William P. Craft

This Unit:

Reading Assignment:

Read Chapter Six and do all the exercises in the chapter. There is lots of new "theory" in this chapter, but don't blow it off. It's all very important information. I know it would seem like more fun to jump right in and start posting lots of web pages. But if we do them poorly, using outdated technology, they wouldn't be useful in today's web environment. It wouldn't help you get a job later on either...

Have you ever taken a close look at the Mesa College Web Site? It is totally compliant with XHTML (Strict) standards. That's why it works so well and that's why it loads so fast. It is also very usable by disabled students who are using screen readers.

Now would be a good time to look at a truly exceptional web site. It's called the CSS Zen Garden. This site was established in 2003--and many people credit it for changing the way the entire web design industry approaches modern web design. The author of the site, Dave Shea, posted one basic document done in strict XHTML 1.0. Then he challenged the web designers of the world to do their best with CSS to make sites based on this one html document that were visually outstanding.

What happened is that the site became world famous and it is now the basis for a best-selling book. Dave Shea proved that a standards-based website need not be ugly or boring. In fact, the outcome of this experiment has been to prove that standards-based design makes it possible to do almost anything you can imagine.

Since the site opened hundreds of web designers have submitted designs all based on the same plain page. I just checked, and as of today there are 986 entries. Each design is really a masterpiece in its own right.

As you read over all the theory and standards contained in today's reading assignment, keep it in mind that these standards actually do lead to beautiful web design!

I may be jumping the gun a little since Chapter Six is only about Strict HTML, and we don't get to Strict XHTML until the next chapter. But I just couldn't wait to show you why I love this approach to web design! It all ties together and in the end you will not have wasted any time by following the approach used by our textbook authors. In fact, this book is one of the best I have ever seen. I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am!

A final thought for the week: the W3C Validator is your friend! You may have noticed that every page on the Mesa website proudly displays a link to the W3C code validator and another to the CSS validator.

I also post these links on every page I do personally. I find that it keeps me honest. When you see the link at the bottom of the page, you can click on it and it will check the page again right on the spot. (Unfortunately, linking to W3C does not work inside of WebCT/Blackboard because it is a closed system. But, links to W3C will work on your personal website or to any website that is hosted on the open Internet.)

Even though the W3C is the ultimate standards "judge" of your pages, the W3C is also your best helper. Even after you finish this course, you really should validate every page you make. If there is anything wrong, the validator will tell you about it and give you the exact location of the error so that you can find it to fix.

Don't get discouraged if you submit a page and it returns a huge number of errors. Fix the first one or two and then check again. On many occasions if you mess something up at the start, it messes up everything that follows. So just fix the first few and then check again. Lots of times it goes from 90 errors to fixed on the second try after you have fixed the first error on the list.

From now on in this course, every page you submit to me must be W3C checked and have the W3C links at the bottom of the page. On the bright side, your code should all be perfect when you submit it!

Here is the code to use at the bottom of every page:

<p><a href="http://validator.w3.org/check/referer">XHTML</a> | <a href="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer">CSS</a></p>

Discussion:

Pick a site that your really like that has been submitted the CSS Zen Garden. Tell the class why you picked it: what did you like about the approach the artist took? Also, please comment on a few of the selections made by your classmates.

Quiz:

Take the quiz.

Assignment:

Create a webpage with the following characteristics:

  1. At least one page (more is OK, but don't go nuts)
  2. Uses the HTML 4.01 strict doctype (see p. 245)
  3. Has a <meta> tag to specify ISO-8859-1 (see p. 240)
  4. Has at least one picture with the appropriate alt attribute in the <img> element (see p. 237)
  5. Has passed the W3C Validator at the HTML 4.01 Strict level and has the working W3C HTML 4.01 icon (placard) at the bottom of the page. (Yes, I will click it <g>.)

Post your page on your website and send me the exact address of the page in the remarks section of the assignment on WebCT.

Here is a webpage that lists lots of sites with "public domain" images. You may find this listing useful if you are looking for images you can legally use without paying anybody a royalty. Of course you can always use your own pictures for any project you do.

The due date for the Discussion, the Quiz, and the Assignment is listed on the homepage for the course.

...Bill