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Web Standards Design Guide
This book is the one resource you'll need for understanding and implementing the vast array of Web standards information. Web Standards Design Guide is really three books in one - a detailed overview of standardization, a reference book for the standards, and a step-by-step, how-to guide for creating standards-compliant Web sites. The book details
the essential Web standards, including XML, CSS, accessibility, xForms, and xLink. It uses practical Web page examples throughout to help explain why you should work within standards, which ones are relevant to specific projects, how to use them, and how to convert existing code. The ultimate goal of the book is to teach you how to write standards-compliant code; however, you'll also learn about workflow and processes that will help ensure your code's compliance and increase efficiency and turnaround time for your projects. Future insights to where the Web is headed are also provided with tips on how designers can prepare for it. Using the skills and wisdom provided throughout the book, youll be well prepared to create high-quality sites that meet today's standards.
CONTENTS:
Preface xv
Part I Introduction to Standards 1
1 Introduction to Standards-based Web Design 3
Introduction 3
What Are Standards? 4
Standards Defined 4
Standards Terminology 7
A Case Study of Standards Past and Present 10
The Benefits of Web Standards 14
The Downside of Web Standards 17
Summary 18
References 19
2 Introduction to Standardization
What Is Standardization? 21
How Are Standards Created? 22
Identifying a Need for a Standard 22
The Proposal Stage 23
The Scope Definition 23
The Preparatory Stage 24
The Committee Stage 24
The Review Stage 24
The Approval Stage 25
The Publication Stage 25
Who Creates Standards? 25
Contents
vii
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) 26
Standard Specifications Produced by the W3C 26
How the W3C Specifications Become Standards 28
The Web Designer's Roles and Responsibilities 30
Know the Current Standards 31
Participate in the Standards Discussion 32
Promote the Use of Standards 36
Promote the Use of Standards-Compliant Browsers 37
Participate in the Creation of Standards 37
How to Determine Which Standards to Follow 38
Summary 40
References 40
Part II The Standards 41
3 The Extensible HyperText Markup Language - XHTML 1.0 43
Introduction 43
What Is XHTML? 44
XHTML 1.0 44
Varieties of XHTML 48
Benefits of XHTML 50
Extensibility 50
Consistency 51
Repurposing Content 51
Modularity 51
Self-Describing Document 52
Accessibility 52
Site Maintenance 52
Forward Compatibility 52
How Does XHTML Work? 53
viii Contents
History of XHTML 56
The HyperText Markup Language Is Developed 57
The HyperText Markup Language Is Standardized 60
The Predecessor to XHTML 1.0: HTML 4.01 61
The Current Status of XHTML 62
Understanding the Different Web Browsers 62
About Web Browsers 63
The Browser Engine 66
Testing Your Web Site on Various Browsers 66
Summary of Current Web Browsers 67
Basic Browser Statistics 74
Other Web Browser Statistics 78
Browser Support for XHTML 1.0 80
Why Web Designers Should Implement This Standard 81
Which Version of XHTML Should Designers Implement? 83
Tutorial 3.1 How to Implement This Standard 83
Stage One: Content Gathering 84
Stage Two: Adding the XHTML Code 89
Search Engine Strategies 94
Conclusion 118
The Future of XHTML 118
Summary 121
References 122
4 Cascading Style Sheets - CSS 2.0 123
Introduction 123
What Is a Cascading Style Sheet? 124
How Do Cascading Style Sheets Work? 127
A Note about Default Styles 127
History of Cascading Style Sheets 128
Separating Style from Structure - The Original Plan 129
The Cascading Style Sheet Language Timeline 131
Contents ix
Browser Support for Cascading Style Sheets 131
Summary of CSS 137
Why Web Designers Should Implement This Standard 138
Benefits of Implementing CSS 138
Which Version of CSS Should Web Designers Implement? 140
How to Implement This Standard 141
The DOCTYPE Switch 141
A DOCTYPE Switch Strategy 153
Tutorial 4.1 Examining a DOCTYPE Switch 154
How to Implement Cascading Style Sheets 167
A CSS Strategy 169
A Note on CSS Strategy 170
Tutorial 4.2 Writing a Cascading Stylesheet 171
The Future of CSS 206
CSS 2 206
CSS 3 206
In the Works 207
5 The Web Accessibility Initiative Guidelines 1.0 209
Introduction 209
Why Web Accessibility Is Important 210
Accessibility and Users with Physical Disabilities 211
Who Are the Users with Disabilities? 213
Web Accessibility Beyond the Disabled 218
What Is Web Accessibility? 220
How Does Web Accessibility Work? 220
History of Web Accessibility 221
The Current Situation 226
Browser Support of Web Accessibility 227
Internet Explorer 6.0 228
Mozilla 1.0 229
x Contents
Netscape 7.2 231
Apple Safari 232
Why Web Designers Should Implement This Standard 232
Reasons to Follow the Web Accessibility Initiative Guidelines 233
How to Implement This Standard 235
An Accessibility Strategy 236
The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative Guidelines 1.0 240
Tutoral 5.1 Examining a Web Page for Accessibility 246
Tutoral 5.2 Testing a Web Page for Accessibility 254
The Future of Web Accessibility 266
6 The Extensible Form Language - XForms 1.0 267
Introduction 267
What Are XForms? 269
Components of an XForm 269
History of XForms 276
HTML Forms 277
How Do XForms Work? 281
Browser Support of XForms 287
Internet Explorer 6.0 287
Mozilla-based Browsers (Mozilla, Firefox, Netscape) 287
Apple Safari Browser 288
Opera Web Browser 288
Why Web Designers Should Implement This Standard 288
How to Implement This Standard 289
Tutorial 6.1 How to Use the Forms Player Plug-in 289
Installation Instructions 289
Declaring a Namespace 291
Tutorial 6.2 How to Use the X-Smiles Web Browser 293
JDK1.1 294
JDK1.2 - 1.4.1 294
Contents xi
JDK 1.4.2 beta-1.5.0beta2 294
Installation Instructions 294
Tutorial 6.3 Installing the XFormation XForms Editor 296
Tutorial 6.4 Creating a Simple XForm (using XFormations) 297
Tutorial 6.5 Creating an XForm Using the X-Smiles Web Browser 320
The Future of XForms 328
7 Extensible Linking Language - XLink 1.0 329
What Is XLink? 329
Understanding XLink 330
How Does XLink Work? 333
History of XLink 334
The Previous Technology 334
Browser Support of XLink 337
Why Web Designers Should Implement This Standard 337
How to Implement This Standard 337
Tutorial 7.1 Creating a Simple XLink 238
Tutorial 7.2 Creating an Extended Link 342
The Future of XLink 348
About the CD-ROM 351
Index 357
xii Contents
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