HTML 4 for the World Wide Web, Fourth Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the lingua franca of the Web, and like any language, it's constantly evolving. That's why Elizabeth Castro has written HTML 4 for the World Wide Web, Fourth Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide, an update to her blockbuster guide to HTML 4. You'll find all the concise, practical advice--and fun examples--that made the first edition a worldwide bestseller, plus entirely new coverage of debugging, JavaScript, and using tables for page layout, and an expanded section on Cascading Style Sheets. Like all the books in the Visual QuickStart series, this one breaks even the most complex tasks into easy-to-follow steps illustrated with hundreds of screenshots and the actual code. The book presumes no prior knowledge of HTML, making it the perfect introduction for beginners. But its tabbed format and info-packed appendixes (on special HTML characters and Web-safe colors, for example) also make it a handy and indispensable reference for those who build Web pages for a living. Find out why Amazon called the previous edition a "dream guide" to HTML.

Table of Contents:
Introduction. The Internet, the Web, and HTML. Open but Not Equal. The Browser Wars. The Push for Standards. The Current Battlegrounds. What to Do? The Future: XML. The HTML VQS Web Site. 1. HTML Building Blocks. Writing HTML. HTML Tags. Nesting Tags. Spacing. Special Symbols. File Names. URLs. 2. Starting Your Web Page. Designing Your Site. Organizing Files. Creating a New Web Page. Starting Your Web Page. Creating the Foundation. Creating a Title. Organizing the Page. Starting a New Paragraph. Saving Your Web Page. Viewing Your Page in a Browser. 3. Text Formatting. About Deprecated Tags. Changing the Font. Making Text Bold or Italic. Choosing a Default Size for Text. Changing the Text Size. Choosing a Default Color for Text. Changing the Text Color. Creating Superscripts and Subscripts. Striking Out or Underlining Text. Using a Monospaced Font. Making Text Blink. Hiding Text (Adding Comments). 4. Creating Web Images. Getting Images. Making Images Smaller. Exporting GIF Images from Photoshop. Using (Mostly) Browser Safe Colors. Converting to Browser Safe Colors. Reducing the Number of Colors. Creating Transparency. Creating Fake Transparency. Interlacing GIF Images. Creating Animated GIFs. Creating JPEG Images. Blurring Images to Aid JPEG Compression. Creating Low Resolution Images. Creating PNG Files. 5. Using Images. Inserting Images on a Page. Offering Alternate Text. Specifying Size for Speedier Viewing. Linking Icons to External Images. Using Low Resolution Images. Wrapping Text around Images. Stopping Text Wrap. Adding Space around an Image. Scaling an Image. Aligning Images. Using a Banner. Adding Horizontal Rules. 6. Page Layout. Using Background Color. Using Background Images. Centering Elements on a Page. Specifying the Margins. Creating a Line Break. Keeping Lines Together. Creating Discretionary Line Breaks. Specifying the Space Between Paragraphs. Creating Indents. Creating Indents (with Lists). Creating Blocks of Space. Using Pixel Shims. Using Block Quotes. Quoting Short Passages of Text. Creating Columns. Using Preformatted Text. Positioning Elements with Layers. 7. Links. Creating a Link to Another Web Page. Creating Anchors. Linking to a Specific Anchor. Targeting Links to Specific Windows. Setting the Default Target. Creating Other Kinds of Links. Creating Keyboard Shortcuts for Links. Setting the Tab Order for Links. Using Images to Label Links. Dividing an Image into Clickable Regions. Creating a Client-Side Image Map. Using a Server-Side Image Map. Changing the Color of Links. 8. Lists. Creating Ordered Lists. Creating Unordered Lists. Creating Definition Lists. Creating Nested Lists. 9. Tables. Mapping Out Your Page. Creating a Simple Table. Adding a Border. Changing the Border Color. Setting the Width. Centering a Table on the Page. Wrapping Text around a Table. Adding Space around a Table. Spanning a Cell across Columns. Spanning a Cell across Rows. Aligning a Cell's Contents. Controlling Space in and Around Cells. Nesting One Table in Another. Changing a Cell's Color. Using a Background Image. Dividing Your Table into Column Groups. Dividing the Table into Horizontal Sections. Choosing Which Borders to Display. Controlling Line Breaks in a Cell. Speeding up Table Display. 10. Frames. Creating a Simple Frameset. Creating Frames in Columns. Creating Frames in Rows and Columns. Combining Framesets. Creating an Inline Frame. Adjusting a Frame's Margins. Showing or Hiding Scroll Bars. Adjusting the Color of the Borders. Adjusting the Frame Borders. Keeping Visitors from Resizing Frames. Targeting Links to Particular Frames. Targeting Links to Special Spots. Changing the Default Target. Nesting Framesets. Creating Alternatives to Frames. 11. Forms. About CGI Scripts. Getting a Script. Using the Scripts Included with This Book. Preparing a Script. Creating a Form. Sending Form Data via E-mail. Using a Form Hosting Service. Creating Text Boxes. Creating Password Boxes. Creating Larger Text Areas. Creating Radio Buttons. Creating Checkboxes. Creating Menus. Allowing Visitors to Upload Files. About Hidden Fields. Adding Hidden Fields to a Form. Creating the Submit Button. Resetting the Form. Using an Image to Submit Data. Organizing the Form Elements. Formally Labeling Form Parts. Setting the Tab Order. Adding Keyboard Shortcuts. Disabling Form Elements. Keeping Elements from Being Changed. 12. Multimedia. Helper Applications and Plug-ins. Non-Supported Images. Sound. Getting Sound. Embedding Sound in a Page. Adding a Link to a Sound. Adding Background Sound for Explorer. Creating RealMedia Files. Creating a RealMedia Metafile. Linking to a RealMedia Sound. Embedding RealMedia Files in Your Page. Video. Adding External Video to Your Page. Adding Internal Video. Adding Internal Video for Explorer. Creating a Marquee. Inserting Applets. 13. An Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets. The Advantages of Using Style Sheets. The Downside of Style Sheets. The Anatomy of a Style. 14. Setting up Style Sheets. Creating an Internal Style Sheet. Creating an External Style Sheet. Using an External Style Sheet. Applying Styles Locally. Defining Styles for Classes. Identifying Particular Tags. Creating Custom HTML Tags. Creating Custom Block-Level HTML Tags. Using Custom Block-Level HTML Tags. Creating Custom Inline HTML Tags. Using Custom Inline HTML Tags. Defining Styles for Links. 15. Formatting Text with Styles. Choosing a Font Family. Embedding Fonts on a Page. Creating Italics. Applying Bold Formatting. Setting the Font Size. Setting the Line Height. Setting All Font Values at Once. Setting the Text Color. Changing the Text's Background. Controlling Spacing. Setting White Space Properties. Aligning Text. Underlining Text. Making Text Blink. Changing the Text Case. 16. Layout with Styles. Offsetting Elements In the Natural Flow. Positioning Elements Absolutely. Positioning Elements in 3D. Displaying and Hiding Elements. Setting the Height or Width for an Element. Setting the Border. Adding Padding Around an Element. Setting the Margins around an Element. Aligning Elements Vertically. Wrapping Text around Elements. Stopping Text Wrap. Changing the Foreground Color. Changing the Background. Determining Where Overflow Should Go. Clipping an Element. Setting List Properties. Specifying Page Breaks. 17. Scripts. Adding an “Automatic” Script. Calling an External Automatic Script. Triggering a Script. Creating a Button that Executes a Script. Hiding Scripts from Older Browsers. Adding Alternate Information. Setting the Default Scripting Language. 18. JavaScript Essentials. Adding the Current Date and Time. Changing a Link's Status Label. Changing Multiple Frames with One Link. Loading Images into Cache. Changing an Image When a Visitor Points. Controlling a New Window's Size. 19. Extras. The Inspiration of Others. Password Protecting Your Page. Creating a Counter. Souping Up Mailto Links. Slicing Images into Pieces. Creating Buttons with Tables. Using Images for Table Borders. Creating Drop Caps. Using Vertical Rules. Labeling Elements in a Web Page. Creating an Automatic Slide Show. 20. Help! My Page Doesn't Work! Checking Your Code. The Browser Displays the Code. Great in Explorer, Nothing in Netscape. Great in One Browser, Ugly in the Other. Images Don't Appear. Still Stuck? 21. Publishing Your Page on the Web. Testing Your Page. Finding a Host for Your Site. Getting Your Own Domain Name. Transferring Files to the Server. Transferring Files to AOL. 22. Getting People to Visit. Helping Visitors Find Your Page. Controlling Your Page's Summary. Controlling Other Information. Keeping Visitors Away. Creating a Crawler Page. Submitting Your Site to a Search Engine. Appearing at the Top of the Search Results. Other Techniques for Publicizing Your Site. Appendix A. HTML Tools. HTML Editors. Free-use Images for Your Pages. Graphics Tools. Image Map Tools. Appendix B. Special Symbols. Using Special Symbols. Table I: Characters. Table II: Symbols. Appendix C. Colors in Hex. Finding a Color's RGB Components—in Hex. Hexadecimal Equivalents. The Hexadecimal System. Appendix D. HTML and Compatibility. HTML Tags. Intrinsic Events. Index.