1. CSIS-390: Web Application Development Important Background about the field of Web Design Dr. Breimer

2. Outline 1.Web Design is a diverse field 2.Standards are important 4 reasons 3.Web Design teach critical concepts Separation of content, structure and style. 4.Internet Explorer isn’t the only browser? Browser History

3. Definition Web design is the design of websites and web applications using HTML, CSS and images.

4. Definition Websites can be very diverse. E-trade  Playhouse Disney Facebook  Protein Databank

5. Web Design Career #1 Visual Designer Uses ▫Adobe PhotoShop, ▫Fireworks, ▫Flash, etc. Expertise in graphic design, layouts, color theory, etc.

6. Web Design Career #2 Interface Designer Expertise in ▫graphical programming, ▫human computer interaction and ▫interfaces Background in behavioral science, ergonomics, etc.

7. Web Design Career #3 Software Developer Most modern software has web-based components. Most new applications are entirely web-based. Programmers need to know HTML, CSS, etc.

8. Web Design Career #4 Database Administrator Almost all Databases interface with web technologies. Large website are entirely database-driven. Database Administrators also need to know HTML, CSS, XML, etc.

9. Web Design Career #5 Web Master/Web Authoring Larger websites require extensive content management. Developing and managing content is a specialty. Writing conventions and styles are different on the web.

10. Web Design Career #6 Marketing & Advertising Online marketing is an entire field. Web technology can help marketers achieve new innovations. Marketers & Advertisers need to know about fundamental web technologies.

11. HTML HyperText Markup Language A simple text document can be “marked-up” with tags to specify how it should be interpreted. Level 1 Header

12. HTML HTML was supposed to be a structural or “semantic” language, ▫But, the Browser Wars led to the introduction of “style” or formatting tags. ▫“style” tags are bad! ▫They have been removed from the HTML standards (called deprecation).

13. CSS Cascading Style Sheets Used to specify the style/appearance of structural elements (HTML tags). CSS was part of the original design of the web, but its use was almost entirely abandoned between 1996 and 2004.

14. Why are “style” tags bad? The best answer is very complicated Short Answer: ▫It is hard to maintain and even harder to change.

15. Semantic vs Style Semantic = Has Meaning Style = Specifies Appearance

16. Semantic vs Style Semantic  Meaning This is a picture of a tiger A caption is meaningful. Images typically have a caption that describes the image. Style   Appearance This is a picture of a tiger Here, we specify how to display the caption but not the fact that it’s actually a caption.

17. Semantics + CSS is better! Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 … Figure 99.caption { font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; }

18. This is why the font tag sucks! (it’s a style tag) Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 … Figure 999 Sub-title Imaging if you wanted to change the font size to 12pt for all image captions? Good luck!

19. History Lesson: The Good Times Standardization was very important in the initial design of HTML (1991-1994) ▫HTML was meant to only structural/semantic ▫The presentation of web pages was left up to the user, via web browser settings. Netscape & Microsoft created “evil” tags ( for example) so that web page designers could control the presentation of their web pages.

20. History Lesson: Browser Wars Netscape & Microsoft added many proprietary enhancements to HTML (1994-1999) ▫Proprietary == Only works for a specific browser ▫Proprietary == Not Open == Not standard Web authors would use HTML tags to control the visual presentation, but pages would look completely different on different browsers. In 1998, the web development community and W3C said “Enough is enough” www.webstandards.org was formedwww.webstandards.org

21. W3C – What is it anyway? The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)World Wide Web Consortium ▫international consortium of web developers ▫sub-organizations, full-time staff, and regular people Work together to develop Web standards Mission: ▫To lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web. www.w3.org

22. Current Web Standards Structural Standards ▫XHTML 1.0 – This is actually HTML 4.01 rewritten according to XML standards. ▫XML – set of rules for creating custom markup languages. Presentation Standards ▫CSS 1 (Since 1996) fully supported by almost all browsers ▫CSS 2 current standard, extends CSS1 ▫CSS 3 the future, extends CSS2

23. Why Standards? Advantages 1.Accessibility 2.Forward Compatibility 3.Simpler and Faster Development 4.Faster Download & Display

24. Why Standards? 1.Accessibility 2.Forward Compatibility 3.Simpler and Faster Development 4.Faster Download & Display Standardized web pages look good on all browsers. And on all different types of devices. ▫Cell phones ▫Handheld computers ▫Screen readers for the visually impaired

25. Why Standards? 1.Accessibility 2.Forward Compatibility 3.Simpler and Faster Development 4.Faster Download & Display Future standards are built on top of current standards Thus, Web pages made today will work in the future Note: Browser Wars created html tags that were not standard These tags won’t display properly in many “standard” browsers. Internet Explorer and Firefox still support these tags, but not for long.

26. Why Standards? 1.Accessibility 2.Forward Compatibility 3.Simpler and Faster Development 4.Faster Download & Display Faster: You don’t have to build separate websites for separate browsers/devices Concurrent Development: Content and style can be developed separately by different teams.

27. Why Standards? 1.Accessibility 2.Forward Compatibility 3.Simpler and Faster Development 4.Faster Download & Display Style/Appearance tags are bloated Rather than load bloated HTML for every page, just load one style sheet for an entire website Example: Sub-title

28. Rendering Engines Browsers actually have different rendering engines for parsing standard and non- standard HTML code. The or tag tells the browser which engine to use.

29. Rendering Engines Standard, validated HTML code can be rendered faster. ▫Rendering engine doesn’t have to handle special cases and errors Most web browsers can display Non-standard HTML, ▫but a more complex rendering engine must be used ▫More complex mean slower rendering.

30. Who cares if the rendering engine is a little slow? True, on modern PCs you won’t notice the difference. However, consider that the device rendering the web page could be a phone with a 133 MHz processor.

31. Standards: Big Motivation Without standards, you would have to test how your website looked on many different browsers. 1.Microsoft IE 60% 2.Mozilla Firefox 23% 3.Apple Safari 11% 4.Google Chrome 4% 5.Netscape < 1% 6.Opera < 1% 7.AOL Explorer 8.Amaya 9.Camino 10.Epiphany 11.Maxthon 12.Shiira 13.HotJava 14.Nintendo DS 15.PlayStation PWB 16.Lynx 17.Voyager 18.Micro Browser 19.Omniweb

32. Standards: Big Motivation Not a problem: 98% of the world uses four browsers. But, more and more people are browsing on different devices Consider cell phones, PDA’s, GPS devices, and even refrigerators… ▫All use different browser variations. W3C wants the web to fully work on any kind of device. ▫Even today, many websites won’t display properly on small devices.

33. Internet-enable devices Portable Media Players ▫To buy music Automobiles ▫To send info to mechanics Refrigerators ▫To buy more groceries What will they think of next?

34. Validate Validate Validate http://validator.w3.org/ It’s a pain but… At least you know that your web page will display properly on about 400 different browser variations.

35. Tim Berners-Lee (TBL) Widely recognized as ▫The inventor of HTML ▫First implementor of hypertext concept ▫Implemented first web browser (text based) and more importantly, first web server (unix daemon). Should be a billionaire but then the WWW wouldn’t be so cool! I love the man! You should love him too.

36. Web Browser History 1991: TBL makes the first web browser in his physics labs. Dr. B gets his braces off and discovers Clearasil. 1993: Mosaic (the first real graphical browser) is built. Free, open source, works for Mac’s, Windows, and UNIX. The birth of free porn. 1994: Netscape forms, they develop a browser and immediately start adding proprietary tags. 1995: Microsoft wakes up, makes a browser, and decides they need to monopolize the browser market

37. Browser History 1996-1999: Browser Wars…different versions of JavaScript, CSS, and HTML emerge. While standards go down the toilet…at least a lot cool sh*t was developed. 1998: Netscape screws Microsoft in a big way by making its code Open Source. Microsoft fights back by integrating its browser into the Windows 98 and 2000. 2000: Microsoft wins! Netscape gets bought by AOL. The.com Bust happens! Dr. B contemplates becoming a pop star but then decides to be a professor.

38. Browser History 2002: Kelly Clarkson (not Dr. B) wins American Idol! 2003: Some programmers who once worked for Netscape form the Mozilla Foundation 2005: Firefox busts out on the scene. First browser to make a serious dent in Microsoft’s monopoly. 2006+: Developers start to make web pages the correct way as TBL envisioned in 1991

39. Summary Originally HTML was meant to be a structural/semantic language The Browser wars lead to the de-standardization of HTML. ▫Proprietary style tags were added. Standardization and semantic HTML has made a comeback ▫Old school web design is back!