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Image Maps
An Image Map is an image on a Web page that leads to two or more
different links, depending on which part of the image someone clicks.
It's like a United States map where each state is a separate link to
state information. Image maps are sometimes used for navigation. However
if your client has an older browser or turns images off, then remember
to always provide alternative textual navigation links.
You can read more about
Image Maps at the W3C.
Meta Tags
Meta tags provide information about the document itself. Information
can be such things as Keywords for search engines, Expiration date,
Author, HTTP headers to be used for retrieving this document, etc.
You can read more about
META tags at the W3C.
Meta tags are not required and are empty or one sided tags which
are coded in the "HEAD" tag. Each META element requires the
"NAME" or "HTTP-EQUIV" attribute along with the "CONTENT" attribute.
The "NAME" and "HTTP-EQUIV" attributes define the general information
you are creating or changing in the document, and the "CONTENT"
attribute defines the value of the general information.
These attributes are stored as KEY/VALUE pairs where NAME/HTTP-EQUIV
is the KEY and CONTENT is the VALUE of the key.
When coding the Meta statement you can
use the following attributes and values:
Code as follows:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Main Page</TITLE>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Expires" Content="Tue, 18 Feb 2002 00:00:00 GMT"
>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Reply-To" Content="tlunday2@txu.com"
>
<META NAME="Author" Content="Tynette Lunday">
<META NAME="Keywords" Content="html,meta,style">
</HEAD>
Document Type
Document Type allows you to tell the browser what HTML standards are
being used for your document. This is needed for the various flavors
of HTML that are being coded. It specifies what version number of
HTML and type you are using in your code. This way you can insure
that your code meets
all HTML 4.0 recommendations by using the "STRICT" doctype. However
if your code uses some of the older design elements, you might want
to specify "TRANSITIONAL" as your DTD (Document Type Declaration),
or "LOOSE".
There is also the "FRAMESET" flavor for those pages which use Frames.
To read more about DTD's visit
Document Types at the W3C.
The Document Type Definition is coded as the first line of code
on your document before any HTML statements, as it is not considered
as HTML itself.
Example HTML 4.01 Transitional:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
----- or -----
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/loose.dtd">
Example HTML 4.01 Strict:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
Example XHTML Basic:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML Basic 1.0//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-basic/xhtml-basic10.dtd">
Example FRAMESET:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Frameset//EN">
----- or -----
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Frameset//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/frameset.dtd">
Style Sheets
Style Sheets, sometimes referred to as "Cascading" style sheets are
the solution to many of the HTML restrictions requarding control of
headers, fonts, text, margins and special effects. Style sheets can be
designed to control a series of HTML documents using one master Style
Sheet. If you wish to override the Master Style sheet, you can do that
on the document level or per Tag element. Hence the Cascade effect as
it follows the flow of Style control you establish to interpret style
information. For more information visit the
Cascading Style Sheet Homepage at the W3C.
There are three types of Styles:
Deprecated Tags & Attributes
Deprecated tags/attributes are those that are no longer supported
and have been replaced by other elements which have been designed to
handle their functions more effectably.
These deprecated elements will at some time become
obsolete, but for now are still workable.
For an
index of all elements and their status and coding information
you can visit the W3C.
Tags are deprecated each time a new Recommendation becomes standard.
The HTML 4.0 recommendation deprecated many text-formatting tags
because Style Sheets will handle most text-formatting options better.
If you use any of the deprecated tags, then you will be using the
HTML 4.0 or XHTML Basic Transitional recommendation.
Some of the Deprecated tags are as follows:
<ISINDEX>
<APPLET> (use <OBJECT> now)
<CENTER> (use <DIV> now)
<FONT> (use <STYLE> now)
<BASEFONT>
<STRIKE>
<U>
<DIR>
<MENU>
<S>
XHTML
On December 19, 2000 the W3C set
XHTML Basic as the W3C Recommendation, replacing HTML 4.0.
The W3C gives more information on XHTML as follows:
"XHTML 1.0 is the first major change to HTML since HTML 4.0 was released
in 1997. It brings the rigor of XML to Web pages and is the
keystone in W3C's work to create standards that provide
richer Web pages on an ever increasing range of browser platforms
including cell phones, televisions, cars, wallet sized wireless
communicators, kiosks, and desktops.
XHTML is modular making it easy to combine with markup tags for things like vector graphics, multimedia, math, electronic commerce and more. Content providers will find it easier to produce content for a wide range of platforms, with better assurances as to how the content is rendered.
The modular design reflects the realization that a one-size-fits-all
approach will no longer work in a world where browsers vary enormously
in their capabilities. A browser in a cellphone can't offer
the same experience as a top of the range multimedia desktop machine.
The cellphone doesn't even have the memory to load the page designed for
the desktop browser."
XHTML uses the HTML 4.0 tags and can be interpreted by current browsers
by following a few simple guidelines, like coding the DTD as well as
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML Basic 1.0//EN">
others. Read more on XHTML at the W3C.
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