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Table of Contents
Preface.
Acknowledgments.
About the Author.
About the Series Editor.
1. Building an HTML Page.
Declaring and Identifying the Document
Adding the html Element
The head and title Elements
The meta Element
The body Element
HTML Comments
Reviewing the Template
Text Is Next!
2. Adding Text and Links.
Using Headers Properly
Adding Paragraphs
Working with Page Breaks
Ordered Lists
Unordered Lists
Nesting Lists
Definition Lists
The Good Old Link
Email Links
Intrapage Linking
Adding Content to the Template
Wrapping It Up
3. Adding Images, Media, and Scripts.
The img Element
Adding width and height Values
Providing Alternative Text
Linking the Image
Linking to an Audio or Video File
Embedding Files Using the object Element
But Your Honor, I Object!
Adding Scripts
Scripting and Browser Concerns
Imagine That!
4. Creating Tables.
The table Element
Adding a Table Row
Adding Table Cells
Adding Table Headers
Adding a Caption
Table Summaries
Spanning Rows
Spanning Columns
Combining colspan and rowspan
Grouping Table Columns: The col Element
Grouping Table Columns with colgroup
Grouping Table Rows
The Table's Set
5. Building Forms.
The form Element
Adding an Input Textbox
Adding Check Boxes and Radio Buttons
Preselecting Checked Items
Using Form Menus
Working with Text Areas
Reset and Submit Buttons
Using a Graphic Submit Button
Making Forms More Accessible with label
Grouping Form Fields
Grouping Menu Items
Customizing and Advancing Your Forms
Now That You're Well-Formed
6. Working with Frames.
The Power of Three
Creating a Frameset
Adding Columns
Working with Rows
Combining Columns and Rows
Margin, Resize, and Scroll Controls
Naming and Targeting Frames
Frames Without Frontiers
Making Frames Accessible with noframes
Wonderful Inline Frames
You're Framed!
7. Using CSS.
CSS Theory Simplified
Adding Style Inline
Using Embedded Style
Creating a Linked Style Sheet
Importing Style Sheets
Commenting and Formatting CSS
Time to Put Your Imagination to Work!
8. Working with Color and Images Using CSS.
Color and CSS
Adding Color to Backgrounds
Spicing Up a Table Using Background Color
Attaching a Background Graphic
Controlling How Backgrounds Tile
Positioning a Background Graphic
Fixing and Scrolling Background Images
Making a Background Color Transparent
CSS Shorthand for Backgrounds
Having Fun Yet?
9. Styling Text.
Choosing Fonts
Applying Font Families to Text
Sizing Fonts
Font Weight and Style
Coloring Text
Aligning Text
Text Decoration
Indenting Text
Transforming and Varying Text
Setting Line Height
Spacing Letters and Words
Modifying First-Letter and First-Line Text
Using Shorthand for Font Styles
Now You're Getting Fancy!
10. Link Effects, Lists, and Navigation.
Working with Link States
Modifying Link Styles
Multiple Link Styles Using Class Selectors
Styling Links Using Descendant Selectors
Styling Ordered Lists
Styling Unordered Lists
Shorthand CSS for List Styles
List-Based Vertical Navigation Using Color
Vertical List Navigation with Image Effects
Horizontal List-Based Navigation with Color
Horizontal List Navigation with Images
Rich Links, Lists, and Navigation
11. Margins, Borders, and Padding.
Exploring the Box Model
Using Margins
Using Negative Margins
Margin Shorthand
Styling Borders
Border Shorthand
Using Padding
Padding Shorthand
Toward Gaining More Control
12. Positioning, Floats, and Z-index.
Getting into Position
Normal Flow
Containing Blocks
The Browser Viewport
Absolute Positioning: To the Root Element
Absolute Positioning: To Another Block
Relative Positioning
Fixed Positioning
Floating Elements
Clearing Floats
Z-index
Just Like a Pro
13. CSS Layouts.
Three Columns with Fixed Flanking Menus
Three Columns with Masthead and Footer
Nested Float
Centered Designs
Complex Layouts
Repeat After Me
Appendix A: XHTML 1.0 Annotated Reference.
Appendix B: CSS 2.1 Annotated Reference.
Index.
Preface
Untitled Document
The Web might be the most intriguing invention of the 20th century. Certainly,
it is a technology that has spread faster than a California wildfire and has,
in just a decade's time, changed the ways in which most contemporary societies
live, work, study—and, of course, shop.
Hard to imagine that it all began as an experiment in a particle physics laboratory.
Tim Berners-Lee and his fellow physicists at CERN (European Organization for
Nuclear Research) had been searching for a way to effectively share research
documents across a variety of computer platforms. The Internet, with its complex,
international network, was a very natural foundation upon which to house the
technologies that would ultimately combine to make up the World Wide Web.
From its modest origins to the absolutely astonishing permeation into world
culture, the Web, according to its father, Berners-Lee, was intended to be as
much a social environment as a technical one. This idea might well have led
to the fast proliferation of the Web, largely because it enables us to interact
in many different ways socially via the technology, so much so that a new study
of social networking has emerged to examine the social implications of the Web
on society, and vice versa.
Who Should Read This Book?
You might, in fact, be a particle physicist, but this book is also intended
for a wide range of nontechnical professionals interested in building websites
and working with web documents for professional application within a given field,
such as education, medicine, law, or science. To that end, I've written the book
with a bit less technical jargon than I would for an audience of software developers,
but you will find that this book, while very approachable, does get into some
nitty-gritty concerns. The good news is you don't have to be a rocket scientist
to understand it—but if you are, it'll work out for you, too!
And, while intended for nontechnical professionals, the book will most certainly
also be useful for people who are working in the web design and development
field, and are interested in learning contemporary approaches to working with
web pages.
How Is This Book Organized?
I've organized this book into two sections. The first focuses on HTML, the language
used to structure the document and its contents.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note - Although HTML is still in use, it has been reformulated into a language
known as Extensible Markup Language (XHTML). For general purposes, they are
essentially the same, with the exception that XHTML can be extended in ways
beyond the scope of the book. However, to keep up-to-date and to get you working
with modern markup, XHTML is used in this book. In fact, it's an important point
that I tend to use the terms HTML and XHTML interchangeably, even though they
are, in fact, a bit different.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You'll learn more about HTML and XHTML in the book's first section, which contains
the following chapters:
Chapters in Section 1
Chapter 1: Building an HTML Page
Teaches you how to: Create a page in XHTML
Chapter 2: Adding Text and Links
Teaches you how to: Format text and links
Chapter 3: Adding Images, Media, and Scripts
Teaches you how to: Add dynamic content
Chapter 4: Creating Tables
Teaches you how to: Build effective data tables
Chapter 5: Building Forms
Teaches you how to: Create HTML forms
Chapter 6: Working with Frames
Teaches you how to: Work with frames
The second section of the book focuses on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), which
is the language that integrates with HTML and XHTML to add the design features
of the page: layout, colors, fonts, and anything decorative. You'll learn how
to apply CSS to the pages you build by following the approaches found in the
following chapters:
Chapters in Section 2
Chapter 7: Using CSS
Teaches you how to: Integrate CSS with HTML
Chapter 8: Working with Color and Images
Teaches you how to: Add color and imagery
Chapter 9: Styling Text
Teaches you how to: Work with web typography
Chapter 10: Link Effects, Lists, and Navigation
Teaches you how to: Design with links and lists
Chapter 11: Margins, Borders, and Padding
Teaches you how to: Gain control over space
Chapter 12: Positioning, Floats, and Z-index
Teaches you how to: Position and float elements
Chapter 13: CSS Layouts
Teaches you how to: Lay out pages with CSS
Along with the chapters, there are two very important appendixes. The first
is "XHTML 1.0 Annotated Reference," which provides a look-up along
with proper usage and tips of all the elements available in XHTML 1.0. The second
is "CSS 2.1 Annotated Reference," which provides a listing, along
with proper usage and tips, of all available CSS properties.
Between the chapters and the appendixes, you'll be set when it comes to the
breadth of knowledge required to create great web pages using today's techniques.
What's Unusual About This Book?
This book, like the other books in the Spring Into... Series, provides the following
unique approaches to the content within:
Each topic is explained in a discrete one- or two-page unit called a "chunk."
Each chunk builds on the previous chunks in that chapter.
Many chunks contain sidebars and "Quantum Leaps," which provide helpful,
_ancillary material that is often more advanced than the main text.
The chunk style has been specifically crafted to meet the needs of busy people.
I know you don't have a lot of time to spend learning complex ideas, so giving
them to you in bite-size chunks is a helpful way to get you working as fast
as possible, the right way, from the get-go.
Where to Get Examples from the Book
See the book's web page
www.awprofessional.com/springinto/.
Acknowledgments
Writing a book feels like a lonely process, but the fact is that many people
help out. Barry Rosenberg provided much needed early guidance on how to best write
in the chunk style used in this series. Along the way, three reviewers provided
valuable feedback: Kimberly Blessing and Eris Free pointed out ways I could improve
the text, and Daniel Smith lent his fine eye and found mistakes and points of
clarification, and provided very supportive tips along the way. A special thanks
to Mark Taub, who offered the fine opportunity as well as shepherded it through.
Finally, to David Fugate, literary agent extraordinaire, who is always there with
wit, wisdom, and great movie advice, to boot.
About the Author
Coined "one of the greatest digerati" and deemed one of the "Top
25 Most Influential Women on the Web," there is little doubt that in the
world of web design and development, Molly E. Holzschlag is a vibrant and influential
thinker, teacher, and author. With more than 30 web development book titles to
her credit, Molly is a Steering Committee member for the Web Standards Project
(WaSP and an advisory board member to the World Organization of Webmasters. She
also has taught Webmaster courses for the University of Arizona, University of
Phoenix, New School University, and Pima Community College. Many recognize Molly
from her books, feature articles, and popular website, molly.com.
About the Series Editor
Barry Rosenberg wrote the cult classic, KornShell Programming Tutorial (Addison-Wesley,
1991), which pioneered many of the chunk-oriented techniques found in the Spring
Into... Series. He is the author of more than sixty corporate technical manuals,
primarily on programming. An experienced instructor, Barry has taught everything
from high-school physics to weeklong corporate seminars on data structures.
Most recently, Barry spent four semesters at MIT where he taught advanced technical
writing. Barry is also a professional juggler who has performed more than 1,200
shows, including a three-week run in Japan. Juggling serves as the backdrop
for his novel, Cascade (not yet published). Barry currently works as the documentation
manager at 170 Systems.
Index
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