Coding Main

As stated elsewhere, to really understand what is going on with web design, you need to learn to write code. There are various other reasons that learning code is a Good Idea, but the understanding is the best. There is almost no way to troubleshoot if you don’t know code, and just think of the subversive possibilities, twisting the code to your own nefarious needs and wants…

CSS and scripting get mentioned here and there. The references are intentionally vague. Take a look at the CSS and scripting sections for more. Forms involve both code and scripting, and the decision was made to give them their own section, with a bit more depth.

Not simply a repository of code, this section will deal mostly with approaches, with some specifics. There always remains the possibility of doing something differently, or better. Take these pages as a starting point. As well, this has no claim on being anything like exhaustive. (These are notes for a class…)

  1. Semantics

    A brief case for the Semantic Web.

  2. Validity

    So it works (on IE4/Windows 98), but is it valid? This section addresses why validity and standards are important.

  3. Accessibility

    An (all too brief) discussion of making the Web available for all.

  4. Document Structure

    This gives an overview of the main parts of an (X)HTML document.

  5. A brief intro to HTML

    It’s really not that hard. This section covers the basics.

  6. The Document Object Model

    A look at the relationships of elements in an HTML document.

  7. DOCTYPE

    DOCTYPEs, and why they are important.

  8. XHTML vs. HTML

    Why one vs. the other.

  9. Block-level Elements

    Specific tags, which act as blocks rather than inline.

  10. Inline Elements

    Tags that typically present as inline.

  11. Lists

    Lists can be more useful than they at first seem.

  12. Tables

    Good, bad and otherwise.