Introducing XHTML: Module A: Web Design Basics
Goals Understand hyperlinking Understand how tags are formed Understand HTML as a markup language Understand the role of the W3C
The World Wide Web Accessing cross-referenced documents, known as hypertext linking, is probably the most important aspect of the Web because it allows you to quickly open other Web pages
The World Wide Web A hypertext link, or hyperlink, contains a reference to a specific Web page that you can click to quickly open that Web page
The World Wide Web A document on the Web is called a Web page, identified by a unique address called the Uniform Resource Locator, or URL URL commonly referred to as a Web address
The World Wide Web A URL is a type of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), which is a generic term for many types of names and addresses on the World Wide Web
The World Wide Web A Web site refers to the location on the Internet of the Web pages and related files (such as graphic files) that belong to a company, organization, or individual
HTML Documents Originally, people created Web pages using Hypertext Markup Language Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is a simple language used to create the Web pages that appear on the World Wide Web
HTML Documents A markup language is a set of characters or symbols that define a document’s logical structure or how a document should be printed or displayed
HTML Documents HTML is based on an older language called Standard Generalized Markup Language, or SGML, which defines the data in a document independently of how the data will be displayed
HTML Documents A target output format refers to the medium in which a document will be displayed, such as a Web page or an online help system
Basic HTML Syntax HTML documents are text documents that contain: formatting instructions, called tags the text that is to be displayed on a Web page
Basic HTML Syntax HTML tags range from formatting commands to controls that allow user input Tags are enclosed in brackets (< >), and most consist of a starting tag and an ending tag that surround the text or other items they are formatting or controlling
Common Structure and Formatting HTML Tags
Basic HTML Syntax All HTML documents begin with <html> and end with </html> Two other important HTML tags are the <head> tag and the <body> tag
Basic HTML Syntax The <head> tag contains information that is used by the Web browser, and you place it at the start of an HTML document, after the opening <html> tag
Basic HTML Syntax The <head> tag pair and the tags it contains are referred to as the document head Following the document head is the <body> tag, which contains the document body
Basic HTML Syntax The <body> tag pair and the text and tags it contains are referred to as the document body A Web browser’s process of assembling and formatting an HTML document is called parsing or rendering
Basic HTML Syntax You use various parameters, called attributes, to configure many HTML tags You place an attribute before the closing bracket of the starting tag, and separate it from the tag name or other attributes with a space
Basic HTML Syntax
Web Page Design and Authoring Web page design, or Web design, refers to the visual design and creation of the documents that appear on the World Wide Web
Web Page Design and Authoring Web page authoring refers to the creation and assembly of the tags, attributes, and data that make up a Web page
Web Page Design and Authoring This is a subtle, but important distinction: A book on Web design teaches the visual and graphical design aspects of creating Web pages A book on XHTML teaches the more basic concepts that you need to get started, such as how to work with tags and attributes
The W3C Web page authors began to find it necessary to write slightly different HTML code for each Web browser in which they anticipated their Web page would be opened
The W3C To address the growing need for standards, Tim Berners-Lee established the World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, in 1994 at MIT to oversee the development of Web technology standards
The W3C The W3C does not release a version of a particular technology. Instead, it issues a formal recommendation for a technology, which essentially means that the technology is (or will be) a recognized industry standard
Web Browsers At the time of this writing, Internet Explorer browsers are being used by more than 85% of the market. Netscape Navigator also makes up a large part of the browser market.
Web Browsers Three additional browsers that are worth noting are: Amaya (http://w3.org/amaya) Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org) Opera (http://www.opera.com)
Web Browsers You must test your Web pages in every browser and browser version in which you anticipate they will be opened.