[...]... Constructing Standards- Based Web Sites Introduction Building Web sites has changed, and someone forgot to tell the architects Web browsers’ support for modern techniques has allowed a new degree of discipline and control in coding the front end of a Web site These new best practices are those dictated in what is commonly referred to as Web standards- based” design or development A Web standards- based... Finally, figure out how to get a site to its standards- compliance goals and how to keep it that way 11 1 Coding the Front End Advocates of Web standards tend to be passionate, but far from unanimous Disagreement is nothing new The concept of Web standardsbased” Web sites means different things to different people Web standards is the subject of many an argument online, and, to some, almost a religious... applications, and other dynamic systems are concerned If a Web site is to reap the benefits of a Web standards- based UI, it needs to be considered at all levels, and plans should be introduced that will allow the site to grow intelligently The Keys to Web Standards What, exactly, changes when you’re planning a site with a Web standards- based approach? First, on the UI layer, conforming to Web standards means... complex a Web presence, the more critical Web standards become This is particularly true for an enterprise with many different properties, channels, or brand considerations Add to this the prospect of critical Web- based applications and content management, and it becomes a mandate to ensure a high level of quality at every tier of an online presence 6 ADAPTING TO WEB STANDARDS To embrace standards is... driven, it interprets and responds to user actions and may drive changes to the model Think of this as the layer responsible for handling user actions which include, but are not limited to, mouse clicks or Web- based form submissions To extend this model to Web software and Web standards, some have labeled the UI layer separation of content, presentation, and behavior as a parallel to this pattern, using... used for things it was never intended to do Basic layouts and design treatments were effectively code hacks Today these hacks have been worked into marketing Web sites, Web software applications, and content management alike Web browsers today can support a more modern and disciplined approach that can help simplify all of these environments through the adoption of Web standards- based code A Web standards- based... many myths that surround Web standards To those who think they know what Web standards are all about, it’s important to filter truth from all the noise The most important aspects of Web standards- based Web sites are the separation of content and structure (HTML or XHTML) from presentation (CSS) and behavior (JavaScript) These key characteristics are by far the most critical ones, and will help provide... What Are Web Standards? Web standards is a term used to mean Web pages built using the open and compatible recommendations from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and other standards bodies as opposed to closed, proprietary, corporate feature sets These recommendations, combined with modern best practices, exploit the standardized power of the modern Web browsers that dominate the market today, as... include “BackCompat” for quirks mode and CSS1 Compat” for standards mode Oops, the Wrong Rendering Mode Broke the Page It is not unusual to have a site or a series of templates built in a carefully crafted Web standards- based structure, and then something just goes wrong, pushing the browser into the wrong rendering mode The result is an entire page or 23 24 ADAPTING TO WEB STANDARDS series of pages... 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 as the most realistic options For years, many Web standards advocates insisted that XHTML was the next logical step for the Web and that it should be used for all markup Some still feel strongly that this is the case Exceptions among experts exist, and in fact many of the creators of browser software today favor HTML and consider most of the XHTML on the Web to be invalid due to its . ADAPTING TO WEB STANDARDS Christopher Schmitt, Kimberly Blessing, Rob Cherny, Meryl K. Evans, Kevin Lawver, and Mark Trammell CSS and Ajax for Big Sites Adapting to Web Standards: CSS and Ajax. of Web standards in a CMS (Content Management System). Finally, this book will finish by examining some process and staffing consider- ations of Web standards. What Are Web Standards? Web standards. site to grow intelligently. The Keys to Web Standards What, exactly, changes when you’re planning a site with a Web standards- based approach? First, on the UI layer, conforming to Web standards