557386 FM.qxd 4/2/04 10:00 AM Page iii Creating Cool Web Sites with HTML, XHTML, and CSS Dave Taylor 557386 FM.qxd 4/2/04 10:00 AM Page ii 557386 FM.qxd 4/2/04 10:00 AM Page i Creating Cool Web Sites with HTML, XHTML, and CSS 557386 FM.qxd 4/2/04 10:00 AM Page ii 557386 FM.qxd 4/2/04 10:00 AM Page iii Creating Cool Web Sites with HTML, XHTML, and CSS Dave Taylor 557386 FM.qxd 4/2/04 10:00 AM Page iv Creating Cool Web Sites with HTML, XHTML, and CSS Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada Library of Congress Control Number: 2004100892 ISBN: 0-7645-5738-6 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1B/SQ/QU/QU/IN No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4447, E-Mail: [email protected]. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESEN­ TATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ. For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (800) 762-2974, outside the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. Copyright © 1994-2003 World Wide Web Consortium (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics, Keio University). All Rights Reserved. http://www.w3.org/ Consortium/Legal/2002/copyright documents 20021231. 557386 FM.qxd 4/2/04 10:00 AM Page v About the Author Dave Taylor has been involved with the Internet since 1980, when he first logged in as an undergraduate at the University of California, San Diego. Since then, he’s been a research scientist at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories in Palo Alto, California, reviews editor for SunWorld magazine, and founder of four companies: The Internet Mall, iTrack.com, AnswerSquad, and ClickThruStats.com. Currently, Dave is president of Intuitive Systems and is busy launching an electronic book publishing company called Intuitive Press. Dave has designed over 50 Web sites, both commercial and nonprofit, and has published more than 1000 articles about the Internet, Unix, Macintosh, interface design, and business topics. His books include Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther (O’Reilly), Wicked Cool Shell Scripts (No Starch Press), Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours (Sams Publishing), and Solaris For Dummies (Wiley Publishing). Dave holds a master’s degree in Educational Computing from Purdue University, an M.B.A. from the University of Baltimore, an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from the University of California at San Diego, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the University of Phoenix Online. You can find Dave Taylor online just about any time at http://www.intuitive.com/, or you can send him electronic mail at [email protected]. 557386 FM.qxd 4/2/04 10:00 AM Page vi 557386 FM.qxd 4/2/04 10:00 AM Page vii Credits Senior Acquisitions Editor Project Coordinator Jim Minatel April Farling Development Editors Graphics and Production Specialists Jodi Jensen Beth Brooks Brian Herrmann Jonelle Burns Jennifer Heleine Production Editor Felicia Robinson Quality Control Technician Susan Moritz Technical Editing Wiley-Dreamtech India Pvt Ltd Permissions Editor Laura Moss Copy Editor Mary Lagu Media Development Specialist Angela Denny Editorial Manager Mary Beth Wakefield Book Designer Kathie S. Schnorr Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Richard Swadley Proofreading and Indexing Publication Services Vice President and Executive Publisher Bob Ipsen Cover Design Michael Trent Vice President and Publisher Joseph B. Wikert Executive Editorial Director Mary Bednarek 557386 FM.qxd 4/2/04 10:00 AM Page viii 557386 FM.qxd 4/2/04 10:00 AM Page ix To Kiana, Gareth, and Ashley, my guardian angels 557386 FM.qxd 4/2/04 10:00 AM Page x 557386 FM.qxd 4/2/04 10:00 AM Page xi Preface ho should buy this book? What’s covered? How do I read this book? Why should I Wread this book? HTML? XHTML? CSS? Sheesh! Why not just use a Web page editor? Who am I? Welcome! “Wow! Another Web book! What makes this one different?” That’s a fair question. I want you to be confident that Creating Cool Web Sites with HTML, XHTML, and CSS will meet your needs as well as provide fun and interesting reading. So spend a minute and breeze through my preface to ensure that this is the book you seek. What This Book Is About In a nutshell, Creating Cool Web Sites with HTML, XHTML, and CSS is an introduction to HTML, XHTML, and Cascading Style Sheets. HTML is the HyperText Markup Language, and it’s the language that enables you to create and publish your own multimedia documents on the World Wide Web. Millions of users on the Internet and online services such as America Online, Earthlink, and the Microsoft Network are spending hours each day exploring the world of the Web from within their Web browser, be it Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, or any of a variety of other programs. XHTML is the modern “proper” version of HTML and is the future of the markup language. Cascading Style Sheets are also part of that future, and it’s a rare modern Web site that doesn’t use at least some element of CSS in its design and layout. By using all these technologies, you can learn to quickly and easily create attractive docu­ ments that are on the cutting edge of interactive publishing. I went through the pain of learn­ ing HTML back in 1994, the very dawn of the Web era, precisely because I wanted to spread my ideas to a global audience. For me, learning was hit or miss because the only references I could find were confusing online documents written by programmers and computer types. For you, it will be a lot easier. By reading this book and exploring the software and samples included on the companion Web site, you can learn not only the nuts and bolts of HTML, XHTML, and CSS, but also quite a lot about how to design and create useful, attractive Web sites and spread the word about them on the Net. 557386 FM.qxd 4/2/04 10:00 AM Page xii xii Ł Preface Before you delve into this book, you should know the basics: what the Internet is, how to get on it, and how to use your Web browser. If you seek detailed information on these topics, you can find many interesting and useful books from Wiley Publishing at http://www.wiley.com/ compbooks. After you have this basic knowledge, you’ll find that Creating Cool Web Sites with HTML, XHTML, and CSS is a fun introduction to the art and science of creating interesting— and, if I may say so, cool—Web sites that you’ll be proud of and that other users will want to visit and explore. Why Not Just Use a Web Page Builder? If you’ve already flipped through this book to see what’s covered, you’ve seen a ton of differ­ ent sample listings with lots and lots of < and > instructions. Yet the advertisements in every computer magazine are telling you that you don’t need to get your hands dirty with HTML and CSS when you can use a Web page editor.