About the Book
About the Book
Take charge of your Web code—faster, smarter,
better!
Now you can code your own Web pages—and
produce impressive features and effects—faster, smarter, and better. Dive
in! This friendly, high-energy guide makes it easy to teach yourself exactly
what you need. Use the quick lists, numbered steps, and helpful examples
to accelerate your productivity—and move on to doing the cool things you
want to do!
• Do real things with HTML and XML right
now
• Code and post your first Web page
• Format text and images and add hyperlinks
•Incorporate sound and video
• Use XML to organize and exchange all
kinds of data
• Get richer page formatting and control
with style sheets
• Create interactive effects with Dynamic
HTML (DHTML)
• Prepare for the future—eXtensible HTML
(XHTML)
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
vii
Introduction ix
PART I: GETTING STARTED WITH
HTML
This part gets you started
by introducing you to the HTML language and why it is such an important
part of Web page creation. The chapters in this part provide a base of
HTML knowledge to build on throughout the book.
CHAPTER 1: An Introduction to
HTML, DHTML, and XML 3
What
Is HTML? 4
The Significance
of HTML 6
What
Is DHTML? 8
What
Is XML? 10
Comparing
XML and HTML 11
CHAPTER 2: Your First HTML Web
Page 15
Inside
a Web Page 16
Common
HTML Tags and Attributes 19
Writing
Your First Web Page in HTML 22
Taking
a Peek at the Finished Page 26
Publishing
Your First Web Page 28
CHAPTER 3: Dressing Up Text
35
Organizing
Text 35
Basic
Text Formatting: The Look or the Meaning? 40
Working
with Lists 45
One Last
Comment 50
CHAPTER 4: Decorating Pages with
Images 53
The Whole
Picture on Images 53
Working
with Images 55
Displaying
Inline Images 56
Formatting
Images 57
Linking
to External Images 64
Using
Background Images 65
Using
Animated Images 67
CHAPTER 5: Connecting Pages with
Hyperlinks 69
What
Is a Hyperlink? 70
Understanding
URLs 71
Working
with the <a> Tag 75
PART II: BEYOND THE BASICS
This part digs deeper into
HTML by guiding you through topics such as the use of image maps to provide
visual navigation to your Web pages, the use of tables, and the importance
of graphical design tools. It also shows you how to publish Web pages online
and how to interact with the user with forms. The chapters in this part
provide you with the knowledge to take your Web pages to a whole new level.
CHAPTER 6: Visual Navigation with
Image Maps 85
Image
Map Basics 86
Client-Side
vs. Server-Side Image Maps 87
Using
Image Map Development Tools 89
Coding
Image Maps by Hand 91
Constructing
a Practical Image Map 94
CHAPTER 7: Organizing Pages with
Tables 99
Table
Basics 99
Getting
to Know the Table Tags 101
Digging
Deeper into Table Formatting 106
Using
Tables for Page Layout 116
CHAPTER 8: Graphical Tools and
HTML 119
Why Use
a Graphical Tool? 119
Getting
Acquainted with Graphical Tools 121
Working
with HTML in FrontPage 129
CHAPTER 9: Publishing Pages on
the Web 137
Web Publishing
Basics 137
Finding
a Good Home for Your Web Pages 140
Obtaining
a Domain Name 144
Selecting
Web Publishing Software 147
CHAPTER 10: Gathering Information
with Forms 149
Understanding
Forms 149
Processing
Forms with Scripts 154
Getting
to Know Form Controls 157
Creating
Forms 166
CHAPTER 11: Dynamic HTML
173
The Least
You Need to Know About Scripts 173
Working
with Dynamic Styles 178
Manipulating
Dynamic Content 182
Fun with
Dynamic Positioning 184
The Practical
Side of DHTML 186
PART III: ADDING STYLE TO YOUR
PAGES
This part is all about style
as you learn how to use style sheets to improve the appearance of Web pages.
You find out how to create style sheets that format text and position content
on a Web page with precision, as well as how to integrate multimedia into
your pages.
CHAPTER 12: Style Sheet Basics
195
What
Are Style Sheets? 195
The Essentials
of Style 199
Applying
Styles to Web Pages 201
Styles
and Custom Style Tags 208
CHAPTER 13: Using Styles to Format
Text 213
Assessing
CSS Text Styles 214
Working
with Font Styles 214
Dressing
Up Text with Style 219
Altering
the Spacing of Text 222
Using
Styles for Text Alignment 224
Digging
into the Bag of Style Tricks 227
CHAPTER 14: Using Styles for
Web Page Positioning 231
The Basics
of Positioning with Style 231
Using
Relative and Absolute Positioning 234
Managing
Overlapping Elements 236
Tweaking
the Appearance of Elements 238
Controlling
Space on a Page 243
Controlling
the Flow of Text 247
A Complete
Positional Style Example 249
CHAPTER 15: Integrating Multimedia
with Your Web Pages 253
Understanding
Plug-ins and Helper Applications 253
Working
with Sound 255
Working
with Video 266
Dealing
with Other Types of Multimedia 271
PART IV: BEYOND HTML WITH XML
This part tackles XML, an
important technology that is closely linked to HTML. You learn how to use
XML to organize data, as well as how to use style sheets to process and
transform XML content. You also explore XHTML, which represents the merger
of XML and HTML. The chapters in this part help you to boldly face the
future of HTML and the Web.
CHAPTER 16: Organizing Data with
XML 275
Getting
to Know XML 275
Modeling
XML Data 284
The Practical
Side of XML 289
CHAPTER 17: Styling XML with
XSL 291
Style
Sheets and XML 291
Understanding
XSL 292
Peeking
Inside a Style Sheet 294
Constructing
Your Own XSL Style Sheet 299
CHAPTER 18: XHTML: XML Meets
HTML 305
The Significance
of XHTML 305
The Leap
from HTML to XHTML 307
XHTML
and Its Need for Acceptance 308
Creating
an XHTML Document 312
Converting
to XHTML 314
APPENDIX A:
HTML Quick Reference 321
APPENDIX B:
HTML Resources on the Web 325
APPENDIX C:
Using Custom Colors 327
INDEX 329 |
