HTML, XHTML, and CSS Bible

Steven M. Schafer

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780470523964
• eBook ISBN: 9781118081303
• Edition: 5
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Programming in HTML
• Index: Computer Science

An essential update to the key web authoring standards of HTML, XHTML, and CSS

The existence of Web pages depends on three vital technologies: HTML (base language that Web pages are written in), XHTML (standards that define how to write HTML pages), and CSS (standard that applies formatting styles to Web pages). This new edition provides you with critical coverage of these three Web authoring standards, and places special focus on the upcoming releases of HTML 5 and CSS 3.

Serving as a tutorial and reference, this comprehensive resource explains the basic structure and necessary formatting to create a static (non-changing) and dynamic (changing) page on the Internet.

• HTML, XHTML, and CSS are the three major Web authoring standards for creating either a static or dynamic Web page
• Guides you through using HTML to create Web documents and introduces updates to HTML 5
• Demonstrates best practices for using tools and utilities to create Web documents
• Includes coverage of the new CSS 3 and tips and tricks for maximizing its abilities

Helpful examples round out this essential guide and will get you up and running with HTML, XHMTL, and CSS in no time!

Part I

Creating Content with HTML

In This Part

Chapter 1: What Is a Markup Language?

Chapter 2: HTML Values and Units

Chapter 3: What Goes into a Web Document?

Chapter 4: The HEAD Elements

Chapter 5: Text Structuring Essentials

Chapter 6: Character Formatting Essentials

Chapter 7: Lists

Chapter 8: Links

Chapter 9: Tables

Chapter 10: Frames

Chapter 11: Forms

Chapter 12: Colors and Images

Chapter 13: Multimedia

Chapter 14: Special Characters

Chapter 15: Internationalization and Localization

Chapter 16: Scripts

Chapter 17: Dynamic HTML

Chapter 18: The Future of HTML: HTML5

Chapter 1

What Is a Markup Language?

In This Chapter

• What Are We Doing Here?
• Understanding Hypertext
• Understanding Markup Instructions
• Understanding Markup Language

The World Wide Web is a technology beast. If you have read this book's introduction, you should have at least a passing familiarity with how the Web started—its humble beginnings to bring cross-referenced textual documents to the masses via the connectivity of the Internet.

You are reading this book, so it's a good assumption that you are familiar with what the Web has become today—a collection of technologies capable of transporting numerous media across the Internet for consumption directly on your desktop.

However, it's important not to forget the Web's humble beginnings because the technologies used for the very first simple documents are still in use today, and must be understood. This chapter helps frame the reasons why.

What Are We Doing Here?

Why are we diving into technical topics instead of talking about how to create Web documents? Well, technically we are talking about how to create Web documents. The more you know about the technology behind the Web, the better prepared you will be to use the technology to your benefit, and the easier it will be to create Web documents.

Note

If you really do want to just dive into creating documents, check out Chapter 19, “Web Development Software,” which covers tools you can use to quickly create documents without knowing the underlying technology behind it all. However, keep in mind that such tools do not always accomplish the goal you desire and sometimes their results need manual tweaking—tweaking that you will learn to perform throughout the other chapters in this book.

So back to the question: What are we doing here?

Answer: Web documents are created using several different technologies. The main technology is Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). HTML is responsible for telling a Web browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Mac Safari, Google Chrome, and so on) how text and other objects in a Web document should appear. Whether the text should be small, large, bold, underlined, or right or left justified is largely determined by the HTML embedded in a Web page.

As a consumer of Web pages, you rarely experience HTML directly; it's hidden from the end user by the browser. However, as a creator of content, you need to be intimately familiar with HTML and its uses, which is why we are starting from scratch and covering some basics first. Don't worry, the good stuff is right around the corner and we will get started creating actual content soon enough.

Understanding Hypertext

By its very nature, the Web and its content overcome many of the limitations of standard, linear text. This concept is best illustrated by a comparison of a book (in particular, a reference book) to the Web. For example, consider a cross-reference in a book. Accessing the cross-reference requires you to look up the page number, textual reference, or other object being referred to. On the Web, the reference is (usually) a single mouse click away.

Also, documents on the Web can be designed to vary depending on the user accessing them. Books, conversely, remain static objects no matter who is reading them.

The word “Hypertext” was created along with other Internet terms and technologies during the evolution of the Web. It was coined to describe documents that could change, redirect, and otherwise overcome the linearity of normal text. In short, “Hypertext” describes text on the World Wide Web.

Understanding Markup Instructions

Markup languages are not a difficult concept to grasp; most of you have “marked something up” at one point or another. F...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• About the Author
• Credits
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I: Creating Content with HTML
• Part II: HTML Tools and Variants
• Part III: Controlling Presentation with CSS
• Part IV: Additional CSS Tools
• Appendix A: XHTML Element Quick Reference
• Appendix B: HTML Special Characters Quick Reference
• Appendix C: CSS 2.1 Properties Quick Reference
• Appendix D: CSS 2.1 Selectors Quick Reference
• Appendix E: Pseudo-Elements and Pseudo-Classes Quick Reference
• Index
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