.	XML sitemaps are used for bots / website crawlers to proficiently index webpages for search engine optimisation. While HTML sitemaps are used by the human end user and typically list various parts of the website in an easy to navigate interface, typically ordering links within sections. XML sitemaps on the other-hand are typically unintelligible to non tech savvy end users, while html sitemaps typically require manual management for adding links so they are ordered correctly in categories for example.
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.	Visual Studio: Visual Studio is an extremely popular IDE developed by Microsoft, it enables developers to use various programming / markup languages such as C++, HTML and Javascript, while also providing tools to debug them. However its extremely bloated, the installation size can be massive compared to alternatives, recently it has also implemented a ‘feature’ where if there’s an update available you cannot use it without updating. Overall Visual Studio is good for entry level programming and beyond because the tools given and debugger (C++ in particular) is good. Vim (and forks): Vim is an open source highly customisable text editor which focuses on keeping the developer’s hands on the keyboard for maximum efficiency, it has various key-bindings allowing the developer to edit and move around documents extremely quickly when proficient in the key-bindings. Vim also has support for plug-ins which can turn the text editor into a fully functional IDE with a little bit of effort. Just install a language server plugin, GDB interface plug-in and some autocomplete to go with the language server and now you have a fully functional IDE for C++ development. However Vim has a somewhat steep learning curve because of the keybinds and interface making it rarely the first choice for new developers picking an IDE. CLion: CLion is an IDE developed by Jetbrains which is specifically designed for C/C++ software development. Like Visual studio It comes with lots of tools, however the tools are specifically to develop C/C++ software. It comes with CMake, GCC, MSVC and Clang integration. CLion is a good IDE for entry level programmers just like Visual studio, however its also a resource hog which uses lots of system resources, making it hard to run on older systems.
Provide a brief history on web browser development and the issues encountered by web developers, specifically, the adherence to web standards.	In 1990 Tim Berners-Lee had developed the first webserver and a program to interact with that server called “World Wide Web”, which was later renamed to Nexus. In april 1993 CERN released the source code for World Wide Web and it quickly gained popularity with NCSA releasing the first widely popular web browser the same year called mosaic, during the coming years the amount of web-browsers began to surge. All the various web-browsers and the lack of a single web-standard led to browsers implementing various proprietary features forcing developers to create multiple websites to conform to the most popular browsers standards, or sometimes only focusing on one browser and blocking the others. In 1994 Tim Berners-Lee founded World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), during the coming years W3C would public multiple specifications called recommendations to attempt to provide standards to the web.
What are the endorsed requirements of accessibility for all NT Government webpages?	The NT government endorses the World Wide Web Consortium’s WCAG 2.0 guidelines, to ensure that government sites are WCAG 2.0 level AA ensuring they are as accessible to people as possible.
How do you think it’s best to organise all the assets used for a specific webpage? Think locally on your computer AND within the root folder of the website.	Webpage assets should be sorted within the webpage subdirectories, Eg: images could go in a folder called images rather than being left out in the open next to the webpage file, this declutters the page folder for developers but also gives the webpage URL’s a neater structure.