Bonus Chapter

Ten Tip-Top Online HTML

References
In This Chapter
Ferreting out favorite HTML resource sites
Getting the specs for HTML, XHTML, and CSS
Discovering HTML and XHTML DTD types
Pointing out XHTML and HTML character codes
W
hen the time comes to dig more deeply into markup details, youll
want to know where to turn for information and answers. In this
bonus chapter, we provide our ten very favorite HTML, XHTML, and CSS
online resources.
But listing only ten HTML resources didnt cover all the great stuff we wanted
to share, so we added more resources for the master documents that specify
HTML, XHTML, and CSS down to the last jot and tittle (no relation, sorry)
namely the W3C Recommendations that govern their contents and structure.
We also provide information about the Document Type Definitions (DTDs), to
which such recommendations correspond, and we provide pointers to infor-
mation about using character codes as character entities.
Ten Magnificent HTML Resource Sites
Though theres no shortage of good HTML resources online, some are simply
so superlative that we have to call your attention to them. Our personal Top
Ten in no particular order:
The World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org) is not just the fountain
from whence HTML, XML, XHTML, CSS, and a whole lot more springs, its
also a great source of information, tutorials, and tools. Spend some time
rooting around the W3C site, and you wont be disappointed.
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The Web Design Group (www.htmlhelp.com) has the motto Making
the Web accessible to all, but theyve also got great references and
tools, as well as help forums, FAQs galore, and some great design guides
and color code info.
W3 Schools (www.w3schools.com) uses the best things in life are
free as its tag line, and its got lots of free and useful stuff to prove
that point including HTML and XML tutorials that cover the basics
of markup, plus CSS, tons of XML applications, numerous scripting lan-
guages for client- and server-side scripts, and a whole lot more.
Webmonkey (www.webmonkey.com) was, once upon a time, part of
Wired magazine. Its always been a great resource for Web developers,
but now its on its own. Dig into this site for an extensive how-to library
that covers lots of interesting topics in (for openers) Web authoring,
design, multimedia, and e-business, as well as quick references for
everything from JavaScript to special characters and color codes.
A List Apart Magazine (www.alistapart.com) bills itself as a Web site
that explores the design, development, and meaning of Web content,
with a special focus on Web standards and best practices. Lots of full-
time, professional developers, designers, architects, and project manag-
ers are active on this site. A List Apart also has lots of great content (and
ideas for aspiring Web designers and developers) to share.
WebDesignerDepot (www.webdesignerdepot.com) is a Web design
site that seeks out and describes new and different graphic design tech-
niques. Additionally, it provides great examples and best practices for
Web and graphics design. The principals blog and opine regularly on the
state of design art and artifice, but they also have an active and vocal
user community of other designers who chime in on coding, typography,
page design, Photoshop, and lots, lots more.
Smashing Magazine (www.smashingmagazine.com) aims its cover-
age squarely at Web designers and developers. It seeks to keep them
abreast of the latest trends, tools, and techniques related to their design
and development interests. Articles are interesting, innovative, and
downright spunky. Run by the German company Smashing Media GmbH,
Smashing Magazine is definitely worth an extended visit.
The Web Developers Virtual Library (http://wdvl.com) is a treasure
trove of information, tutorials, and tools coverage, with Web design and
programming techniques out the ying-yang. This is a site to spend some
serious time on in fact, you may find yourself spending more time
there than is good for you. Attack it with a specific agenda (unless you
have more time than you know what to do with).
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Noupe (www.noupe.com) is a Web-based magazine that targets Web
designers and developers with the latest info, design approaches, and
tips for HTML, CSS, AJAX, JavaScript, graphics, typography, and so
forth. Its a real multicultural extravaganza, overseen by a crew from all
over Europe, and run by the German company Smashing Media GmbH.
Be sure to spend some time at the site to savor its many viewpoints and
savvy advice.
CSS-Tricks (http://css-tricks.com) is curated by ber Web (and
CSS) geek Chris Coyier. Look to this site for an outstanding collection
of articles, how-tos, tutorials, and screen casts, and for an active set
of forums on CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and content management systems
(CMS). You can also find tips and tricks and a peachy-keen Web design
gallery with feedback.
Of course, now that weve given you ten of these top sites, we feel weve only
managed to get you started. To that end, we include several more online
resources to help you in your HTML, XHTML, and CSS endeavors. As you
create your own set of favorites and find the tools you like best, youll also
establish your own set of favorite references as well. Enjoy!
Nothing but the Specs, Please!
The formal documents that describe HTML and XHTML are on the W3Cs
Web site at www.w3.org. Markup languages usually include version numbers
to identify them specifically and uniquely. The current version of HTML is
4.01. It dates all the way back to December 1997; you can find the document
at www.w3.org/TR/html4.
XHTML has gone through two major drafts, 1.0 and 1.1, since it first appeared
in 2000. The 1.1 version is more advanced than 1.0, but most Web content
developers (and, for that matter, software tools) still follow the 1.0 specifi-
cation anyway. An XHTML 2.0 specification is in Public Working Draft status
(meaning its authors havent finalized its content and structure).
The Cascading Style Sheets markup language also falls under the W3Cs con-
trol. You can find a wealth of information on this subject at its Cascading
Style Sheets home page at www.w3.org/Style/CSS. As with XHTML, CSS
comes in three versions, called levels 1, 2, and 3; again, as with XHTML, the
third version remains a work in progress.
When a W3C specification is finished, its known as a W3C Recommendation.
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You can find specifications for all three versions of both XHTML and CSS at
the following sites:
XHTML 1.0 Recommendation (Second Edition, 8/1/2002) at www.
w3.org/TR/xhtml1
XHTML 1.1 Module-based XHTML Recommendation (5/31/2001) at www.
w3.org/TR/xhtml11
XHTML 2.0 Working Draft (7/26/2006) at www.w3.org/TR/xhtml2
CSS level 1 (1/11/1999) at www.w3.org/TR/CSS1
CSS level 2 revision 1 (also known as CSS 2.1, 7/19/2007) at www.
w3.org/TR/CSS21
CSS level 3 (varies): Look for Level 3 entries on the CSS Current Work
page at www.w3.org/Style/CSS/current-work
The HTML and XHTML DTDs
The HTML and XHTML specifications use Document Type Definitions (DTDs)
written in the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) the grand-
daddy of all markup languages to define the details.
In its earlier versions, HTML used elements for formatting; over time, devel-
opers realized that formatting needed its own language (known as Cascading
Style Sheets, or CSS), and that HTML elements should describe only a pages
structure, not its appearance or display characteristics.
This resulted in three flavors of HTML, which also apply to XHTML as well.
This explains why each of the following list items employs the (X)HTML
designation:
(X)HTML Transitional: Uses HTMLs elements to describe font faces and
page colors. XHTML Transitional accounts for formatting elements in
older versions of HTML. Formatting elements in XHTML Transitional are
deprecated (considered obsolete) because the W3C would like develop-
ers to move away from them and to a combination of XHTML Strict and
CSS. We use the XHTML Transitional DTD for the markup in this book.
(X)HTML Strict: Doesnt include any elements that describe formatting.
This version is designed to let CSS drive the page formatting. The CSS-
with-XHTML Strict approach is an ambitious way to build Web pages,
but in practice it has its pros and cons. CSS provides more control over
your page formatting, but creating style sheets that work well in all
browsers can be tricky.
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(X)HTML Frameset: Includes frames markup that allows you to dis-
play more than one Web page or resource at a time in the same browser
window. Frames are still used in some Web sites but are much less pop-
ular today than they were in the late 1990s. Our advice is to steer clear
of frames altogether.
All Web browsers support all elements in HTML Transitional (and in XHTML
1.0 Transitional, if proper tag formatting is used); you can choose to use ele-
ments from it or stick with (X)HTML Strict instead. If you use frames, then
technically you have to work with (X)HTML Frameset, but all elements still
work the same way. This book covers all XHTML and HTML tags in all ver-
sions (lumping them into one category called (X)HTML) because all real-
world Web browsers support all three flavors.
Any properly constructed HTML or XHTML document must reference a DTD
in its first line of text. Simply put, that means youll use one of the entries
from the Markup column in Table BC-1 to start any of your coding efforts!
Table BC-1 Where the HTML and XHTML DTDs Are
Type Name Markup
HTML Transitional <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC -//W3C//
DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN
http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.
dtd>
HTML Strict <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC -//W3C//DTD
HTML 4.01//EN http://www.w3.org/
TR/html4/strict.dtd>
HTML Frameset <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC -//W3C//DTD
HTML 4.01 Frameset//EN http://
www.w3.org/TR/html4/frameset.dtd>
XHTML Transitional <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC -//W3C//
DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN
http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/
xhtml1-transitional.dtd>
XHTML Strict <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC -//W3C//DTD
XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN http://www.
w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.
dtd>
XHTML Frameset <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC -//W3C//DTD
XHTML 1.0 Frameset//EN http://
www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-
frameset.dtd>
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Character Codes Come in Many Flavors
When it comes to reproducing odd or unusual characters in HTML or XHTML
documents, a strange coding technique is used to represent such so-called
character entities. These generally take the form &amp; (for ampersand,
for instance) where the ampersand symbol (&) indicates that the character
entity is starting and everything from there up to the semicolon (;) is a sym-
bolic or numeric character code. It just so happens that &amp; and &38;
both reference the same thing: the character code that represents an amper-
sand character on your computer display.
The following list includes pointers to a whole slew of different character
codes you can use, without reservations, in XHTML documents, but you must
use them carefully in HTML documents. (XML is a lot smarter about Unicode
characters, which include nearly every printable glyph known to man.) For
HTML, the ISO-Latin-1 character set (and its regionalized variants) is safe,
but you should experiment carefully to see what you can and cant use from
Unicode in your HTML documents by testing with lots of different Web
browsers to see what works and what doesnt.
Unicode Code Charts: www.unicode.org/charts
ISO-Latin-1 character set: www.htmlhelp.com/reference/charset
Greek characters: www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0370.pdf
Currency symbols: www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U20A0.pdf
Miscellaneous symbols: www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2600.pdf
Arrow characters: www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U27F0.pdf and
www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2900.pdf
Mathematical characters: Search math at www.unicode.org/charts
(there are six different, relevant code charts)
Download http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1D400.pdf to keep
a complete compendium of this information at your fingertips.
General punctuation: www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2000.pdf
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