Web Design Nutshell

Table of Contents
Preface .................................................................................................... xiii
Part I: The Web Environment
Chapter 1—Designing for a Variety of Browsers ...................... 3
Browsers ................................................................................................. 3
Design Strategies .................................................................................... 9
Writing Good HTML ............................................................................. 11
Knowing Your Audience ..................................................................... 12
Considering Your Site’s Purpose ......................................................... 13
Test! Test! Test! ..................................................................................... 13
Chapter 2—Designing for a Variety of Displays .................... 14
Dealing with Unknown Monitor Resolutions ..................................... 14
Fixed versus Flexible Web Page Design ............................................. 19
Accessibility .......................................................................................... 23
Alternative Displays .............................................................................. 26
Chapter 3—Web Design Principles
for Print Designers ...................................................................... 28
Color on the Web ................................................................................. 28
Graphics on the Web ........................................................................... 34
Typography on the Web ...................................................................... 41
Chapter 4—A Beginner’s Guide to the Server ......................... 47
Servers 101 ............................................................................................ 47
Introduction to Unix ............................................................................. 50
File Naming Conventions ..................................................................... 57
Uploading Documents (FTP) ............................................................... 57
File (MIME) Types ................................................................................ 61
Part II: HTML
Chapter 5—HTML Overview .......................................................... 67
HTML Editing Tools ............................................................................. 68
WYSIWYG Authoring Tools ................................................................ 68
Document Structure ............................................................................. 70
HTML Tags ............................................................................................ 71
Information Browsers Ignore ............................................................... 73
Tips on Good HTML Style ................................................................... 74
Specifying Color in HTML .................................................................... 75
Character Entities .................................................................................. 84
HTML Resources in This Book ............................................................ 89
Chapter 6—Structural HTML Tags ............................................... 91
Summary of Structural Tags ................................................................. 91
Setting Up an HTML Document .......................................................... 94
Global Settings with the body Tag .................................................. 96
Using meta Tags ............................................................................... 98
Chapter 7—Formatting Text ......................................................... 102
Summary of Text Tags ....................................................................... 102
Working with HTML Text .................................................................. 112
Inline Type Styles ............................................................................... 114
The font Tag ................................................................................... 116
Lists ...................................................................................................... 118
Layout Techniques with HTML .......................................................... 122
Chapter 8—Creating Links ........................................................... 130
Summary of Tags Related to Linking ................................................ 130
Simple Hypertext Links ...................................................................... 133
Linking Within a Document ............................................................... 134
Affecting the Appearance of Links .................................................... 135
Targeting Windows ............................................................................ 137
Imagemaps .......................................................................................... 137
Non-Web Links and Protocols ........................................................... 143
Chapter 9—Adding Images and Other Page Elements ...... 146
Summary of Object Placement Tags .................................................. 146
Horizontal Rules ................................................................................. 154
Image Basics ....................................................................................... 157
The Tag and Its Attributes ...................................................... 158
Adding Java Applets to the Page ....................................................... 164
Adding Plug-in Media with embed ............................................... 165
Adding Media Files with object ..................................................... 166
Chapter 10—Tables .......................................................................... 168
Summary of Table Tags ..................................................................... 168
Introduction to Tables ........................................................................ 176
Basic Table Structure .......................................................................... 177
Affecting Table Appearance ............................................................... 181
Table Troubleshooting ....................................................................... 187
Tips and Tricks ................................................................................... 193
Standard Table Templates .................................................................. 196
Multipart Images in Tables ................................................................. 201
Chapter 11—Frames ........................................................................ 206
Summary of Frame Tags .................................................................... 206
Introduction to Frames ....................................................................... 209
Basic Frameset Structure .................................................................... 211
Frame Function and Appearance ...................................................... 214
Targeting Frames ................................................................................ 217
Inline (Floating) Frames ..................................................................... 219
Frame Design Tips and Tricks ........................................................... 220
Chapter 12—Forms .......................................................................... 226
Summary of Form Tags ...................................................................... 226
Introduction to Forms ........................................................................ 233
The Basic Form (form) .................................................................. 234
Form Elements .................................................................................... 236
New Form Attributes (HTML 4.0) ...................................................... 241
Affecting the Appearance of Forms ................................................... 242
Unconventional Use of Form Elements ............................................ 246
Demystifying CGI ............................................................................... 247
Chapter 13—Server Side Includes .............................................. 251
How SSI Is Used ................................................................................. 251
SSI and the Server .............................................................................. 253
Adding SSI Commands to a Document ............................................. 253
Using Environment Variables ............................................................ 255
XSSI ..................................................................................................... 255
List of Elements .................................................................................. 256
Include Variables ................................................................................ 259
Time Formats for SSI Output ............................................................. 260
Part III: Graphics
Chapter 14—GIF Format ............................................................... 265
GIF87a versus GIF89a ........................................................................ 265
Eight-Bit Indexed Color ..................................................................... 266
GIF Compression ................................................................................ 266
When to Use GIFs .............................................................................. 266
Tools Overview .................................................................................. 267
Interlacing ........................................................................................... 268
Transparency ...................................................................................... 269
Minimizing GIF File Sizes .................................................................. 277
Chapter 15—JPEG Format ............................................................ 283
24-bit Color ......................................................................................... 283
JPEG Compression ............................................................................. 283
When to Use JPEGs ............................................................................ 285
Progressive JPEGs ............................................................................... 285
JPEGs in AOL Browsers ..................................................................... 286
Creating JPEGs .................................................................................... 286
Minimizing JPEG File Size .................................................................. 287
Chapter 16—PNG Format ............................................................. 291
Platform/Browser Support ................................................................. 292
8-Bit Palette, Grayscale, and Truecolor ............................................. 293
PNG Compression .............................................................................. 293
When to Use PNGs ............................................................................ 294
Special Features .................................................................................. 295
Creating PNG Files ............................................................................. 297
Optimizing PNG File Size .................................................................. 301
Online PNG Resources ....................................................................... 302
Chapter 17—Designing Graphics with the Web Palette .... 303
The Web Palette ................................................................................. 303
Other Palettes ..................................................................................... 305
Image Types ....................................................................................... 306
Designing with Web-Safe Colors ....................................................... 307
Converting to the Web Palette ........................................................... 309
Survey of Web Graphics Tools .......................................................... 310
Color Blenders .................................................................................... 315
Where to Learn More ......................................................................... 317
Part IV: Multimedia and Interactivity
Chapter 18—Animated GIFs ........................................................ 321
How They Work ................................................................................. 321
Using Animated GIFs ......................................................................... 322
Browser Support ................................................................................. 322
Tools ................................................................................................... 323
Creating Animated GIFs ..................................................................... 324
Optimizing Animated GIFs ................................................................ 328
Chapter 19—Audio on the Web .................................................. 330
Copyright Issues ................................................................................. 330
Audio Tools Overview ....................................................................... 331
Basic Digital Audio Concepts ............................................................ 332
Nonstreaming versus Streaming ........................................................ 333
Nonstreaming (Static) Audio .............................................................. 335
Streaming Audio ................................................................................. 341
Bibliography ....................................................................................... 345
Chapter 20—Video on the Web ................................................... 347
Tools Overview .................................................................................. 347
Basic Digital Video Concepts ............................................................. 348
Compression ....................................................................................... 349
Video File Formats ............................................................................. 351
Streaming Video Technologies .......................................................... 353
Adding Video to an HTML Document .............................................. 355
Bibliography ....................................................................................... 358
Chapter 21—Interactivity ............................................................. 359
Flash .................................................................................................... 359
Shockwave for Director ..................................................................... 366
Java Applets ........................................................................................ 370
Interactive Buttons with JavaScript .................................................... 373
Chapter 22—Introduction to JavaScript .................................. 379
JavaScript Basics ................................................................................. 379
Sample Scripts ..................................................................................... 381
Handling Multiple Browsers .............................................................. 383
Browser Compatibility ........................................................................ 385
Part V: Emerging Technologies
Chapter 23—Cascading Style Sheets ......................................... 389
How Style Sheets Work ...................................................................... 391
Selectors .............................................................................................. 395
Specifying Values ............................................................................... 398
Properties ............................................................................................ 399
Positioning with Style Sheets ............................................................. 418
What’s New in CSS2 ........................................................................... 422
Style Sheet Tips and Tricks ................................................................ 426
Browser Support Charts ..................................................................... 428
Chapter 24—Introduction to DHTML ....................................... 429
Advantages to Using DHTML ............................................................ 430
Disadvantages ..................................................................................... 430
Learning DHTML ................................................................................ 431
Browser Differences ........................................................................... 431
The Document Object Model ............................................................ 431
DHTML Examples ............................................................................... 435
DHTML Tools ..................................................................................... 441
Where to Learn More ......................................................................... 443
Chapter 25—Introduction to XML ............................................. 445
Background ........................................................................................ 445
Document Type Definition (DTD) .................................................... 446
XML Syntax Basics .............................................................................. 446
Examples of XML Technology ........................................................... 448
Where to Learn More ......................................................................... 451
Chapter 26—Embedded Font Technology ............................... 453
Using Embedded Fonts ...................................................................... 453
TrueDoc Technology (“Dynamic Fonts”) .......................................... 454
OpenType (for Internet Explorer) ..................................................... 455
Chapter 27—Internationalization ............................................ 458
Character Sets ..................................................................................... 458
HTML 4.0 Language Tags ................................................................... 460
For More Information ......................................................................... 463
Part VI: Appendixes
Appendix A—HTML Tags and Elements ................................... 467
Appendix B—List of Attributes .................................................... 483
Appendix C—Deprecated Tags ..................................................... 511
Appendix D—Proprietary Tags .................................................... 515
Appendix E—CSS Compatibility ................................................. 518
Glossary ................................................................................................ 527
Index ...................................................................................................... 535

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