Web Design in a Nutshell

Acknowledgments

A small army of people were instrumental in the writing of this book. First, I’d like to thank my editor, Richard Koman, for his support, vision, and flexibility. On the flip side, I’d also like to thank him for the long leash, the trust in my vision, and his appropriate inflexibility (the results of which were a better book).

I’d also like to thank Tim O’Reilly for his careful crafting of the “In a Nutshell” series and for giving me the green light on this book.

Thanks also go to Ron Woodall, creator of the HTML Compendium, for his proactive assistance in providing browser support information. I encourage you to check out the Compendium’s site (http://www.htmlcompendium.org) for a complete list of tags, both current and obsolete, with detailed descriptions; listings and detailed descriptions for all known attributes for each tag; browser support information not listed in this book—such as NCSA Mosaic and earlier versions of the HTML standards; and up-to-date listings and browser compatibility information.

Thanks also to Chris Farnham, for writing chapters on DHTML and XML, as well as for his contribution to the SMIL section of the XML chapter.

Much of the wisdom in this book was culled from web design-related mailing lists such as A List Apart (beautifully maintained by Jeffrey Zeldman), the WebDesign list at Hesketh.com, and most notably, Monkey Junkies (WebMonkey.com’s online community). A special “hey” goes out to Taylor.

Also key in the deepening of my understanding of the Web were the works of a number of O’Reilly authors, including: Webmaster in a Nutshell, by Valerie Quercia and Stephen Spainhour; HTML: The Definitive Guide, by Chuck Musciano and Bill Kennedy; Learning the Unix Operating System, by Grace Todino, John Strang, and Jerry Peek; and Designing with JavaScript, by Nick Heinle.

I’d like to thank Jim Cline, Dmitry Kirsanov (http://www.kirsanof.com), Chris Maden, Eric Meyer, Dustin Mollo, Greg Porell, and Greg Roelofs for their time and thoughtful review comments.

Thanks to the following people who provided various forms of assistance, information, and tools I required to get my job done: Paul Anderson (Builder.com); Chuck Duff (Digital Frontiers); Brad Ennis and David Lynch (for font research); Chris Florio (for audio and video assistance); Craig Hockenberry (FurboFilters); Andrew King (Webreference.com); Kevin Lynch (Macromedia); Doug Meisner (Adobe Systems, Inc.); and Lynda Weinman (author of a fine set of books).

Thanks also to Clairemarie Fisher O’Leary for her hard work and willingness to make this book “just right,” as well as the other folks who helped: Mike Sierra, Edie Freedman, Ellie Cutler, Kim Brown, Chris Reilley, Seth Maislin, and Melanie Wang.

Finally, I’d like to thank my Mom, Dad, and brother Liam, for their unending support and the inspiration they each provide. Thanks to Sifl and Olly for keeping me entertained as my deadline approached. And last, but not least, warm thanks go to Jeff for being there when I needed him.