Web Design Garage

Marc Campbell is a freelance writer and Web designer/developer. He’s been building Web sites professionally since 1997 and has helped design fan-community destination sites, such as www.dccomics.com and www.madmag.com; state government service portals; and e-business applications. He participates in the Macromedia Dreamweaver beta program and is a Macromedia-certified Dreamweaver Developer. In addition, Marc has taught several sections of a ten-week Web design and graphics course for the Millenium Institute of Computers in Connecticut and New Jersey.

Preface xvPart I: Design and Usability Topics 1Topic 1: Designing to Aid Navigation 3Topic 2: Grouping Similar Functions 9Topic 3: Designing Graphics for Clicks 17Topic 4: Achieving Balance 25Topic 5: Choosing Colors 33Choosing Text and Background Colors 33

Choosing Link Colors 37

Choosing Interface Colors 38

Topic 6: Designing for Accessibility 41Making Images Accessible 42

Making Multimedia Accessible 44

Managing Your Use of Color 45

Topic 7: Leaving Breadcrumb Trails 47Topic 8: Using Jump Menus 53Topic 9: Managing Popup Windows 59Making Popups 61

Topic 10: Creating Popup Menus 67Understanding Layers 68

Laying Out Popup Menus 69

Topic 11: Providing a Way Back 79Topic 12: Working with Scripts and Style Sheets 83Embedding Scripts 83

Embedding Style Sheets 85

Attaching Scripts 86

Attaching Style Sheets 86

BLOG: Embedding or Attaching? 89Topic 13: Launching Scripts with Links 91BLOG: JavaScript Links or onClick Links? 93Part II: Layout Topics 95Topic 14: Creating Fixed-Width Layouts with Tables 97BLOG: HTML or CSS for Layout? 103Topic 15: Creating Fixed-Width Layouts with CSS 105Topic 16: Centering Fixed-Width CSS Layouts 111Topic 17: Creating Liquid Layouts with Tables 115Topic 18: Creating Liquid Layouts with CSS 121Topic 19: Slicing Images for Layout Tables 127Topic 20: Creating Multicolumn Layouts with Tables 133Topic 21: Creating Multicolumn Layouts with CSS 137Topic 22: Preventing a Nav Bar from Breaking 141Topic 23: Coloring Table Cells 149Topic 24: Coloring and Formatting CSS Divs 155Topic 25: Controlling Design Space with HTML 163Topic 26: Controlling Design Space with CSS 165Part III: Image Topics 167Topic 27: Choosing the Right Image File Type 169Topic 28: Optimizing Web Images 171Optimizing Resolution 172

Optimizing Image Size 173

Optimizing the Palette in GIFs and PNGs 174

Optimizing the Compression in JPEGs 174

Topic 29: Transforming Images with HTML Attributes 177Topic 30: Positioning Inline Images with HTML 181Topic 31: Floating Inline Images with CSS 185Topic 32: Designing Button States 189Topic 33: Making Rollover Graphics 193Topic 34: Making Images More Accessible 197Topic 35: Creating Image Maps 199Topic 36: Making Image Maps More Accessible 203Topic 37: Using Background Images in Table Cells 207Topic 38: Using Background Images in CSS Divs 211Topic 39: Using Background Images on Web Pages 215Part IV: Text Topics 219Topic 40: Using Text Elements Properly 221Working with Header Tags 222

Marking up Paragraphs 224

Using Quote Elements 224

Displaying Addresses 225

Topic 41: Using Phrase Elements Properly 227Topic 42: Adding Cascading Style Sheets 231Writing CSS 232

Topic 43: Replacing Formatting Tags with CSS 243Topic 44: Creating Custom Formatting Styles 247Topic 45: Changing the Look of a Text Element 251Defining Contextual Selectors 251

Defining Child Selectors 254

Defining Sibling Selectors 255

Mixing It Up 257

Topic 46: Defining Class Styles 259Forming an Exclusive Club 262

Topic 47: Controlling the Typeface 265Troubleshooting Fonts 266

Choosing the Best Typeface 268

Topic 48: Controlling Type Size 269Using the Font Tag 269

Using the Font-Size Attribute 270

BLOG: Sizing up Type Sizing 273Topic 49: Controlling Spacing 275Controlling Space around Elements 275

Controlling Space inside Elements 277

Controlling Space between Lines of Type 277

Controlling Space between Words 278

Controlling Space between Letters 279

Topic 50: Controlling Justified and Ragged Type 281Topic 51: Controlling Indents 285Topic 52: Building Lists 291Nesting Lists in HTML 293

Adjusting List Properties with CSS 295

Topic 53: Highlighting Text with Color 303Topic 54: Rehabilitating Horizontal Rules 307Creating End Signs 310

Topic 55: Adding a Dateline and Timestamp 311Topic 56: Designing Data Tables 319Making the Most of the Grouping Tags 323

Working with Colspans and Rowspans 324

Adjusting Cellpadding and Cellspacing 328

Changing the Border 331

Improving Accessibility 335

Topic 57: Using Pseudo-Elements 341Topic 58: Defining ID Styles 347Part V: Link Topics 349Topic 59: Applying Styles to Hyperlinks 351BLOG: In Defense of the Hyperlink Underline 357Topic 60: Making Rollover Hyperlinks 359Topic 61: Choosing the Right Path 363Using Absolute Paths 363

Using Document-Relative Paths 364

Using Root-Relative Paths 366

Topic 62: Changing the Color of a Single Hyperlink 369Changing the Default Color for All Link States 369

Changing the Default Color for Individual Link States 370

Topic 63: Choosing the Right Text for a Hyperlink 373Topic 64: Creating ScreenTips for Hyperlinks 379Topic 65: Opening a New Browser Window 381Topic 66: Using Named Anchors 383Setting Named Anchors 383

Linking to Named Anchors 385

Topic 67: Creating Email Links 387Part VI: Form Topics 389Topic 68: Working with Form Widgets 391Working with Generic Buttons 392

Working with Checkboxes 393

Working with File Fields 395

Working with Hidden Fields 396

Working with Image Fields 397

Working with Lists 399

Working with Menus 401

Working with Password Fields 402

Working with Radio Buttons 403

Working with Reset Buttons 405

Working with Submit Buttons 406

Working with Text Areas 407

Working with Text Fields 408

Topic 69: Applying Styles to Text Widgets 411Changing the Text Style 411

Changing the Colors and the Border 414

Topic 70: Validating Form Input 417Topic 71: Setting the Tab Order 425Topic 72: Working with Fieldsets 429Topic 73: Working with Labels 437

Part VII: Tricks Topics 441Topic 74: Embedding Media 443Topic 75: Automatically Refreshing the Page 449Topic 76: Automatically Redirecting the Browser 453Topic 77: Displaying Random Content 457Topic 78: Displaying a Browser Alert 467Topic 79: Displaying a “You Are Now Leaving” Popup 473Part VIII: Basic Training Topics 475Topic 80: Creating HTML Documents 477Organizing Your Web Site 482

Topic 81: Adding Keywords and Page Descriptions 487Topic 82: Blocking Parts of Your Site from Search Engines 489Topic 83: Testing Your Site 493Topic 84: Choosing a Web Host 495Finding a Web Host 495

Considering Features 497

Topic 85: Uploading Your Site 501Topic 86: Validating Your Source Code 503Glossary 505Index 515