I have been busting my butt of the late to make sure that this little corner is one hundred percent XHTML valid code. Some of you have asked why? Well, first off, I have this major anal streak in me which just makes me that way (and tend to get a bit ornery when people ask me "why?"). Second, you are SUPPOSED to write valid code. It is just a matter of good practice. I mean don't you want to do things right?
On that note let me get my soapbox out and talk about valid code. Valid code is a standard set by the World Wide Web Consortium . This organization, the W3C for short, is trying to set a uniform standard so that the whole world is on the same page. This guarantees that browsers for the blind, deaf and other special devices such as brail printers will know how to function with the given web page.
This is actually a major improvement in things for HTML which was rather forgiving in terms of code but could be ambiguous. XHTML is stricter but more specific and powerful. Using XHTML instead of HTML allows one to "extend" the language and allow it to do much more than HTML. (The "X" stands for "eXtensible".) It can properly display math equations with MathML, make full use of XMLwhich allows one to really change the static nature of HTML. In short, it is just better just think of it as HTML on steroids and crack.
It is not yet perfect though. If my code is valid it should display the same on all browsers. Right? The fact is it should but it does not. Microsoft Internet Explorer in 800X600 mode will make this site look like a Kindergartener's unsupervised finger-painting. And then I was going to put some MathML in here to do the formula rather like the one in the picture below...
(BTW... Anything exceeding 3 or 4 nanoseconds is about the same as DEFCON 4.) I did actually begin to play with just that until I realized that Netscape based browsers do not all support MathML. The little experimental page I made displayed fine in Internet Explorer but failed miserably in Firebird. So it is definitely not perfect yet but the habit of writing valid XHTML and CSS will pay dividends soon enough. The pluses of getting it all the same in numerous browsers and giving other software a standard to go from outweigh the quirks of a new standard.
It is not that hard to learn with the help of one Dil and the w3c's free validation service I was able to get three valid pages up in about four hours. This was with only a modest html background and much stupidity. Dil, however, specializes in either beating the stupid out of someone or driving the perpetually dumb ones away to spare the rest of us. Once I wore Dil's patience thin I headed off to a few tutorial sites. experimented a bit and validated some more. I would make a few changes, validate it and either continue on or figure out why I was getting and error.
After that I created a Cascading Style Sheet, CSS for short, and Validated it.. This allows me to change the look of the site by modifying only one document. Again with the validation service and Dil it took me very little time. My style sheet, however, was overly simplistic and boring. I am also still mucho n00b0 when it comes to CSS. This is when i turned to the web.
The web offers a whole host of other sites that can help any site designer quickly and easily write valid code. One of the resources I really like is blogstyles.com . The ready made CSS templates saved me much time with this site and they offer several free ones. There is also Movable Type which is a bloggers heaven. The help files that come with this free progam are packed with all the information one could need. If that is not enought there is an array of web based support out there.
The final reason for adapting to the W3C standards is, although not perfect, that it will become the standard. This is simply the way the web is going. XHTML, CSS abd XML will be the norm in the not so distance future. One would be better off just starting now.
Here are some links for more information.
- W3C XHTML Turorial Site - Step by Step. A good starting point
- Freewebmaster XHTML Tutorial Site - A good overview.
- Xguru XHTML Tutorial Site - A good collection of XHTML articles.
- Website Tips XHTML Site - Has links to information, articles, tutorials, XHTML sites, resources, and charts. I bookmarked it for future use.
- W3C CSS Tutorial Site - Step by Step. Again, a good starting point
- HTML Goodies CSS Site - A collection of different aspects of style sheets from watermarks to cursors and scroll bars. The first link is a good overview.
- Webmonkey CSS Tutorial Site - A lot of material to read here... Five lessons in all.
Also be sure and check out blogstyles.com and MovableType if you want to do any of this. The time and frustrations it will save you will add years to the of your life.
L8tr
Lumpy
Comments (2)
well, wish you merry christmas and a happy new year! good job on the site, keep working on it, add some more pictures and it will be great.
Posted by marsi again! | January 2, 2004 6:10 AM
Posted on January 2, 2004 06:10
good choice of colors! i've got to say that.. :). it's really nice.
Posted by angelina - sorry, not nicole.. | January 2, 2004 6:12 AM
Posted on January 2, 2004 06:12