Web Design in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

10/10/2012 · No Responses

Are you still designing web sites like it’s 1999? If so, you’re in for a surprise. Since the last edition of this book appeared five years ago, there has been a major climate change with regard to web standards. Designers are no longer using (X)HTML as a design tool, but as a means of defining the meaning and structure of content. Cascading Style Sheets are no longer just something interesting to tinker with, but rather a reliable method for handling all matters of presentation, from fonts and colors to the layout of the entire page. In fact, following the standards is now a mandate of professional web design.

Our popular reference, Web Design in a Nutshell, is one of the first books to capture this new web landscape with an edition that’s been completely rewritten and expanded to reflect the state of the art. In addition to being an authoritative reference for (X)HTML and Cascading Style Sheets, this book also provides an overview of the unique requirements of designing for the Web and gets to the nitty-gritty of JavaScript and DOM Scripting, web graphics optimization, and multimedia production. It is an indispensable tool for web designers and developers of all levels.

The third edition covers these contemporary web design topics:

Structural layer: HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 (9 chapters), including an alphabetical reference of all elements, attributes and character entities
Presentation layer: Ten all-new chapters on Cascading Style Sheets, Level 2.1, including an alphabetical reference of all properties and values.
Behavior layer: JavaScript and scripting with the Document Object Model (DOM)
Web environment: New web standards, browsers, display devices, accessibility, and internationalization
Web graphics optimization: Producing lean and mean GIF, JPEG, PNG, and animated GIFs
Multimedia: Web audio, video, Flash, and PDF

Organized so that readers can find answers quickly, Web Design in a Nutshell, Third Edition helps experienced designers come up to speed quickly on standards-based web design, and serves as a quick reference for those already familiar with the new standards and technology.

There are many books for web designers, but none that address such a wide variety of topics. Find out why nearly half a million buyers have made this the most popular web design book available.

Table of Contents
Part I: The Web Environment
Chapter 1. Web Standards
Chapter 2. Designing for a Variety of Browsers
Chapter 3. Designing for a Variety of Displays
Chapter 4. A Beginner’s Guide to the Server
Chapter 5. Accessibility
Chapter 6. Internationalization

Part II: The Structural Layer: XML and (X)HTML
Chapter 7. Introduction to XML
Chapter 8. HTML and XHTML Overview
Chapter 9. Document Structure
Chapter 10. Text Elements
Chapter 11. Creating Links
Chapter 12. Images and Objects
Chapter 13. Tables
Chapter 14. Frames
Chapter 15. Forms

Part III: The Presentation Layer: Cascading Style Sheets
Chapter 16. Cascading Style Sheets Fundamentals
Chapter 17. Selectors
Chapter 18. Font and Text Properties
Chapter 19. Basic Box Properties
Chapter 20. Color and Backgrounds
Chapter 21. Floating and Positioning
Chapter 22. CSS for Tables
Chapter 23. Lists and Generated Content
Chapter 24. CSS Techniques
Chapter 25. Managing Browser Bugs: Workarounds, Hacks, and Filters

Part IV: The Behavioral Layer: JavaScript and the DOM
Chapter 26. Introduction to JavaScript
Chapter 27. DOM Scripting

Part V: Web Graphics
Chapter 28. Web Graphics Overview
Chapter 29. GIF Format
Chapter 30. JPEG Format
Chapter 31. PNG Format
Chapter 32. Animated GIFs

Part VI: Media
Chapter 33. Audio on the Web
Chapter 34. Video on the Web
Chapter 35. The Flash Platform
Chapter 36. Printing from the Web

Part VII: Appendixes
Appendix A. HTML Elements and Attributes
Appendix B. CSS 2.1 Properties
Appendix C. Character Entities
Appendix D. Specifying Color
Appendix E. Microformats: Extending (X)HTML