Beginning Web Programming with HTML, XHTML, and CSS teaches you how to write Web pages using HTML, XHTML, and CSS. It follows standards-based principles, but also teaches readers ways around problems they are likely to face using (X)HTML.
While XHTML is the "current" standard, the book still covers HTML because many people do not yet understand that XHTML is the official successor to HTML, and many readers will still stick with HTML for backward compatibility and simpler/informal Web pages that don't require XHTML compliance.
The book teaches basic principles of usability and accessibility along the way, to get users into the mode of developing Web pages that will be available to as many viewers as possible from the start. The book also covers the most commonly used programming/scripting language — JavaScript — and provides readers with a roadmap of other Web technologies to learn after mastering this book to add more functionality to their sites.
In this chapter, you begin learning some aspects of Web design that will really breathe life into your Web pages. You'll start by learning how XHTML deals with color. You might remember from Chapter 1 that there were some odd six-character codes that represented colors, and in this chapter you learn what they mean so that you can use them wherever you have to deal with color. While we are looking at color, I will also introduce you to some key concepts behind creating colors and get you working with the color wheel to help you choose colors for your site. The authors of too many sites on the Web simply have not taken time to plan a good color scheme; and the result is that these sites look like they were built by amateurs (no matter how great the content). Learning a bit about color will really help make your pages look a lot more professional.
Next you will learn how to add images into your documents using the element. You will see the difference between some of the main formats used for images on the Web and you will learn how to prepare your images for use on the Web. You will also learn how to make an image a link, an ... read full excerpt from Beginning Web Programming with HTML, XHTML, and CSS ebook
