WEB PAGE DESIGN =============== Introduction ------------ HTML is the "Hyper Text Markup Language", this is what you use to actually write the web pages. As of summer 2002, HTML had the following major versions: HTML 2 - HTML 2 has the basics, things like Headers and Paragraphs. HTML 3.2 - HTML 3.2 introduces Tables. It also introduces other features which should not, strictly, be used as they can make it difficult for people using atypical setups (eg, disabled people) to read your page. HTML 4 - HTML 4.0 has support for what is termed "stylesheets" (more on that below) and also introduces many features which *help* people using atypical setups to read your page, such as language support, accessibility options and so on. XHTML 1 - XHTML 1 supports exactly the same as HTML 4, but instead of being based on SGML, it is based on XML. There is no practical difference except that few browsers (as of 2002) support XHTML. Version 1 is only a historical curiosity now, and Version 3.0 never made it past the draft stage. ................................................................................ This document is still being authored. The following are rough notes that may make it into the document.

Ways Of Browsing The Web

Web pages can be "read" in many different ways. The most common method is to use a graphical web browser, such as Netscape or Internet Explorer. A less common but still important method (and one which is becoming more popular) is to *listen* to web pages. This is very important for blind people, but it is also becoming possible to have your computer read you web pages while you work. Also, web-over-the- phone is coming, where you browse the web over the phone, with the computer the other end reading the pages out to you.

A third method of reading pages is to use low-bandwidth browsers -- a technical and posh sounding term which just means that the pages look more plain (!). For example, there would be no graphics. Examples of low-bandwidth browsers include PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants -- that is, electronic diaries and stuff like that), some mobile phones, and some text browsers like Lynx or Emacs/W3 (I use Emacs/W3). These are frequently black and white devices, and only fit a small amount of text on the screen at a time.

There are also other ways of reading web pages, for example some people use braille machines.

Stylesheets

The exact way in which the page should be set out is detailed using stylesheets. Stylesheets make it possible to set colours, fonts, margins and so on for people reading web pages using graphical browsers (Netscape, Internet Explorer) as well as making it possible to set volume, voices, pitch, and so on for people listening to web pages (eg, blind people using a package called EmacsSpeak).

Stylesheets are files which need only be written once for each web site. The most supported language for stylesheets is CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). There are two versions of CSS available (amazingly enough they are called CSS1 and CSS2!). CSS1 is claimed to be supported by many several packages (mainly Netscape 4, Internet Explorer 4, Emacs 4 and Opera 3.5) but the standard of support is not exactly excellent.

Browsers

Browsers fall basically into three groups. Within each group, the browsers *in general* render pages approximately the same as each other.

  1. Netscape 3 and Internet Explorer 2 are early browsers. They support most of HTML version 2 and the not-very-friendly features introduced in HTML version 3.2 but almost none of the later features (namely, HTML 4.0 and CSS).
  2. Netscape 4, Internet Explorer 4, Opera 3.5 are the latest graphical browsers. They support most of HTML 2, all of the features new in HTML 3.2, and some of the features in HTML 4. They also support a subset of CSS1 (each a different subset, and each in a slightly different way, which makes writing complex CSS quite a painful process).
  3. Lynx is a cutting edge browser which supports almost all of HTML 2 and HTML 4, but has no support for features introduced in HTML 3.2 and does not support CSS (yet).