A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO WEB DESIGN Erin Anderson, Virginia DeBoIt, Derek Featherstone, Lars Gunther, Denise Jacobs, Leslie Jensen-Inman, Chris Mills, Christopher Schmitt, Glenda Sims, and Aarron Walter HeuTX Riders \ VOICES THAT MATTER
Table off Contents Table of Contents Part I: Preparation and Background Knowledge 1 Chapter 1:lnterACT Who this book is for 5 How to use this book 5 About this book 9 Chapter 2: Tools 12 Knowing what you want to accomplish 13 Knowing your tools 13 Managing your work 15 Tool links and reviews at the book site 16 Chapter 3: Learning on the Web 18 About learning 19 Finding the answer 21 Taking notes 24 Staying up to date 28 Staying on task 29 Finding the answers from other people 31 Providing answers 32 Collaborating 35 Learning and inspiration 35 36 Chapter 4: Internet Fundamentals 40 A short history of computers, user interfaces, and computer communications 41 Internet core technology 43 Internet and web architecture 47 The web server 50 The web experience 51 57 Chapter 5: Writing for the Web 60 Writing for print vs. web: what's the difference? 61 Understanding the online user experience 67 Web writing that works lor doesn't) 73 Before you write, you need some tools. And a process. And a team. 77 Top 10 web writing tips 82 Keep web content fresh with routine updates 88 89 Part II: Planning a Website 91 Chapter 6: Information Architecture Intro 94 Planning process 95 Balanced design 97 Project roles 98 U
Table of Contents v What is an information architect? Ten major roles of an information architect Chapter 7: Site Planning Discover the project definition Chapter 8: Content Analysis Focus on the users Chapter?: Content Strategy Chez Sous le Vent: the client Content strategy statement Approved content outline Gap analysis and the content creation plan Blueprints: information architecture diagrams 99 104 105 107 108 120 121 122 134 136 137 139 140 141 143 149 Part III: Implementation HTML and CSS Fundamentals, and Accessibility Chapter 10: HTML Intro 154 The history of HTML 155 What HTML is The structure of an HTML document 156 159 The syntax of HTML elements 160 Block level and inline elements 163 The importance of good semantics 164 HTML best practices Character references HTML5 Chapter 11: CSS Intro CSS a brief history 166 168 168 170 171 172 The anatomy of a CSS rule 172 How CSS is applied to HTML 174 CSS comments CSS shorthand 151 178 CSS measurement units 180 Colors in CSS 182 CSS selectors guide 185 Resolving conflicts inheritance and the cascade 189 Browser support for CSS 194 The future of CSS CSS3 195 196 Chapter 12: <head> 196 DOCTYPES 198 Setting the document's primary language 202 179
vi Table of Contents Giving your document a <tifle> 203 Adding keywords and a description 204 Adding styles and script 206 Link elements 208 211 Chapter 13: Headings and Paragraphs 212 Recap! Headings and paragraphs 213 General styles for text 214 Other HTML elements for giving text meaning 223 Presentational elements never use these 231 232 Chapter U: Whitespace 233 Reiterating the importance of whitespace 234 The box model 238 Setting padding, border and margin via CSS 241 Controlling spacing within paragraphs 244 Centering content on a page 248 249 Chapter 15: Links 250 Link syntax 251 Different kinds of link target 253 Link best practices 255 Link styling 259 Link CSS 261 Adding icons to links 265 266 Chapter 16: Images 267 HTML <img> syntax 268 CSS background image syntax 272 A crash course in image formats 277 Image best practices 282 Tiles and gradients 283 Image replacement 285 CSS "sprites" 290 The Chez Sous Le Vent case study 293 294 Chapter 17: Lists 295 The three list types 296 Choosing among list types 302 Nesting lists 303 List styling 304 Using lists for navigation menus 310 315 Chapter 18: Tables 316 Basic table elements 317 Advanced table elements 320
Table of Contents Styling tables 324 333 Chapter 19: Forms 334 Form best practices 335 HTML for forms 339 Styling forms 348 HTML5 forms 360 361 Chapter 20: Floats 362 Floating elements around one another 363 Creating multiple column layouts with floats 367 377 Chapter 21: Positioning 378 Positioning basics 379 Relative positioning 380 Absolute positioning 383 Making positioning occur relative to elements other than <body> 387 Fixed positioning 390 401 Chapter 22: Accessibility Intro 404 Understanding accessibility 405 What accessibility is 407 What accessibility isn't 409 412 Chapter 23: Accessibility Helps 413 People first 414 Assistive technology and tools 422 425 Chapter 24: Accessibility Testing 426 There's too much to know! 427 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) 428 Guiding principles 429 Judgment day 435 448 Chapter 25: Bringing It Together 450 The project 451 Project requirements 451 Getting started 452 Working page by page 454 Quality assurance testing 466 Deployment 472 Testing 475 Getting the word out 477 Evaluate your results 478 479 Index 481