Designing with Web Standards
Encyclopedia
Designing with Web Standards is a web development book by Jeffrey Zeldman
(3rd edition with Ethan Marcotte). Zeldman co-founded The Web Standards Project in 1998 and served as its director during the formative years when the Project was petitioning browser makers to support standards. Zeldman left the Project in 2003.
The book’s audience is primarily web development professionals who are focused on web standards design work. DWS is used as a textbook in over 85 colleges including New York University
, UCLA, Dartmouth and Brigham Young University
.
, a staunch proponent of web standards and founder of the award-winning web design studio Happy Cog, Designing with Web Standards guides the reader on how to better utilize web standards pragmatically to create accessible, user-friendly web sites. The 432-page book has the following 16 chapters:
For the third edition of the book, Zeldman brought in fellow author Ethan Marcotte to “substantially revise” and update the content.
from 137 reviewers.
Reviewers have noted that the witty, conversational tone of the book mixed with the in-depth technical analysis are enough “to keep you turning the pages.” Amazon.com book reviewer David Wall notes that the book is “a fantastic education that any design professional will appreciate.” Wall goes on to praise Zeldman’s pragmatic approach, as well as the “tightly focused tips” he provides and bolsters with code examples to illustrate his point.
Some critics have said that the book is aimed more at web design novices and mentions a few out-of-date browsers, and is devoid of a lot of detail (citations).
; and progressive enhancement
, a layered approach to web page and application creation that enables all people and devices to access the content and functionality of a page, regardless of personal physical ability (accessibility), connection speed, and browser capability.
Prior to the Web standards movement, Web page developers used invalid, incorrect HTML syntax such as "table layouts" and "spacer" GIF images to create Web pages—an approach often referred to as "tag soup
". Such pages looked the same in all browsers of a certain age (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 and Netscape Navigator
4), but were often inaccessible to people with disabilities. Tag soup pages also displayed or operated incorrectly in older browsers, and required multiple code forks such as JavaScript
for Netscape Navigator
and JScript for Internet Explorer
that added to the cost and complexity of development. The extra code required, and the lack of a caching page layout language, made Web sites "heavy" in terms of bandwidth, as did the frequent use of images as text. These bandwidth requirements were burdensome to users in developing countries, rural areas, and wherever fast Internet connections were unavailable.
The Web standards movement pioneered by Glenn Davis
, George Olsen
, Jeffrey Zeldman
, Steven Champeon, Todd Fahrner, Eric Meyer
, Tantek Çelik
, Dori Smith, Tim Bray
, Jeffrey Veen, and other members of The Web Standards Project in the 1990s replaced bandwidth-heavy tag soup
with light, semantic markup and progressive enhancement
, with the goal of making Web content "accessible to all".
The Web Standards movement declared that HTML
, CSS
, and JavaScript
were more than simply interesting technologies. "They are a way of creating Web pages that will facilitate the twin goals of sophisticated and appropriate presentation and widespread accessibility." The group succeeded in persuading Netscape
, Microsoft
, and other browser makers to support these standards in their browsers. It then set about evangelizing these standards to designers, who were still using tag soup
, Adobe Flash
, and other proprietary technologies to create Web pages.
, portability of content with an eye toward mobile and other emerging environments, lowered bandwidth and production cost, and other benefits. This section of the book addressed marketers and site owners as well as Web developers and designers. The second section of the book was a how-to for designers and developers. How-to books were common in the Web industry, although almost none at the time taught Web standards. What made the first edition of Designing With Web Standards unique was its focus on making the case for forward compatibility, accessibility, and SEO to all who own, manage, or use Web sites, not just developers.
The book is credited with converting the industry from tag soup
and Flash
to semantics and accessibility via correct use of HTML
, CSS
, and JavaScript
. Subsequent editions, while continuing to address the state of the Web and the benefits of standards-based design, have also focused on emerging technologies such as HTML5 and CSS3, and on emerging design strategies such as Responsive Web Design (RWD) and "Mobile First."
Jeffrey Zeldman
- External links :* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * , , and A List Apart Web Surveys* * , "Boagworld", 2010-03-31* "InformIT Network"* , Khoi Vinh's Subtraction, 2006-10-10* , "DMXzone.com"* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *...
(3rd edition with Ethan Marcotte). Zeldman co-founded The Web Standards Project in 1998 and served as its director during the formative years when the Project was petitioning browser makers to support standards. Zeldman left the Project in 2003.
The book’s audience is primarily web development professionals who are focused on web standards design work. DWS is used as a textbook in over 85 colleges including New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, UCLA, Dartmouth and Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
.
Summary
Written by Jeffery ZeldmanJeffrey Zeldman
- External links :* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * , , and A List Apart Web Surveys* * , "Boagworld", 2010-03-31* "InformIT Network"* , Khoi Vinh's Subtraction, 2006-10-10* , "DMXzone.com"* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *...
, a staunch proponent of web standards and founder of the award-winning web design studio Happy Cog, Designing with Web Standards guides the reader on how to better utilize web standards pragmatically to create accessible, user-friendly web sites. The 432-page book has the following 16 chapters:
- 99% of Websites are obsolete
- Designing and Building with Standards
- Gentle Persuasion
- The Future of Web Standards
- Modern Markup
- XHTMLXHTMLXHTML is a family of XML markup languages that mirror or extend versions of the widely-used Hypertext Markup Language , the language in which web pages are written....
and Semantic Markup - HTML5: The New Hope
- Tighter, Firmer Pages Guaranteed: Structure and Semantics
- CSSCSS-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
Basics - CSSCSS-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
Layout: MarkupMarkupThere is more than one usage of the word markup.For generic discussions of markup in various contexts, see:* Markup language, a notation used to annotate a document's content to give information regarding the structure of the text or instructions for how it is to be displayed* Markup , a term for...
, Boxes and Floats – Oh My! - Working with Browsers Part I: DOCTYPE Switching and Standards Mode
- Working with Browsers Part II: Bugs, Workarounds, and CSS3’s Silver Lining
- Working with Browsers Part III: TypographyTypographyTypography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
- Accessibility: The Soul of Web Standards
- Working with DOM-Based Scripts
- A Site Redesign
- NYMag.com: Simple Standards, Sexy Interfaces
For the third edition of the book, Zeldman brought in fellow author Ethan Marcotte to “substantially revise” and update the content.
Critique
The book’s third and most recent edition was released on October 25, 2009 by New Riders Press. It has received generally positive feedback, with a four out of five star rating on Amazon.comAmazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
from 137 reviewers.
Reviewers have noted that the witty, conversational tone of the book mixed with the in-depth technical analysis are enough “to keep you turning the pages.” Amazon.com book reviewer David Wall notes that the book is “a fantastic education that any design professional will appreciate.” Wall goes on to praise Zeldman’s pragmatic approach, as well as the “tightly focused tips” he provides and bolsters with code examples to illustrate his point.
Some critics have said that the book is aimed more at web design novices and mentions a few out-of-date browsers, and is devoid of a lot of detail (citations).
About Web Standards
Concepts of standards-based web design include: the separation of document structure from a Web page or application's appearance and behavior; an emphasis on semantically structured content that validates (that is, contains no errors of structural composition) when tested against validation software maintained by the World Wide Web ConsortiumWorld Wide Web Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web .Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the...
; and progressive enhancement
Progressive enhancement
Progressive enhancement is a strategy for web design that emphasizes accessibility, semantic HTML markup, and external stylesheet and scripting technologies...
, a layered approach to web page and application creation that enables all people and devices to access the content and functionality of a page, regardless of personal physical ability (accessibility), connection speed, and browser capability.
Prior to the Web standards movement, Web page developers used invalid, incorrect HTML syntax such as "table layouts" and "spacer" GIF images to create Web pages—an approach often referred to as "tag soup
Tag soup
In Web development, "tag soup" refers to formatted markup written for a web page that is very much like HTML but does not consist of correct HTML syntax and document structure...
". Such pages looked the same in all browsers of a certain age (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 and Netscape Navigator
Netscape Navigator
Netscape Navigator was a proprietary web browser that was popular in the 1990s. It was the flagship product of the Netscape Communications Corporation and the dominant web browser in terms of usage share, although by 2002 its usage had almost disappeared...
4), but were often inaccessible to people with disabilities. Tag soup pages also displayed or operated incorrectly in older browsers, and required multiple code forks such as JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
for Netscape Navigator
Netscape Navigator
Netscape Navigator was a proprietary web browser that was popular in the 1990s. It was the flagship product of the Netscape Communications Corporation and the dominant web browser in terms of usage share, although by 2002 its usage had almost disappeared...
and JScript for Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
that added to the cost and complexity of development. The extra code required, and the lack of a caching page layout language, made Web sites "heavy" in terms of bandwidth, as did the frequent use of images as text. These bandwidth requirements were burdensome to users in developing countries, rural areas, and wherever fast Internet connections were unavailable.
The Web standards movement pioneered by Glenn Davis
Glenn Davis
Glenn Davis may refer to:*Glenn Davis , former first baseman in Major League Baseball*Glenn Davis , known as "Mr. Outside"*Glenn Robert Davis , U.S...
, George Olsen
George Olsen
George Edward Olsen, Sr. was an American band-leader.Born in Portland, Oregon, he played the drums and attended the University of Michigan, where he was drum major. Here he formed his band, George Olsen and his Music, which continued in the Portland area...
, Jeffrey Zeldman
Jeffrey Zeldman
- External links :* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * , , and A List Apart Web Surveys* * , "Boagworld", 2010-03-31* "InformIT Network"* , Khoi Vinh's Subtraction, 2006-10-10* , "DMXzone.com"* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *...
, Steven Champeon, Todd Fahrner, Eric Meyer
Eric Meyer
Eric A. Meyer is an American web design consultant and author. He is best known for his advocacy work on behalf of web standards, most notably Cascading Style Sheets , a technique for managing how HTML is displayed...
, Tantek Çelik
Tantek Çelik
Tantek Çelik is a computer scientist of Turkish-American descent and was the Chief Technologist at Technorati. He is one of the principal editors of several CSS Specifications....
, Dori Smith, Tim Bray
Tim Bray
Timothy William Bray is a Canadian software developer and entrepreneur. He co-founded Open Text Corporation and Antarctica Systems. Bray was Director of Web Technologies at Sun Microsystems from early 2004 to early 2010. Since then he has served as a Developer Advocate at Google, focusing on...
, Jeffrey Veen, and other members of The Web Standards Project in the 1990s replaced bandwidth-heavy tag soup
Tag soup
In Web development, "tag soup" refers to formatted markup written for a web page that is very much like HTML but does not consist of correct HTML syntax and document structure...
with light, semantic markup and progressive enhancement
Progressive enhancement
Progressive enhancement is a strategy for web design that emphasizes accessibility, semantic HTML markup, and external stylesheet and scripting technologies...
, with the goal of making Web content "accessible to all".
The Web Standards movement declared that HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
, CSS
CSS
-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
, and JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
were more than simply interesting technologies. "They are a way of creating Web pages that will facilitate the twin goals of sophisticated and appropriate presentation and widespread accessibility." The group succeeded in persuading Netscape
Netscape
Netscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...
, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, and other browser makers to support these standards in their browsers. It then set about evangelizing these standards to designers, who were still using tag soup
Tag soup
In Web development, "tag soup" refers to formatted markup written for a web page that is very much like HTML but does not consist of correct HTML syntax and document structure...
, Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
, and other proprietary technologies to create Web pages.
The Impact of Designing with Web Standards
The first half of Zeldman's Designing With Web Standards in 2003 consolidated the case for Web standards in terms of accessibility, Search Engine OptimizationSearch engine optimization
Search engine optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid search results...
, portability of content with an eye toward mobile and other emerging environments, lowered bandwidth and production cost, and other benefits. This section of the book addressed marketers and site owners as well as Web developers and designers. The second section of the book was a how-to for designers and developers. How-to books were common in the Web industry, although almost none at the time taught Web standards. What made the first edition of Designing With Web Standards unique was its focus on making the case for forward compatibility, accessibility, and SEO to all who own, manage, or use Web sites, not just developers.
The book is credited with converting the industry from tag soup
Tag soup
In Web development, "tag soup" refers to formatted markup written for a web page that is very much like HTML but does not consist of correct HTML syntax and document structure...
and Flash
Flash
-Book:* Flash fiction, fiction of extreme brevity* The Flash , ongoing comic book featuring the titular DC Comics hero* Flash , a 2004 science fiction novel by L. E...
to semantics and accessibility via correct use of HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
, CSS
CSS
-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
, and JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
. Subsequent editions, while continuing to address the state of the Web and the benefits of standards-based design, have also focused on emerging technologies such as HTML5 and CSS3, and on emerging design strategies such as Responsive Web Design (RWD) and "Mobile First."
Translations
Designing with Web Standards has been translated into 15 different languages, including (for the last edition) Italian, Chinese, Hungarian, Polish and Portuguese.Editions
| Author Last Name(s) | Title | Edition | ISBN 10 | ISBN 13 | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zeldman | Designing With Web Standards | 1 | 0735712018 | 9780735712010 | 05/14/2003 |
| Zeldman | Designing With Web Standards | 2 | 0321385551 | 9780321385550 | 07/06/2006 |
| Zeldman / Marcotte | Designing With Web Standards | 3 | 0321616952 | 9780321616951 | 10/15/2009 |
External links
- www.zeldman.com/dwws
- http://layersmagazine.com/designing-with-web-standards.html
- http://books.google.com/books/about/Designing_with_Web_standards.html?id=ZCPWYFoWaMIC