HTML Manual of Style

Larry Aronson is a systems engineer who helps people and computers understand each other better and work together more productively. He designs, builds, and maintains websites, and consults with individuals and small businesses. Aronson wrote the original HTML Manual of Style, one of the first bestselling HTML books. He cochaired the New York Macintosh Users’ Group’s Internet SIG in the ’80s, cofounded the World Wide Web Artists’ Consortium in the ’90s, and is a founding member of the Social Media Club.

Acknowledgments xii

About the Author xiii

Preface xiv

 

Chapter 1 HTML and the Web 2

HTML: The Language of the Web 3

A Bit of Web History 7

Hypertext Content and Online Media 11

Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) 11

Web Browsers and Servers 12

The Web Bestiary 15

HTML5 and Web Standards 19

Do We All Have to Learn HTML5 Now? 21

 

Chapter 2 The HTML Language 24

Language Overview 25

Page Structure and the DOM 31

HTML5 Syntax 35

  Comments 35

  Character Entities 36

  Markup Elements 37

HTML5 Semantics 40

HTML Attributes 51

  Event Handlers 55

Block Elements 57

  Headings 57

  Paragraphs, Block Quotes, and Address Blocks 61

  Lists 67

  Division and Section Elements 73

  Tables 77

Links and Anchors 85

  Uniform Resource Locators 86

  Anchor States 88

  Anchor Attributes 89

Inline Images 90

Audio and Video 95

Input Forms 99

The HTML5 Canvas 110

 

Chapter 3 Elements of Style 114

Cascading Style Sheets 115

CSS Selectors 119

Pseudo-Classes and Pseudo-Elements 124

Typography 128

  Font Style 131

  Font Weight 131

  Font Variant 132

  Font Size 132

  Font 136

Colors 138

Background Properties 141

Text Properties 144

  text-align 144

  text-decoration 144

  text-indent 146

  text-transform 146

  line-height 146

  Letter and Word Spacing 148

  white space 150

  vertical-align 150

Box Properties 152

  Height and Width 153

  Margins and Padding 154

  Borders 157

List Styles 161

CSS Positioning 166

Other CSS Properties 171

  Display and Visibility 172

  Overflow 177

  Float and Clear 177

 

Chapter 4 Using HTML 180

Tools of the Trade 182

Blogging 185

Google Docs 192

eBay Selling 198

Wikipedia 200

HTML Email 203

 

Chapter 5 Building Websites 208

Development Approaches 209

  Content or Service Site? 211

  Static or Dynamic Content? 212

  Target Audience 212

  Money 213

  The Future 214

Websites 215

  cgi-bin 218

  logs 219

  public_html 220

  Other Website Files 221

Organization and Navigation 224

  Files and Directories 224

  Page Layout 225

  Navigation 228

  Imagemaps 235

  Toggles and Accordions 237

  Tabbed Content Sections 240

  Opening New Windows 246

Page Head Information 249

  meta Elements 249

  link Elements 251

  Other Head Elements 254

Search Engine Optimization 256

Avoiding Common Mistakes 261

  Designing the Presentation Before the Information Architecture 261

  Using Outdated Tools and Construction Methods 262

  Not Validating the HTML and CSS 263

  Not Testing in Different Browsers 264

  Not Putting in Enough Comments 265

 

Appendix A: HTML5 Quick Reference 267

Root Element 268

Document Head Elements 268

Section Elements 269

Heading Elements 270

Block Elements 270

List Elements 271

Inline Elements 271

Embedded Elements 273

Table Elements 275

Form and Control Elements 276

Legacy Elements 277

 

Appendix B: CSS Properties 279

Explanation of Values 279

CSS Properties 280

Aural Properties 300

 

Index 305