Do You Speak HTML?

[Officer Dibble]

So who speaks html and CSS? I was just wondering since I?ve finally bitten the bullet and started learning the lingo. The fact is I?m fed up with webmasters and web developers ? you ask them to amend something in your site and it takes three weeks. And since many coders haven?t got the slightest idea about aesthetics and design, it tends to look a load of shite when they do get round to doing it.

I?ve been cobbling simple websites together for the past decade, but never really understood what went on under the bonnet of WYSIWYG editors like Deamweaver. So when my sites started coughing and spluttering I?d have to call in the web mechanics to bail me out. But now, as I get further into it, things are becoming clearer.




Officer Dibble

[leobloom]

I learnt to design pages in html over ten years ago, but css, i've never even heard of. I was under the assumpion that web devolpers where using html these days as the bones of there site and using some variant of java for the rest.

Anyway Dibs, good luck with it, it's quite easy to get to grips with and there are good programs out there that will save you time instead of typing out all the lines of command.

[Jacques]

HTML without CSS is like a gun without ammunition you can beat people to death with the butt of a gun, but bullets are so much more efficient.

[DanG]

Dibbs, try for a really good tutorial on HTML, CSS, and a few others besides.

[Guilbert]

>I learnt to design pages in html over ten years ago, but css, i've never even heard of.

CSS is almost VITAL in designing web sites nowadays.

HTML in its original concept was fine for CONTENT (the actual words that will be displayed on the web site)

But it was TERRIBLE for layout (the positioning of the content on the sceen). People had to invent all sorts fancy ways round this by placing layouts in tables which they were never meant for.

So now CONTENT and LAYOUT have been separated.

You use HTML for the CONTENT (headings, paragraphs etc) and you use CSS for LAYOUT.

Normally CSS code is held in a separate file (a CSS file funnily enough) from the HTML.

The great thing about that is you can change the COMPLETE look of the site in seconds JUST by using a different CSS file.

For proof look at this web site



Down the right hand side it says "select a design". When you select a new design ALL YOU ARE DOING IS CHANGING THE CSS FILE USED. None of the HTML is changed and exactly the same text appears on the screen (you can read the text if you dont believe me).

In fact if you select "View all designs" on the right you can see a mini picture of all the diferent designs. If you select one then ALL you are doing is changing the CSS file used (nothing else)

And if you want to see a good site using CSS look here, a beautiful site



Try doing that with HTML only.

[Guilbert]

This is a good book if you want to learn HTML and CSS.

HTML, XHTML, and CSS, Sixth Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide by Elizabeth Castro

It is part explanation book (she explains WHY we do things in a certain way with HTML and CSS) and it is part reference book (she includes examples for all the main HTML and CSS statements)



Only ?9 from Amazon, a bargain

[Guilbert]

This text may be of interest to you if you are moving into the world of HTML and CSS because it can have a major impact on how your web site is displayed.

In the early days of HTML there was almost no rules and Netacape and Microsoft added all sorts of things to HTML without the need to check with anyone.

The problems was that Netscape would support THEIR features but not Microsofts, and Microsoft would support THEIR features but not Netscapes.

Eventualy we got the World Wide Web consortium (W3C) who decided to standardise HTML and decide what was IN and what was OUT.

The W3C also decided to implement CSS as a standard. And also XHTML which is a VERY strict HTML standard.

Of course it took a while for the browsers to implement these standards, but now most modern browsers are fairly good a supporting the HTML and CSS standards.

So most modern browsers support these HTML and CSS standards, but they still had to support the old non-standards in case web sites were still using them.

So how do the web browsers know how to display the site, using modern standards or not ?

The web site knows by looking at a statament called DOCTYPE at the top of your web page.

A DOCTYPE statement look something like this



If your web page DOES NOT have a DOCTYPE then the browser goes into non-standard mode (also known as Quirks mode) and tries to display the site as best it can.

But if it sees a valid DOCTYPE it will display the site using standard HTML and CSS rules.

If possible you should ALWAYS start every web page with a DOCTYPE.

Read the brief articles about HTML and DOCTYPES below as having the correct DOCTYPE is VERY important.

Here is a brief history of HTML



You can read about DOCTYPES here



You can read about browser Quirks mode here



You can validate a web page here (copy and paste the HTML and it will highlight errors)

[Officer Dibble]

Thank you to all those who have responded with advice and suggestions for HTML books and training courses. I?ll definitely be checking them out once I?ve got through ?Head First HTML with CSS? . It?s an excellent, easy to follow, book that don?t assume you understand anything about HTML. There are also complimentary excise files that you can download from the authors website and work along with. I?m about halfway though and just getting to grips with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Also, I can thoroughly recommend Lynda.com ? a subscription website with excellent flash movie training courses on almost every major Pro application (and many minor ones) that you?d care to think of. I signed up for the full year and find it well worth the modest cost.




Officer Dibble