Outside Resources: Links to Non-Lehigh pages on HTML, Style, and Web Issues 

Topics:

  • HTML Guides
  • Style Guides
  • Validation
  • General Authoring Issues
  • Graphics
  • Colors
  • Design
  • Advanced

    • HTML Guides

    Introduction to HTML and URLs
    By Ian Graham, author of The HTML Sourcebook. Click on ToC to navigate. Explains parts of an HTML document in sequence; HTML 3+ compliant; includes Netscape and Microsoft extensions.
    Introduction to HTML 3.2
    Information on HTML 3.2, the last commonly supported HTML standard. (We're now on HTML 4.0 but it is differentially supported by different browsers.) Includes color attributes and tables.
    Bare Bones Guide to HTML
    Reference work covering all HTML 4.0 tags. In HTML, plain text and other formats.
    Compendium of HTML elements
    Documents, in alphabetical order, nearly all HTML tags in use.
    HTML Guides Index
    by Prof. Kenneth Friedman-- Guides to various aspects of HTML structure, along with some style tips

    Style Guides

    W3 Accessibility Guidelines
    What to use and not use for maximum accessibility for disabled users.
    Principles of Good Web Design
    From a class for librarians, some principles to follow 
    W3C's Style Guide for On line Hypertext
    Straight from the horse's mouth, this is the Style Guide from the WWW Consortium, written by Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the World Wide Web. Somewhat out of date and no longer maintained.
    Yale CAIM WWW Style Guide, Second edition
    Another perspective on WWW style; one of the "canonical" guides. Includes li nks to tutorials.

    Validation

    NetMechanic
    HTML validation and link checking; can be run as a background job, so you don't have to tie up your browser.
    Doctor HTML
    Frames-based document evaluation/link testing. Enter your URL and get a slightly more rigorous test report, including size and time to load estimates. HTML 3.0 compatible
    W3C Validation Service
    Enter the URL of your page and have it checked for proper HTML (includes Weblint results)
    Bobby
    Accessibilty-oriented validator. Will check your page for compliance with various browsers, as well as for handicapped accessibility.

    General WWW Authoring Information:

    Web Publishing Curriculum
    University of Oregon basic instruction on creating and publishing web pages.
    Web Browsers and CGI Programming OpenFAQs
    Answers to a wide range of questions about how the WWW works and how to author for the WWW. Assumes varying levels of Internet expertise.
    Netscape Extensions to HTML 2.0 (including Backgrounds)
    Netscape's documentation for tables, backgrounds, and dynamic updating.
    Netscape Extensions to HTML 3.0 (including Client-Side Imagemaps)
    Netscape's documentation for client-side imagemaps, style extensions.
    The HTML Writers Guild
    Organization for HTML writers. Includes links to HTML Resources, such as useful URLs, tutorials & mailing list archive, style guides & specifications.
    The World Wide Web- tools for aspiring web weavers
    From NASA. Includes links togeneral WWW, general HTML, advanced HTML, VRML, etc. guides.

    Graphics

    Graphics Optimizers
    (Internet Utilities for optimizing the size of graphics on your page-- feed them the graphic and they return an optimized version.)
    TransWeb
    An imagemap/forms based utility for creating graphics with transparent areas from existing graphics.

    Colors

    Kevin Werbach's List of Color Resources
    Various resources on choosing colors for backgrounds and text.
    HTML 3.2 Named Colors
    A list of the 'named colors' listed in the HTML 3.2 specs. Warning: these colors will behave badly in Netscape 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2.
    Color Test Results
    Results of a user readability test of various color combinations.
    HTML Background
    Helps you choose the correct background and text color combinations.
     
    Color Picker
    Another frames-based color combination tester, based on picking a color from the Netscape matrix.

    Development and Design

    Web Pages That Suck
    A object guide to what NOT to do when creating a web page.
    Alertbox: Current Issues in Web Usability
    A biweekly column on issues relating to web design that works. Excellent advice.
    HTML Hell
    Things NOT to do when creating pages and sites. Concise and useful.
    Art and the Zen of Web Sites
    A humorous but practical guide to thinking about your web design.
    Web page design for designers
    For those who already know HTML and/or are familiar with graphic design-- an excellent site on the nuances of designing for interactive multimedia such as the web!
    Terrific Type Tips
    From C|net's BUILDER.COM, 23 tips on laying out and designing pages, primarily directed at the traditional print designer, but helpful for all.
    Web Design Information
    Instructions for image maps, forms, cgi scripts, server side includes, access limitations, etc.
    Web Weavers' Bibliography
    Annotated Listing Of HTML-related papers, style guides, and tutorials.

    Advanced Features

    Jeff Spirko's tutorial on SSI
    Server-side includes specifically for Lehigh users.
    Netscape Dynamic Documents
    Server push & client pull; updating documents dynamically (while the client is viewing them).

    jahb@lehigh.edu

    Nov. 06, 2002