HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
For Web developers, the HTML5 drat speciication for the irst time
describes how the browser should expose HTML elements to scripts. Using
JavaScript syntax, it describes the methods that scripts may call on document
objects. In other words, it describes what commands a given HTML element
understands and obeys. Previous HTML speciication referred generally to
ECMAScript, a standardized family of languages that includes JavaScript,
JScript (Microsot's version of JavaScript), and ActionScript (Adobe's scripting
language for Flash). he use of JavaScript in this topic is not meant to imply
the exclusion of other scripting languages.
Equally exciting is the new HTML5 canvas element. It provides a bitmap
canvas area that scripts can draw on or load images and video into. A canvas
element can be used to render graphs, game graphics, or other visual images
on-the-ly. here are also new elements for creating meters (meter) and prog-
ress bars (progress). here are also new element attributes that allow parts
of a document to be moved around the page or edited in place and saved
across sessions.
Even with all these new features, HTML5 emphasizes simplicity. his is
achieved by segregating the description of document content from the descrip-
tions of presentation and interactive behavior. Web authors are encouraged
to code the minimal HTML necessary to provide a semantic description of a
document. his is what
Web Standards
is all about: the standards of practice
that create web pages that display well on all devices and that are pleasing to
everyone and everything that reads them.
Allow me to expand on this last point.
Search
has changed how we use
the Web. Although a work must be read and understood by people, it is just
as important that the information to help people ind that work be properly
constructed. In other words, a web page must be both robot-friendly and
people-friendly.
his dictum of being friendly to everything (within reason) goes beyond
just being browser- and robot-friendly. he Web embraces all kinds of devices,
including phones, tablets, netbooks, computers, game consoles, and large
public video displays, as well as devices for the visually handicapped. he
Web also embraces all languages and writing systems, including right-to-let
languages such as Hebrew and Farsi and ideographic character sets such as
Japanese and Chinese.
We are entering the age of the collaborative Web. It is important to think
about pleasing the coauthors, contributors, curators, archivists, and translators
who will work with your documents long ater you write them.
