Jonathan Lane Meitar Moscovitz Joseph R. Lewis In this book you’ll See how web standards have influenced the development of the Web Learn how to plan and manage the building of a website Learn how to separate content from presentation with HTML and CSS See how JavaScript can be used to enhance your website Learn how best to test, launch, and maintain a website Foundation Website Creation with CSS, XHTML, and JavaScript F oundation Website Creation covers the entire process of building a website. This process involves much more than just technical knowledge, and this book provides you with all the information you’ll need to understand the concepts behind designing and developing for the Web, as well as the best means to deliver professional, best-practice-based results. There is far more to building a successful website than knowing a little Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). The process starts long before any coding takes place, and this book introduces you to the agile development process, explaining why this method makes so much sense for web projects and how best to implement it. Planning is vital, so you’ll also learn how to use techniques such as brainstorming, wireframes, mockups, and prototypes to get your project off to the best possible start and help ensure smooth progress as it develops. An understanding of correct, semantic markup is essential to any web professional, so this book explains how XHTML should be used to structure content so that the markup adheres to current web standards. You’ll learn about the wide range of HTML elements available to you, and you’ll learn how and when to use them through building example web pages. Without creative use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), websites would all look largely the same. CSS gives you the ability to set your website apart from the rest while maintaining the integrity of your markup. You’ll learn how CSS works and how to apply styles to your pages, enabling you to realize your design ideas in the browser. JavaScript can be used to make your website easier and more interesting to use. This book provides information on appropriate uses of this technology and introduces the concepts of programming using it. You’ll also see how JavaScript works as part of the much-hyped technique Ajax and in turn where Ajax fits into the wider Web 2.0 picture. While a website is being built, it needs to be tested across multiple browsers and platforms to ensure that the site works for all users, regardless of ability or disability, and the book explains how best to do these tasks. Then, it discusses the process of launching and maintaining the site so that it will continue to work for all its users throughout its life-cycle. The book concludes by covering server-side technologies, acting as a guide to the different options available and explaining differences between available products. With insights from renowned experts such as Jason Fried of 37signals, Daniel Burka of Digg and Pownce, and Chris Messina of Citizen Agency, Foundation Website Creation provides invaluable information applicable to every web project, regardless of size, scope, or budget. WEBSITE CREATION WITH CSS, XHTML, AND JAVASCRIPT this print for reference only—size & color not accurate spine = 0.8382" 360 page count Lane Moscovitz Lewis FOUNDATION Website Creation Foundation Provides an overview of the entire website-building process Includes practical examples and background theory Features insights from renowned industry professionals Also Available ISBN 978-1-4302-0991-1 9 781430 209911 5 3 4 9 9 US $34.99 Mac/PC compatible www.friendsofed.com SHELVING CATEGORY 1. WEB DESIGN with CSS, XHTML, and JavaScript [...]... Filtering CSS rules with CSS selectors CSS hacks: exploiting one bug to resolve another Fixing your spacing bugs in Internet Explorer 6 and 7 CSS media types and creating print style sheets Designing for other media types and devices Summary Chapter 7 Creating Interactivity with JavaScript JavaScript. .. can do using XHTML and CSS If you head over to the CSS Zen Garden (http://csszengarden.com/) and click through some of the examples there, you can gain an appreciation for the level of control you can have by tweaking the CSS for a website CSS Zen Garden uses the same markup for every example (the XHTML part stays the same on every page) The only thing that is different on each page is the CSS file that... developing new standards and revising old ones is very thorough, and it involves a lot of consultation with the community Several drafts are developed, a great deal of feedback is collected, and eventually a Recommendation is put forth We’ve presented HTML and XHTML almost interchangeably in this first chapter Although both HTML and XHTML are valid web standards, in this book we’ll focus on XHTML, which... web design and development, Joe was a professional musician He is a classically trained double bassist and graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, and he has performed with orchestras and chamber groups in major concert halls and festivals across the United States and Europe When not cranking out code, writing nerd-struck pulp, or practicing music late at night, Joe spends his time with his... Language (HTML) and the Web these days without having it start off with a history section We used to wonder why that was the case To understand why the web standards approach to building websites is the best way to go, you have to know about the progression of the World Wide Web as it has evolved to become what it is today The World Wide Web has very technical roots, and the trouble (or charm) with most... entire website Are you still keen to go change every font tag? You’re thinking to yourself, “My software can do search and replace.” This is true We were once asked to update a department website at an organization where we worked The website had about 16,000 pages, and by the end of a week, our search and replace still hadn’t finished We’re not that patient Are you? Additionally, CSS has evolved and. .. organizations and other small groups He’s also an avid blogger and juggler, and he has way too many profiles on social networking sites xv 09911FM.qxd 6/20/08 10:52 AM Page xvi ABOUT THE AUTHORS Joseph R Lewis works as a team lead for web development at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California Joe is a recognized expert in standards-based web development and accessibility, and he has presented and. .. 1-4, and Figure 1-5) Figure 1-3 One example from CSS Zen Garden (http://www.csszengarden.com) Each of these pages uses the same XHTML markup; each page is just styled differently using CSS and images 6 09911ch01.qxd 6/18/08 1:15 PM Page 7 INTRODUCING THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF THE WEB Figure 1-4 This is the same page as shown in Figure 1-3 but styled using an alternate style sheet at the CSS Zen... Combining multiple CSS selectors in a single rule CSS inheritance: making the general case work in your favor The CSS cascade and rules of specificity CSS selector specificity Source order cascading Visual rendering: document flow and the CSS box model What is document flow? What is the CSS box model?... Koch, Jeffrey Zeldman, and others too numerous to mention, without whom I’d have no shoulders to stand on I hope my contributions to this book have added some real value to the work they produced before me I also want to thank all the people who worked with me on this book: my coauthors and technical reviewers, Jonathan Lane and Joe Lewis, for their very astute observations and suggestions while I . be used to enhance your website Learn how best to test, launch, and maintain a website Foundation Website Creation with CSS, XHTML, and JavaScript F oundation Website Creation covers the entire. compatible www.friendsofed.com SHELVING CATEGORY 1. WEB DESIGN with CSS, XHTML, and JavaScript