web design books : Web Design in a Nutshell : table of contents

Table of Contents

The book is divided into six parts, each covering a general subject area:

1. The Web Environment
2. Authoring
3. Graphics
4. Multimedia and Interactivity
5. Advanced Technologies
6. Appendices

The book focuses on the front-end aspects of Web design--HTML authoring, graphics production, and media development. It is not specifically a resource for programming, scripting, or server functions, however, whenever possible, enough background information on these topics is provided to give designers a level of familiarity with the terminology and possibilities. The content in this book is appropriate for all levels of expertise-- from professionals who need to look up a particular detail, to beginners who may require full explanations of new concepts and individual tags.

Part I introduces some broad concepts about the way the Web works which should orient designers with the peculiarities of the medium. It ends with an introduction to the server and basic UNIX concepts.

Chapter 1: Designing for a Variety of Browsers

Looks at how differing browser capabilities affect design decisions.

Chapter 2: Designing for a Variety of Displays

Discusses varying monitor resolutions and their effects on the design process.

Chapter 3: Web Design Principles for Print Designers

Introduces how the Web deals with color, graphics, and fonts. This is particularly useful for those accustomed to print, however, it is also essential background information for any new web designer.

Chapter 4: A Beginner's Guide to the Server

Provides a primer on basic server functions, UNIX commands, uploading files, and file types.

Chapter 5: Printing from the Web

Explains options for controlling how your pages look when they are printed from the Web.

Chapter 6: Accessibility

Covers ways in which you can make your pages accessible to users with hearing, sight, cognitive, or motor skills impairments.

Chapter 7: Internationalization

Addresses key issues for internationalization including character sets and new language features in HTML 4.01 and CSS2.

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This part focuses on marking up web pages for display in browser windows. Most chapters begin with a listing of available tags with short descriptions (for easy access), followed by more detailed explanations and practical advice for their use.

Chapter 8: HTML Overview

Gives a detailed introduction to HTML syntax, including how to specify color and special characters.

Chapter 9: Structural Tags

Lists the tags used to establish an HTML document and structure its contents, including settings which control or pertain to the whole document.

Chapter 10: Formatting Text

Lists all tags related to the formatting of text elements in an HTML document.

Chapter 11: Creating Links

Lists HTML tags related to linking one document to another, including imagemaps.

Chapter 12: Adding Images and Other Page Elements

Focuses on the tags used for placing objects such as images, rules, or multimedia objects on a web page.

Chapter 13: Tables

Provides everything you'd ever want to know about tables, including a list of table-related HTML tags, troubleshooting tips, and templates for popular table structures.

Chapter 14: Frames

Covers the structure and creation of framed documents, including explanations of frame-related HTML tags as well as tips and tricks.

Chapter 15: Forms

Lists all tags related to form creation and provides an introduction to working with CGI scripts.

Chapter 16: Specifying Color in HTML

Covers the two methods for specifying colors in web documents: RGB values and color names.

Chapter 17: Cascading Style Sheets

Describes how to use CSS to control presentation of HTML documents, including detailed explanations of available selectors, properties, and values. It also introduces CSS Level 2 features and provides tips on style sheet use.

Chapter 18: Server Side Includes

Provides an overview of Server Side Includes, including its capabilities and listings of the available elements and variables.

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The chapters in this part provide background information on Web graphics file formats as well as overviews of available tools and practical tips for graphic production and optimization.

Chapter 19: GIF Format

Describes the popular GIF format and provides tricks for working with transparency and minimizing file sizes.

Chapter 20: JPEG Format

Describes the JPEG format and provides tips on minimizing file sizes.

Chapter 21: PNG Format

Introduces this new and powerful graphic file format, discussing its strengths and limitations.

Chapter 22: Designing with the Web Palette

Discusses the tools and techniques used in creating graphics with colors from the Web Palette.

Chapter 23: Animated GIFs

Looks at the creation and optimization of animated GIFs.

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The chapters in this part focus on animation, audio, and interactive capabilities of the Web.

Chapter 24: Audio on the Web

Provides an overview of nonstreaming and streaming audio file formats for web delivery.

Chapter 25: Video on the Web

Provides an overview of nonstreaming and streaming video file formats.

Chapter 26: Flash and Shockwave

Looks at Macromedia's Flash and Director Shockwave formats.

Chapter 27: Introduction to SMIL

Provides an introduction to how SMIL works and the elements used to control the timing and display of multimedia presentations.

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This part provides overviews of key technologies that allow implementation of advanced features on web sites.

Chapter 28: Introduction to JavaScript

Provides a general introduction to JavaScript as well as a number of templates for creating popular effects such as pop-up windows, browser detection, and status-bar messages.

Chapter 29: Introduction to DHTML

Provides a basic overview of Dynamic HTML and related concepts.

Chapter 30: Introduction to XML

Briefly introduces XML (eXtended Markup Language) and why it is significant.

Chapter 31: XHTML

Reviews the differences and similarities between XHTML and HTML 4.0.

Chapter 32: WAP and WML

Begins with a brief introduction to WAP and application development. The second half of the chapter focuses on WML and how it works, including a summary of elements and attriutes in the current WML specification.

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This section provides lots of useful lookup tables for HTML tags and CSS elements.

Appendix A: HTML Elements

Lists all HTML tags as listed in the HTML 4.0 Specification of April 1998. This list also serves as an index to finding full tag explanations throughout the book.

Appendix B: List of Attributes

Lists all attributes and their respective tags and values.

Appendix C: "Deprecated" Tags

Lists all tags which have been "deprecated" (discouraged from use) by the HTML 4.0 Spec.

Appendix D: Proprietary Tags

Lists tags which work only with Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer.

Appendix E: CSS Support Charts

Lists all CSS properties and the browsers which support them, including a handy "safe list."

Appendix F: Character Entities

Lists all characters not found in the normal alpha-numeric character set.

Glossary

Defines many of the terms used in the book.

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