Mantex

Tutorials, Study Guides & More

>> Home / Technology / HTML-XML-CSS

HTML-XML-CSS

HTML, XML, and CSS

HTML, XML, and CSS

HTML with CSS and XHTML

by

web design using style sheets and the latest standards

This is an unusual guide to HTML and web design, because it teaches via chat and fun, not boring routines. It’s aimed at beginners who want to get web pages up on to a site, but who don’t want to be bored rigid with long lists of ‘elements’, ‘attributes’, and ‘selectors’. The authors use instead just about every printable device for getting their lessons across: explanations, diagrams, screenshots, cartoons, bulleted lists, quizzes, dialogues, crosswords, tests, and downloadable templates. They also teach predominantly via pictures, which is one reason the book is so long (658 pages). The other reason is that it’s so comprehensive.

HTML CSS XHTMLThey cover basic HTML, then XHTML, interactivity, and style sheets. In fact they take the unusual step of introducing style sheets right at the start. This approach of multiple instruction produces quite a lot of repetition and redundancy – but I’ve no quibble with that. It’s based on the sound pedagogic principle the when you are learning, several approaches are better than one.

Geared towards both Mac and Windows users, they show you how to design pages, how to insert graphics, how to validate your pages to check for problems and make the pages compliant with W3C standards.

I still find the language of stylesheets over-abstract and hard to grasp, but they explain it all very carefully, and most importantly they show you both what to type into your text editor and how it will look in a browser.

There are a couple of easier chapters on styling with fonts and colours, then it’s back to the harder stuff with CSS elements and the box mode – which is similar to HTML tables. Here there are some very useful detail on how browsers deal with the information coded into your pages, some of which explains why you can’t always get things to appear on screen how you want them to look.

They end with chapters on tables and forms – still urging readers not to fall back on old HTML 4.0 tricks for layout and appearance, but to stick with style sheets all the way.

So – truth be told, it’s a book which starts off quite easily, but then gradually becomes more advanced. But if you do all the exercises and tests along the way, this gradual acceleration should be hardly noticeable.

© Roy Johnson 2005

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Elisabeth Freeman and Eric Freeman, Head First: HTML with CSS and XHTML, Sebastopol: CA, 2005, pp.658, ISBN 059610197X

More on technology
More on digital media
More on web design
More on computers

HTML: The Definitive Guide

by

the encyclopaedia of HTML coding and web design

Most people in the academic and business world are still using HTML Standard 2.0 browsers – partly because of corporate lethargy and partly because upgrading is so costly and disruptive in big organisations. At least these people have had the good fortune to miss out the Standard 3.0 phase, which was something of a dog’s breakfast. Designers however (the people who actually create the Web pages for our consumption) are always keen to make the screen more attractive and escape the confine of earlier standards. In fact they have a doubly difficult job. They might wish to adopt the latest features, but if their sites are to be viewable by people still lumbered with older browsers, they are also under constraint to make their pages ‘backwardly compatible’. This is no easy task.

HTML: The Definitive Guide The first edition of Musciano and Kennedy’s book on HTML was rather boldly entitled The Definitive Guide. However, many of the predictions they made then have been substantiated by subsequent meetings of the W3C committee, which decides on these standards. [It’s recently been rumoured that both Microsoft and Netscape try to pack this committee with their appointees.]

The third edition of their reference manual offers an update which includes the latest additions to Standard 4.0 of the official HTML code. They claim that this is a ‘clearer and cleaner standard’ than any previous, but they also admit that Netscape and Microsoft incorporate features not included in the present standard. Fortunately, they take a realistic view of this browser war and make clear which standards are adopted (or not) by the Big Two. So what’s really new here?

The answer is ‘Quite a lot’. The Forms, Tables, and Frames chapters have all become bigger, and JavaScript and DHTML make an appearance. They also cover Layers, Multiple Columns, and creating white space. The big new item of course is a whole chapter on Cascading Style Sheets – a development which has come about precisely because of the shortcomings in standards 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 – and they recognise in this respect that print publications just can’t keep up with Web developments (which is a brave and honest admission for authors of computer manuals). A section on image formats (.gif and .jpg) is also new – but beware! there are Netscapisms at every turn.

I still find it difficult to remember what is an attribute, a physical style, and why some tags are ‘deprecated’. They even include some which are now obsolete (for historical reasons) which just goes to illustrate their thoroughness. However, you still have to be prepared for a rather abstract manner of expression:

like most other tagged segments of content, user-related events can happen in and around the BLOCK QUOTE tag

But having used the first edition regularly over the last year or two, I can confirm that their manner of writing is amply compensated by the reliability of the advice they offer.

Obviously you should buy this latest edition, but it’s reassuring to know that Musciano and Kennedy continue to offer a guide which stays within the limits of the latest HTML standard, whilst recognising that you will want to go beyond it. In this regard the publisher generously offers an online update.

The usual high quality O’Reilly production values obtain: good quality paper, clear print, consistent layout, and their elegant house font of ITC Garamond. Multiple indexes include HTML grammar, quick tag reference, CSS quick reference, the HTML 4.0 document type definition, character entities, and colour names and values. To a newcomer these might seem like boring technical catalogues – until you see the horror of your Web pages in a browser you don’t normally use. Then you’ll be glad of the reassurance of safe colours and the correct ASCII number for that ampersand or angled bracket.

© Roy Johnson 2006

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Chuck Musciano & Bill Kennedy, HTML: The Definitive Guide (sixth edition) Sebastopol: O’Reilly, 2006, pp.678, ISBN 0596527322

More on technology
More on digital media
More on web design
More on computers

Learn HTML in a Weekend

by

step-by-step tutorials in HTML page design

Can you really learn HTML in a weekend? Well, Steve Callihan doesn’t make any rash claims. He only sets out in this beginner’s guide to cover the basics – leaving you to fill in the finer details with later practice. The book is written with the assumption that you have a relatively free weekend. You do some preliminary reading on Friday evening with some basics about hypertext and the basics of a web site. Saturday morning is devoted to the elements of HTML tags, how to create headings, paragraphs, and breaks. It’s organised to teach you what each code does and to give you an overview of HTML.

Learn HTMLSaturday afternoon is described as optional. It deals with some of the refinements of aligning text on the page, wrapping text round images, and dealing with font sizes, colours, and faces. If you have the stamina to keep going, Saturday evening is a ‘bonus’ session covering tables. Don’t take this timetable too seriously. Anyone who can master tables in one evening should apply immediately to the Nobel Prize Foundation.

Sunday morning is devoted to frames – perhaps a section which beginners can skip, because frames are no longer even thought to be a good idea by most web design theorists. The afternoon session on forms is likely to be far more useful, and the evening ‘bonus’ session on graphics will be even more popular. I followed this in detail, since I’ve never been strong on graphics, and it proved to be a straightforward tour through making 3D buttons with Paint Shop Pro.

The book is well illustrated, and there’s a CD with the usual array of free and shareware editors and browsers, so you have all that’s required here to make a start. It truly could be done in a weekend – but why not take a little more time and get it right.

© Roy Johnson 2000

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Steve Callihan, Learn HTML in a Weekend, Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing, 1999, pp.425, ISBN 0761518002

More on technology
More on digital media
More on web design
More on computers

Learning XML

by

overview of XML concepts and applications

Learning XML is for anyone who wants to understand what XML is and how to use it. Erik Ray shows how to employ the appropriate structure and format to demystify the process of creating XML documents. XML is relatively simple (but very rigorous) set of tags which describe the content of documents. The problem is that you still need to learn Cascading Style Sheets in order to control the appearance of text on the page. Ray covers all that, as well as the other important technologies – such as the Document Type Definition. He also shows how style sheets can be used to format documents – though in a rather abstract manner.

Learning XMLOne or two illustrations would have been useful here. He also explains the principles of Transformation, using XSLT, which allow you to convert an XML document from one form into another. He explains very persuasively why XML is superior to HTML for preparing documents for multi-purpose use. There is also an introduction to the use of XLink and XPointer, which can create bi-directional links between data. These are extremely powerful technologies which will make the next steps in XML programming an exciting prospect for those who want to pass beyond the frustrating limitations of HTML.

This is a book which is suitable for readers who already know some HTML, but who want to know what is coming next. And it’s an overview: the finer details of XML language will have to be acquired elsewhere. It is written in a persuasive and authoritative manner. This is somebody who knows what is going on in the latest phase of Web development.

© Roy Johnson 2003

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Erik T. Ray, Learning XML, Sebastopol (CA): O’Reilly, 2nd edition 2003, pp.432, ISBN: 0596004206

More on technology
More on digital media
More on web design
More on computers

XHTML 1.0

by

Guidance manual for moving from HTML to XHTML

It’s the sub-title of this book which is most significant. ‘The Next Generation of HTML’ signals its overall purpose – to explain how you can make the transition from HTML to XHTML. Why is this important? Because HTML has been superseded as the language of web design by XML – and XHTML is a version of it which will help you to move from one to the other. Ian Graham starts by explaining the difference between HTML and XHTML as markup languages, then describes basic document structure. This might seem tedious at first, but these issues are becoming increasingly important.

XHTML 1.0Document definitions are crucial once the X element [extensibility] is introduced into HTML. The new markup language opens up lots of new possibilities – particularly if you want to make your Web pages available on a variety of platforms and devices. After all, you can now write a page once, then adapt it for a variety of purposes by using different style sheets.

He covers all the basics of text presentation, hypertext links, graphics, then the spacing and layout that becomes possible by using style sheets. All the techniques he discusses are illustrated by both screen shots and code – so you can easily try out your own versions of effects – from layering to the tricky issues of styles within tables. He also very usefully provides illustrations of the same page viewed in different browsers.

He deals with the more advanced issues of frames, floating elements, tables, and forms, plus the possibilities of scripting and event handlers in dynamic pages.

The last part of the book contains two comprehensive reference lists – XHTML elements and cascading style sheet specifications, plus a section which explains the important differences for those people who wish to make the transition between HTML and XHTML.

There is even a website version of the book available which he promises to keep up to date – and I particularly liked the fact that he lists the (often free) development tools you will need if you plan to go down the XHTML route.

© Roy Johnson 2003

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Ian S. Graham, XHTML 1.0 – Language and Design Sourcebook: The Next Generation HTML, London/New York John Wiley, 2000, pp.692, ISBN 0471374857

More on technology
More on digital media
More on web design
More on computers

XHTML Example by Example

by

convert from HTML to XHTML in easy stages

This book demonstrates how XHTML bridges the gap between yesterday’s HTML-based Web pages and tomorrow’s more sophisticated XML-based applications. The authors (including W3C guru Dave Raggett) start with a brief account of why XHTML has come to replace HTML. They include detailed coverage of the latest style sheets plus forms and scripts to create pages with ‘smart’ capabilities. One useful feature of the book is that there’s a summary list of relevant URLs at the end of each chapter – as well as an immensely heartening selection of free and shareware development tools listed amongst the appendices.

XHTML Example by ExampleThese include Raggett’s own program ‘HTML Tidy’, which will automatically convert HTML to XHTML. All stages of coding are spelt out and explained in almost relentless detail. You will be in no doubt where you’re up to with XHTML after reading this book. It’s suitable for experienced HTML coders and new Web developers alike into the state-of-the-art XHTML world

As the title implies, the information is presented through examples. The code in question is highlighted in blue for quick comprehension. Unlike some tutorials, however, the code examples are accompanied by plenty of explanation for a well-rounded learning experience.

As the book progresses gradually into the more sophisticated elements of XHTML, it explains the differences between HTML and XHTML and defines key terminology.

You’ll get a feel for rich media formats like MPEG-4, SMIL and SVG, plus some pointers to valuable tools for authoring this advanced content.

An appendix includes detailed information on XHTML development tools such as tag editors, validators and converters to get your code from HTML to XHTML.

XHTML has the accessibility of HTML and the power of XML. This title provides an example-based introduction to the XHTML language. It contains practical techniques and tips for the developer to get started.

© Roy Johnson 2002

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Aaron E. Walsh and Dave Raggett, XHTML Example by Example, Upper Saddle River NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002, pp.745, ISBN: 013040005X

More on technology
More on digital media
More on web design
More on computers

XML Hacks

by

one hundred industrial-strength tips and tools

XML is everywhere today – from web pages to mobile phone messages and automatic feeds from blog sites. On the surface it’s simplicity itself: just put everything between tags. But as Michael Fitzgerald admits here in this excellent new guide XML Hacks, once you get below that surface it’s complex stuff. Fortunately, his approach simplifies matters by splitting up his explanations of how to get the best from XML into easily digestible chunks.

XML Hacks Each explication or hack covers a single topic, and each one is followed by suggestions for further reading, free downloadable resources, and web links to either specifications or other tutorials on the topic. And all the working examples he discusses can be downloaded free from the book’s own web site – which is a very good idea.

He starts off by explaining the basic structure of an XML document and how its content can be displayed in a browser using style sheets. There’s also a brief discussion of the free tools available for XML editing, and where to find validators to check your results. I liked the fact that the outcome for each new line of coding is shown in a screenshot, so you can see what you are doing at each stage.

It’s assumed that you may wish to convert existing data into XML format, so there’s plenty of advice on using a whole range of conversion tools, and even the latest version of Microsoft Word.

Every now and then you’ve got to be prepared for some of the abstract language in which these explanations are often expressed

XML has a concept of a document entity, which is a starting point for an XML processor. A document entity, from one standpoint, may exist in a file with an associated name. However, from the standpoint of the XML spec, a document entity does not have a name and might be an input stream that has no means of identification at all.

Fortunately, each separate topic is given a difficult rating – beginners, intermediate, or expert – so you can pick your way through at whatever level suits you best.

He includes discussion of new features in the XML spec which were still being ratified by the W3C consortium whilst the book was being written. You couldn’t get much more up to date than this.

As the book progresses he gets into the more advanced features of XPointer and XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language). These made my brain hurt, but are obviously useful for transforming documents from one form into another.

The examples range from generating PDFs and spreadsheets from XML documents, to grabbing data out of your iTunes Library files, and even generating scalable vector graphics (SVGs).

After XML Schemas, Relax NG, DTDs, Trang.jar, and XForms, it was something of a relief to reach a practical application I could understand – syndicating the content of blogs and web sites using RSS (really Simple Syndication). This describes the available software for receiving news feeds and for creating documents which can be sent for syndication. There’s also a nifty freeware program for adding other people’s syndicated news to your own site.

He ends with some advanced hacks featuring programs such as Cocoon, Ant, Wikis, SAX, and Genx. The mind boggles. Well, mine does anyway.

As you can probably tell, there is something here for everybody – from beginners (where I felt reasonably comfortable) to intermediate (something of an aspiration) and advanced (which I imagine will remain terra incognita to me for some time to come).

© Roy Johnson 2004

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Michael Fitzgerald, XML Hacks, Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly, 2004, pp.460, ISBN: 0596007116

More on technology
More on digital media
More on web design
More on computers

XML, HTML, XHTML Magic

by

practical web design tutorials using XHTML

Most books on web design cover coding and leave it to the reader to figure out how to use it in real-life projects. This book uses real practical projects as the context for understanding how to implement XML, HTML, and XHTML coding. It kicks off with a brief survey of where HTML and XML are up to at the moment. This includes the need for cascading style sheets. There then follows a series of applied case studies. Each chapter deals with a separate ‘project’ – a series of web sites with different purposes. These range from personal sites and blogs to weekly news sites, community sites with feedback, and even information sites driven from databases.

XML HTML XHTMLThis is what I would call an intermediate level book. It assumes you already know HTML, and is introducing you to the next stage of style sheets and XHTML. It certainly shows you the important coding details. That’s to the book’s credit. The opening example of setting up a daily news site is an excellent tutorial in creating a multi-column table.

The contributors also show how to design pages which combine XHTML and Javascripts, how to control text within table cells, and how to produce printer-friendly versions of pages. They also show how to combine static and dynamic elements within the same table – allowing it to flow and expand to fit the screen. Clever stuff.

This book might have been called ‘Designing with Style Sheets’ – because that’s where most of its emphasis lies. In fact there is very little on XML. But then XML is the easy part: it’s controlling the appearance of what appears on screen that’s difficult.

This book will appeal to people who are comfortable with HTML basics, but who want to go further and explore what XHTML has to offer. The structure of offering eleven tutorials gives you the opportunity to either select one similar to your own web project, or to work your way through from beginning to end.

© Roy Johnson 2002

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Molly E. Holzschlag (ed), XML, HTML, XHTML Magic, Indianapolis (IN): New Riders, 2001, pp.223,ISBN 0735711399

More on technology
More on digital media
More on web design
More on computers

Get in touch

info@mantex.co.uk

Content © Mantex 2016