In the beginning, the Web was simple. When I first encountered it in early 1993 (working for O’Reilly’s Global Network Navigator, since sold to and put to rest by America Online), there was only one browser for viewing web pages and it ran exclusively on the Unix platform. There were about a dozen tags that made any difference. Designing a web page was a relatively simple task.
It isn’t so easy anymore. With the explosion of the Web came an avalanche of new technologies, proprietary tags, and acronyms. Even for someone who is immersed in the terminology and environment on a professional basis, it can be truly overwhelming. You just can’t keep all this stuff in your head anymore.
Since leaving O’Reilly’s Cambridge, Mass., offices for a
freelance career, I never feel more alone than when I get
stuck—whether it’s because I don’t know if
it’s a good idea to use style sheets for the project I’m
designing, or I just can’t remember what tag to put that
MARGINWIDTH attribute in. And I’m not
ashamed to admit that I’ve been reduced to tears after hours of
battling a table that mysteriously refused to behave, despite my
meticulous and earnest efforts.
It’s at times like these that I wish I could walk down the hall and ask Norm Walsh what the heck is wrong with my table. In his absence, I do the best I can with the volumes of web design information available online (on the Internet, no one knows you have red, puffy eyes). Unfortunately, finding the answer to a specific question is a time-consuming and sometimes equally frustrating process in itself. Deadlines often can’t accommodate a two-hour scavenger hunt.
I’ve often wished there was one place to go to find quick answers to my questions. That’s why I wrote this book. It has the useful parts without a lot of fluff, organized so that information can be found quickly. It is based on the wish-lists—and, indeed, the contributions—of both professional and hobbyist web designers.
This book focuses on the front-end aspects of Web design—HTML authoring, graphics production, and media development. It is not a resource for programming, scripting, or server functions; however, whenever possible, I have tried to provide enough background information on these topics to give designers a level of familiarity with the terminology and technologies. The content in this book is appropriate for all levels of expertise—from professionals who need to look up a particular detail, to beginners who may require full explanations of new concepts and individual tags.
The book is divided into six parts, each covering a general subject area.
Part I introduces some broad concepts about the way the Web works, which should orient designers to the peculiarities of the medium. It ends with an introduction to the server and basic Unix concepts.
Chapter 1, looks at how differing browser capabilities affect design decisions.
Chapter 2, discusses varying monitor resolutions and accessibility issues and their effects on the design process.
Chapter 3, introduces how the Web deals with color, graphics, and fonts. This is particularly useful for those accustomed to print; however, it is also essential background information for any new web designer.
Chapter 4, provides a primer on basic server functions, Unix commands, uploading files, and file types.
This part focuses on HTML tags and their use. Most chapters begin with a listing of available tags with short descriptions (for easy access), followed by more detailed explanations and practical advice for their use.
Chapter 5, gives a detailed introduction to HTML syntax, including how to specify color and special characters.
Chapter 6, lists the tags used to establish an HTML document and structure its contents, including settings that control or pertain to the whole document.
Chapter 7, lists all tags related to the formatting of text elements in an HTML document.
Chapter 8, lists HTML tags related to linking one document to another, including imagemaps.
Chapter 9, focuses on the tags used for placing objects such as images, rules, or multimedia objects on a web page.
Chapter 10, provides everything you’d ever want to know about tables, including a list of table-related HTML tags, troubleshooting tips, and templates for popular table structures.
Chapter 11, covers the structure and creation of framed documents, including explanations of frame-related HTML tags, as well as tips and tricks.
Chapter 12, lists all tags related to form creation and provides an introduction to working with CGI scripts.
Chapter 13, provides an overview of Server Side Includes, including their capabilities and listings of the available elements and variables.
The chapters in this part provide background information on web graphics file formats as well as overviews of available tools and practical tips for graphic production and optimization.
Chapter 14, describes the popular GIF format and provides tricks for working with transparency and minimizing file sizes.
Chapter 15, describes the JPEG format and provides tips on minimizing file sizes.
Chapter 16, introduces this new and powerful graphic file format, discussing its strengths and limitations.
Chapter 17, discusses the tools and techniques used in creating graphics with colors from the Web Palette.
The chapters in this part focus on the animation, audio, and interactive capabilities of the Web.
Chapter 18, looks at the creation and optimization of animated GIFs.
Chapter 19, provides an overview of nonstreaming and streaming audio file formats for web delivery.
Chapter 20, provides an overview of nonstreaming and streaming video file formats.
Chapter 21, looks at Macromedia’s Flash and Director Shockwave formats as well as Java applets and interactive buttons created with JavaScript.
Chapter 22, provides a general introduction to JavaScript as well as a number of templates for creating popular effects such as pop-up windows, browser-detection, and status-bar messages.
This part introduces exciting new technologies that are destined to have an impact on the Web’s future but are currently in varying stages of development and are not well supported by current browsers.
Chapter 23, describes how to use Cascading Style Sheets to control presentation of HTML documents, including detailed explanations of available selectors, properties, and values. It also introduces CSS Level 2 features and provides tips for style sheet use.
Chapter 24, provides a basic overview of Dynamic HTML and related concepts.
Chapter 25, briefly introduces XML (eXtended Markup Language) and explains why it is significant. This chapter also includes a description of XML-based applications for multimedia and vector graphics.
Chapter 26, introduces two competing technologies, TrueDoc and OpenType, for embedding fonts in web pages.
Chapter 27, looks at measures being taken by the World Wide Web Consortium to make the Web multilingual.
This section provides lots of useful look-up tables for HTML tags and CSS elements.
Appendix A, lists all HTML tags as listed in the HTML 4.0 Specification of April 1998. This list also serves as an index to finding full tag explanations throughout the book.
Appendix B, lists all attributes and their respective tags and values.
Appendix C, lists all tags that have been “deprecated” (discouraged from use) by the HTML 4.0 Specification.
Appendix D, lists tags that work only with Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer.
Appendix E, lists all CSS properties and the browsers that support them, including a handy “safe list.”
The Glossary defines many of the terms used in the book.
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