Course Description
This course introduces students to (X)HTML, emphasizing semantic use of elements and the benefits of using standards-based, valid code. The use of CSS is discussed to separate content from presentation in order to decrease maintenance time, speed up development, improve download speed, and design capabilities. Students will employ web standards concepts to create a small brochure-ware website that uses global style sheets.
Prerequisites
Recommended Textbook(s)
- Zeldman, Jeffrey. Designing With Web Standards. Grand Rapids: New Riders, 2009.
Recommended Reference Books
Note One or more of the recommended references on XHTML/HTML listed in the next section. Use any book from the list to teach the various HTML elements, the element syntax, the proper semantic meaning of the element, and any required attributes for the element. Do not teach any presentational HTML attributes (e.g., align or hspace), only attributes that cannot be replaced with a presentational CSS property.
- Lloyd, Ian. Build Your Own Website The Right Way Using HTML & CSS. Lancaster, CA: SitePoint, 2008.
- Musciano, Chuck. HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide. : O'Reilly Media, 2006.
- Schultz, David and Cook, Craig. Beginning HTML with CSS and XHTML: Modern Guide and Reference. : Apress, 2007.
- DeBolt, Virginia. Mastering Integrated HTML and CSS. San Francisco: Sybex, 2007.
- Meyer, Eric. The Definitive CSS Guide. : O'Reilly Media, 2006.
- Williams, Robin. The Non-Designer’s Design Book. : Peachpit Press, 2008.
- Felke-Morris, Terry. Web Development and Design Foundations with XHTML, 4th Edition. Upper Saddle River: Addison Wesley Higher Education, 2008. ( Textbook Companion website: http://webdevfoundations.net )
- Schmitt, Christopher. CSS Cookbook. Sebastapol, CA: O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2006.
- Jonathan Lane, Meitar Moscovitz , and Joseph R. Lewis . Foundation Website Creation with CSS, XHTML, and JavaScript. : Friends of ED, 2008.
- Jacobs, Denise R.. The CSS Detective Guide: Tricks for solving tough CSS mysteries. : New Riders Press, 2010.
Recommended Reading
HTML
- Francis, M. N. "The basics of HTML." Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
- Heilman, Christian. "The HTML Head Element" Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
- Johansson, Roger. "Choosing the right doctype for your HTML documents" Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
- "DOCTYPEs and their Respective Layout Modes" Web Standards Project. 21 Feb 2003.
- Francis, M.N. "Marking up textual content in HTML" Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
- Francis, M.N. "HTML lists" Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
- Buchanan, Ben. "Images in HTML" Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
- Heilman, Christian. "HTML Links" Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
- Hanen, Jenifer. "HTML Tables" Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
- Hanen, Jenifer. "HTML Forms: the Basics" Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
- Wroblewski, Luke. "The Information Architecture Behind Good Web Form"s ASIS&T The American Society for Information Science & Technology. Aug. & Sept. 2008.
- Francis, M.N. "Lesser Known Semantic Elements" Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
- Heilman, Christian. "Creating Multiple pages with Navigation Menus" Opera Developer Community. 26 Sept 2008.
- Francis, M.N. "Validating your HTML" Opera Developer Community. 26 Sept 2008.
- Henick, Ben. "Common HTML Entities Used for Typography" Opera Developer Community. 26 Sept 2008.
- Meiert, Jens. "HTML, CSS, and Web Development Practices: Past, Present, and Future" Jens Meiert, 15 Oct 2009.
Design Basics
- Lane, Johnathan. "Information Architecture" Opera Developer Community. 26 Sept 2008.
- Francis, M.N. "What does a good web page need" Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
- Linda. "Color Theory" Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
- Linda. "Building a site wireframe" Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
- Linda. "Color Schemes and Design Mockups" Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
- Haine, Paul. "Typography on the Web" Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
CSS
- Francis, M.M. "Generic Containers: The Div and Span Elements" Opera Developer Community. 26 Sept 2008.
- Heilman, Christian. "CSS Basics" Opera Developer Community. 26 Sept 2008.
- Olsson, Tommy. "Inheritance and Cascade" Opera Developer Community. 26 Sept 2008.
- Henick, Ben. "Text Styling with CSS" Opera Developer Community. 3 Oct 2008.
- Henick, Ben. "CSS Layout Model" Opera Developer Community. 26 Sept 2008.
- Sullivan, Nicole. "CSS Background Images" Opera Developer Community. 26 Sept 2008.
- O'Brien, Paul. "Web Design 101: Backgrounds" Digital WebMagazine. 21 May 2007.
- Buchanan, Ben. "Styling Lists and Links" Opera Developer Community. 26 Sept 2008.
- Buchanan, Ben. "Styling Tables" Opera Developer Community. 26 Sept 2008.
- Henick, Ben. "Styling Forms" Opera Developer Community. 26 Sept 2008.
- Olsson, Tommy. "Floats and Clearing" Opera Developer Community. 26 Sept 2008.
- DeBolt, Virginia. "Web Design 101: Floats" Digital Web Magazine. 10 Sept 2007.
- Olsson, Tommy. "CSS Static and Relative Positioning" Opera Developer Community. 26 Sept 2008.
- Olsson, Tommy. "CSS Absolute and Fixed Positioning" Opera Developer Community. 26 Sept 2008.
- Olsson, Tommy. "Web Design 101: Positioning" Digtal Web Magazine. 16 Apr 2007
Web Basics
- Grannell, Craig. Getting your Content Online Opera Developer Community. 8 July 2008.
Resources
- Olsson, Tommy, O'Brien, Paul. "SitePoint CSS Reference" Sitepoint.
- Lloyd, Ian. "SitePoint HTML Reference" Sitepoint.
- DeBolt, Virginia. "Retrain Your HTML 3.2 Brain to Work in CSS" Web Teacher. 8 Jan. 2007.
Script
Podcasts and Interviews
Technologies Required
- Students will need their own web server to post their assignments
- Computers with internet connection
- Web Browsers (Firefox, Opera, Safari, Internet Explorer)
- Web page editor that fosters the development of valid (X)HTML and CSS code