====== Javascript, HTML, XML, PHP ======
JS, HTML, XML, PHP, AJAX, CSS - things we all know for building Web-UIs. Though there are thousends of manuals out there, i wanted to take some notes...

I wondered, why we use 6 languages for one page, but it makes sense if you categorize it.
  * Server scripting - PHP
  * Content, Data - HTML/XML
  * Client scripting, User Interactivity - JS
  * Look - CSS

Although others don't do it my way, I always obey some rules on AJAX-applications:
  - show the user if somethings happening in the background (a loading gif)
  - Javascript disabled must not break the application. This means i implement all the basic features in (X)HTML and then add some AJAX features that are optional.
  - Browser interoperability: I don't check for browser. I use features that work on all browsers (this really works!)

I'm not a fan of frameworks (like DOJO), that do all the work for you. It's because I'm a minimalist and I like to know where my stack pointer is. So I either read the complete framework to understand it or I build just what I need on my own.
----

===== AJAX and IE =====
You can find this problem at the Javascript group in comp.lang with the name "Microsoft.XMLHTTP problem": 
  * http://www.thescripts.com/forum/threadnav153160-1-10.html or at 
  * http://groups.google.at/group/comp.lang.javascript/browse_thread/thread/d99f238e56fefa2a/bab647d9754df555
And I found a solution.
==== The symptoms ====
The line
<code>result = http_request.responseText;</code>
or any code containing http_request.responseText crashes with the message: (in a german Internet Explorer) <code>Systemfehler: -1072896658</code>
meaning: <code>system error: -1072896658</code>
==== The problem ====
The encoding utf8 was set. 

You might now think: "UTF8? This is generally considered good! What's wrong with that." the dash. It's utf-8 and not utf8. Never write utf8. IE only knows utf-8.
==== The Solution ====
Replace the encoding of <code>utf-8</code> with <code>utf8</code>
WRONG: <code>header("Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf8");</code>
CORRECT: <code>header("Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8");</code>
----

And [[http://www.zdnet.de/news/software/0,39023144,39140700,00.htm|this site]] looks funny in  Deer Park Alpha 2 trunk nightly 20060329 :D