lesson content

• handcoding vs WYSIWYG
• HTML and XHTML – differences and implementation
• the thing with tables…. advantages of working with CSS
• why webstandards are important

lesson notes

• handcoding will produce ‘clean’ code without cluttering up the page with unnecessary code
• ALWAYS type everything by hand – AVOID temptation to copy & paste
• every XHTML document requires a valid DOCTYPE
• all tags and properties to written in lowercase (font names and colour values can be an exeption)
• all tags must be closed, single tags to contain space and forward slash before closing bracket
• by being in complete in control you will be able to create more stable layouts
• tables should only be used for tabular data, not layout (major drawback of tables: loading time, placeholder graphics and maintenance)
• possible use of multiple style sheet for different purposes, ie browser compatilibilty and printing
• webstandards encourage following guidelines to achieve user-friendly and accessible websites

download PDF

• ↓ character encoding in XHTML
• ↓ HTML —> XHTML
• ↓ introduction to XHTML
• ↓ planning site and folder structure

net talk

• sitepoint.com Why handcode?
• boagworld.comHow many people hand code and how many use a WYSIWYG program?
• wisdumo.com Handcoding

net references

• w3schools.com Introduction To XHTML
• 4webhelp.net The bridge between HTML and XML…
• modularmedia.comXHTML basics