About the Book
Teach yourself the core Web
development languages the fast, easy way!
Learn to work with hypertext markup language
(HTML) and extensible markup language (XML) the easy way with HTML AND
XML FOR BEGINNERS! This friendly guide uses a practical, learn-by-doing
approach to take the mystery out of building Web pages and exchanging Web
data. Get your feet wet with HTML tags by creating and publishing your
first Web page, and learn to jazz up your Web pages with eye-catching special
effects, multimedia, styles, interactive dynamic elements, and more. Explore
easy ways to exchange data of all kinds over the Web with XML and other
groundbreaking Web languages. Cut your teeth on creating style sheets for
viewing XML documents in Web browsers. In no time at all, you’ll learn
to code pages that dazzle site visitors. Learn all about these Web-coding
essentials!
• GET STARTED WITH HTML: Dive into page-creation
essentials such as formatting text, dressing up pages with images, and
connecting pages with hyperlinks.
• GO BEYOND THE BASICS: Master more advanced
techniques such as simplifying navigation by creating image maps, organizing
pages with tables, gathering information with forms, integrating multimedia,
using the latest graphical tools, and publishing your pages.
• ADD STYLE TO YOUR PAGES: Discover how
to spice up your pages with styles and style sheets, and learn how to add
life to your pages with dynamic styles.
• ADD INTERACTIVITY TO YOUR PAGES: Find
out how to create special effects such as visual filters, transitions,
event responses, and more with dynamic HTML (DHTML).
• LEVERAGE XML AND OTHER LANGUAGES: See
how to use XML to create custom tags that can describe any kind of Web
information, find out how to create Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)
style sheets, and discover how to use extensible HTML (XHTML).
Related Books
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
xvi
PART 1 GETTING STARTED WITH
HTML
CHAPTER 1 HTML Essentials
2
What
Is HTML? 3
Your Pen Pal, the Web Browser 3
Putting on Your HTML X-Ray Glasses 4
Why Do
I Need to Know HTML? 5
Inside
a Web Page 6
The Brains of a Web Page 8
Jesse "The Body" Ventura and HTML 8
Common
HTML Tags and Attributes 9
Writing
Your First Web Page in HTML 11
Honor Thyself 12
Adding a Splash of Color 12
Tell Me Something About Yourself 13
Listing Your Activities 14
The Finished
Page 15
Publishing
Your First Web Page 16
Conclusion
21
CHAPTER 2 Formatting Text
22
Organizing
Text 23
Text and the Head of a Page 23
A Body Full of Text 24
Basic
Text Formatting: The Look or the Meaning? 26
Content-Based Text Formatting 28
Physical Text Formatting 29
VH-1
and The List 31
Unordered Lists 31
Ordered Lists 32
Definition Lists 34
One Last
Comment 35
Conclusion
36
CHAPTER 3 Dressing Up Pages
with Images 37
The Scoop
on Images 37
Working
with Images 39
Displaying
Inline Images 40
Formatting
Images 41
Tweaking the Size of Images 42
Giving Images Room to Breathe 43
Building Walls Around Images 44
Aligning Images 44
Linking
to External Images 46
Using
Background Images 48
Using
Animated Images 50
Conclusion
50
CHAPTER 4 Connecting Pages
with Hyperlinks 51
What
Is a Hyperlink? 52
Understanding
URLs 53
Host Names and URLs 54
Dissecting a URL 54
URLs and Web Resources 55
Working
with the <a> Tag 56
Linking to Web Pages 57
Linking to Other Resources 57
Practical Linking with the <a> Tag 58
Anchor Hyperlinks 59
Conclusion
62
PART 2 BEYOND THE BASICS
CHAPTER 5 Visual Navigation
with Image Maps 64
Image
Map Basics 64
Two Approaches
to Image Maps 66
Let the Server Do the Work 67
Maybe the Client Needs Some Responsibility 67
Using
Image Map Development Tools 69
Coding
Image Maps by Hand 71
Creating the Map 71
Associating the Map with an Image 74
Constructing
a Practical Image Map 74
Conclusion
77
CHAPTER 6 Organizing Pages
with Tables 78
Table
Basics 79
Getting
to Know the Table Tags 81
Drawing Borders Around Tables 82
Heading Up Your Tables 83
Spanning Cells 84
Setting the Size of Tables 84
Digging
Deeper into Table Formatting 86
Aligning Tables 86
Giving Tables Some Space 88
Dressing Up Tables with Colors and Images 90
Revisiting Borders 93
Using
Tables for Page Layout 94
Working Out the Design 94
Putting the Table Together 95
Adding the Content 96
Conclusion
97
CHAPTER 7 Gathering Information
with Forms 98
Understanding
Forms 98
Processing
Forms with Scripts 102
Using Scripts 102
Finding Scripts 103
Borrowing Scripts 104
Getting
to Know Form Controls 104
The Text Box and Password Box Controls 105
The Text Area Control 106
The Check Box Control 107
The Radio Button Control 108
The Menu Control 109
The Button Controls 111
Creating
Forms 112
Establishing the Form’s Action 112
Laying Out the Controls 113
The Complete Form 115
Testing the Form 116
Advanced
Form Tips and Tricks 118
Creating Read-Only Controls 118
Hiding Controls 119
Organizing Controls into Field Sets 119
Setting the Tab Order of Controls 120
Providing Keyboard Shortcuts 121
Conclusion
122
CHAPTER 8 Integrating Multimedia
with Your Web Pages 123
Understanding
Plug-ins and Helper Applications 124
Working
with Sound 126
Creating Your Own Sounds 127
Finding Sounds 128
Adding Sounds to Your Pages 129
Working
with Video 135
Creating Your Own Videos 135
Finding Videos 136
Adding Videos to Your Pages 136
Tinkering
with Streaming Media 140
Preparing Multimedia Files for Streaming 140
Linking to Streaming Multimedia Files 144
Other
Types of Multimedia 145
Conclusion
146
CHAPTER 9 Graphical Tools
and HTML 147
Why Use
a Graphical Tool? 148
Getting
Acquainted with Graphical Tools 148
Image Editing Tools 149
Image Map Tools 152
Web Page Design Tools 153
HTML Editors 155
Working
with HTML in FrontPage 156
Using Different Views 157
Creating Tables 160
Creating Image Maps 162
Publishing Your Pages 162
Conclusion
162
CHAPTER 10 Publishing Pages
on the Web 163
Web Publishing
Basics 163
Finding
a Good Home for Your Web Pages 166
Hosting Your Own Web Site 167
Paying for a Web Hosting Service 167
Hosting with Your Internet Account 169
Using a Free Web Hosting Service 169
Foregoing Web Hosting Entirely 170
Obtaining
a Domain Name 170
Selecting
Web Publishing Software 172
Conclusion
173
PART 3 ADDING STYLE TO YOUR
PAGES
CHAPTER 11 Style Sheet
Basics 176
What
Are Style Sheets? 176
The Essentials
of Style 180
Applying
Styles to Web Pages 182
Internal Style Sheets 182
External Style Sheets 183
Classes of Styles 184
Styling Individual Tags 185
Local Styles 186
Linking with Style 186
Styles
and Custom Style Tags 188
Creating Custom Style Tags 189
Putting Custom Style Tags to Work 190
Conclusion
191
CHAPTER 12 Using Styles
to Format Text 192
Assessing
Cascading Style Sheets Text Styles 192
Working
with Font Styles 193
Setting Individual Font Properties 193
Setting Font Properties as a Group 195
Putting the Font Styles Together 196
Dressing
Up Text with Style 197
Altering
the Spacing of Text 200
Using
Styles for Text Alignment 202
Aligning Text 202
Adjusting the Margins 203
Putting the Text Alignment Styles Together 204
Digging
Into the Bag of Style Tricks 205
Conclusion
207
CHAPTER 13 Using Styles
for Web Page Positioning 209
The Basics
of Positioning with Style 209
Using
Relative and Absolute Positioning 213
Managing
Overlapping Elements 214
Tweaking
the Appearance of Elements 216
Changing the Size of Elements 216
Showing and Hiding Elements 218
Giving Your Elements a Border 218
Controlling
Space on a Page 220
Controlling
the Flow of Text 223
Flowing Text Around Other Elements 223
Stopping the Flow of Text 224
Thy Text Overfloweth 225
A Complete
Positional Style Example 225
Conclusion
227
PART 4 ADDING INTERACTIVITY
TO YOUR PAGES
CHAPTER 14 Dynamic HTML
230
DHTML
Basics 230
The Least
You Need to Know About Scripts 231
Scripting Languages 231
Using Scripts in Web Pages 232
Responding to Events 232
Getting to Know the Document Object Model 233
Working
with Dynamic Styles 234
Manipulating
Dynamic Content 237
Fun with
Dynamic Positioning 240
Getting
Practical with DHTML 241
Displaying an Animated Ad Banner 242
Displaying Random Quotes 244
Conclusion
247
CHAPTER 15 Creating Special
Effects 248
The Basics
of Special Effects 248
Working
with Visual Filters 249
The Shadow and Drop Shadow Filters 250
The Emboss and Engrave Filters 252
The Glow Filter 253
The Blur Filter 254
The Basic Image Filter 255
Animating
Content Changes with Transitions 257
The RandomDissolve Transition 259
The Fade Transition 259
The Strips Transition 260
The Wheel Transition 261
The Barn Transition 261
The Blinds Transition 262
The Checker Board Transition 263
The Gradient Wipe Transition 264
The Radial Wipe Transition 264
Putting
on a Slide Show 266
Creating
Interpage Transitions 267
Conclusion
270
CHAPTER 16 Assessing the
Capabilities of a Client 271
What
are Client Capabilities? 271
Client
Capabilities and Internet Explorer 273
Obtaining
Client Capabilities 274
Reacting
to Client Capabilities 276
Conclusion
280
PART 5 LEVERAGING XML
CHAPTER 17 Understanding
XML 282
What
is XML? 282
XML and
HTML 284
Getting
to Know XML 285
Understanding Elements and Tags 290
Referencing Entities 290
Using Comments 291
Using Processing Instructions 292
Declaring the Document Type 293
Modeling
XML Data 294
Working with DTDs 295
Working with XML Schema 296
The Practical
Side of XML 298
Conclusion
299
CHAPTER 18 Styling XML
with XSL 300
Style
Sheets and XML 301
Understanding
XSL 302
Applying XSL to XML Documents 302
Peeking
Inside a Style Sheet 303
Drilling for Data with Patterns 304
Transforming Information with Templates 305
Constructing
Your Own XSL Style Sheet 308
Conclusion
313
CHAPTER 19 XHTML: XML Meets
HTML 314
The Significance
of XHTML 315
The Problem with HTML 315
The XHTML Solution 315
The Leap
from HTML to XHTML 316
The Need
to Accept XHTML 317
The Three XHTML DTDs 318
Document Validation Requirements 319
Declaring an XHTML DTD and Namespace 319
Validating an XHTML Document 320
Creating
an XHTML Document 321
Converting
to XHTML 323
XHTML Conversion Guidelines 323
Converting an HTML Document to XHTML 324
An Alternative HTML Conversion Option 328
Conclusion
328
PART 6 APPENDIXES
APPENDIX A HTML Quick Reference
332
Structural
Tags 332
Text
Tags 333
List
Tags 333
Table
Tags 334
Form
Tags 334
Miscellaneous
Tags 335
APPENDIX B HTML Resources
on the Web 336
Microsoft’s Web Workshop 336
Webmonkey 336
HTML Goodies 336
HTML Help 337
The HTML Writer’s Guild 337
World Wide Web Consortium 337
Network Solutions 337
Electronic Frontier Foundation 337
APPENDIX C Using Custom
Colors 338
INDEX 340 |
