Form Validation

Any sort of interactive site is going to have form inputs — a place where your users input who they are, what they want to buy, where they live, and so forth. This data is passed to whatever handles your back end — a Perl CGI script, a PHP engine, a database like Oracle, or some other technology you’ve invested in. Whatever system is back there, you can bet that it doesn’t appreciate having its time wasted with bogus information, and chances are the user doesn’t appreciate it either. If the data the user submits to the CGI contains an error, there will be a noticeable lag — typically several seconds — before the information travels over the Internet to the server, is examined on the server, and then returns to the user along with an irritating error message. If you run a little preliminary validation of the user’s form input before the form is submitted, there will be no wait time. Client-side validation is instantaneous because it doesn’t have to transmit any data. JavaScript catches any erroneous data the user enters before it goes anywhere.

Apple Inc. (2006). Design>Web Design>Forms>DHTML

Forms and JavaScript Living Together in Harmony

Most developers don't surf the web with JavaScript turned off on purpose. Fortunately, there are rarely instances where this lack of respect for the non-JavaScript users is necessary.

Howden, Jeff. evolt (2003). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>DHTML

Getting Started with Ajax

The start of 2005 saw the rise of a relatively new technology, dubbed 'Ajax' by Jesse James Garrett of Adaptive Path. Ajax stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. In a nutshell, it is the use of the nonstandard XMLHttpRequest() object to communicate with server-side scripts. It can send as well as receive information in a variety of formats, including XML, HTML, and even text files. Ajax’s most appealing characteristic, however, is its 'asynchronous' nature, which means it can do all of this without having to refresh the page. This allows you to update portions of a page based upon user events and provides one of the cornerstones of Rich Internet Applications (RIA) referred to in discussions of 'Web 2.0.'

Gustafson, Aaron. List Apart, A (2006). Design>Web Design>DHTML>Ajax

Heading Navigation Greasemonkey User Script

This is a Greasemonkey user script to enable heading navigation in Firefox. Headings can either be navigated by the heading level, for example, all h2 elements, or by any level.

Juicy Studio (2006). Design>Web Design>DHTML>JavaScript

Help is a Pop-Up Menu

Efficient layout is a key to a good website. When you've got a lot of links one option that can help is a pop-up menu. You can use a ULR popup menu in its generic form or you can use CSS to customize its look. This tutorial shows a simplified use.

Mac Design Magazine (2005). Design>Web Design>Interactive>DHTML

Hexadecimal Color Codes in HTML That Look or Sound Dirty, But Are in Fact Merely Colorful

It's just like how you can make your calculator spell BOOBS, although people inexperienced with HTML probably won't appreciate it.

Genusa, Angela. McSweeney's Internet Tendency (2004). Humor>Web Design>HTML>Color

Hide/Show Layer

This script uses dynamic HTML (DHTML) to pop open a box with info in it when you click on a link. In my demo I’ve used this to pop up contextual help about filling in a form. It could also be used, for example, to give pop-up definitions for terms in an article. In both cases, it makes sense to give the information in context, modelessly. Likewise, this solution avoids the problems of statelessness and latency.

Apple Inc. (2006). Design>Web Design>Forms>DHTML

Hierarchical Menus with the Underrated style.display Object

One of the most common DHTML requests I get is for a Windows Explorer-style hierarchical menu, where there's a list of topics or 'folders' that a user can click on to reveal subtopics, or 'files,' within that folder. It's a common desktop metaphor that seems ever more necessary on the Web, especially as we see navigation bars incorporating larger and more complex content while still trying to fit on the screen. Hierarchical menus are a solution to the common problem of having too many links in too small a space.

Pena, Bill. O'Reilly and Associates (2002). Design>Web Design>User Interface>DHTML

How Do They Do That With HTML?

I started this site in 1995 while I was learning how to make web sites. I figured the best way to learn about it was to write a tutorial for others. The site has been very successful over the years, so in late 2000, I rewrote the entire site from scratch, updating all of the information and beginning to add all sorts of new tips and tricks.

Tashian.com. Design>Web Design>HTML

How To Do HTML

This site explains how to make basic web pages with plain old Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML.

Krause, Steven D. Eastern Michigan University (2001). Design>Web Design>Standards>HTML

How to Validate Forms with JavaScript

Discover why and how you should use unobtrusive JavaScript to validate forms.

McCarthy, Paul. Webcredible (2007). Design>Web Design>DHTML>JavaScript

HTML 5 and XHTML 2

While the intention of both HTML V5 and XHTML V2 is to improve on the existing versions, the approaches the developers chose to make those improvements is very different. And with differing philosophies come distinct results. For the first time in many years, the direction of upcoming browser versions is uncertain. Uncover the bigger picture behind the details of these two standards.

de Jonge, Adriaan. IBM (2007). Articles>Web Design>Standards>HTML5

The HTML 5 Image Element

One of the great things about the current HTML 5 draft is that they give plenty of examples of how to specify alternate text for images, although a few of them are misguided. Alternate text should be concise, and a longer description provided with a longdesc attribute if necessary.

Lemon, Gez. Juicy Studio (2007). Design>Web Design>Standards>HTML5

HTML 5 Timeline

Firefox 2.0.0.10 broke its implementation of the HTML5 canvas element and guess what, the world noticed. Actual websites started breaking because they relied on the canvas functionality to work. The point is that we expect implementations of HTML5 to happen way before the fifteen year mark. In fact, the fifteen year mark includes having all features at least implemented in two different (shipping) products in the same way with the additional requirement that they have a decent amount of market penetration. This means that when the specification finally makes it to W3C Recommendation it has already proven itself.

van Kesteren, Anne. annevankesteren.nl (2007). Articles>Web Design>Standards>HTML5

HTML Conversion Tools: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly  

The Internet has taken the world by storm. It is now one of the most widely used sources of information available. Every day high-technology companies are finding new ways to use the Internet for advancement in their fields. Though getting a perfect conversion without added steps is the dream for all writers, this is not possible. HTML Conversion tools such as HTML Transit 2.0, Web Publisher 1.1, and FrontPage can help decrease the time needed to make great looking paper documents into great looking web pages. The tool a company chooses should be based on its needs, budget, and the time allowed for tweaking.

Laurent, J. Suzanna and Candie McKee. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Web Design>HTML>Software

HTML Conversion Tools: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly  

The documentation conversion tool market is relatively new, but several vendors have established reputations in the market.

Laurent, J. Suzanna and Candie D. McKee. STC Orange County (1998). Presentations>Web Design>Software>HTML

HTML Dinamico en Castellano

Bienvenido a DHTML en castellano. A lo largo de estas páginas podrás acceder a un extenso tutorial sobre Html Dinámico en español totalmente gratuito.

Bravo, Joaquin and Dani Rodriguez. Programacion.net (2000). (Spanish) Design>Web Design>DHTML

HTML en Castellano

Recopilación de documentación con la que aprendera a realizar sus páginas Web.

Rodriguez, Daniel and Joaquin Bravo. Programacion.net. (Spanish) Design>Web Design>HTML

HTML en Castellano: Libros

Desde esta sección podras encontrar todo tipo de información relacionada con libros sobre HTML, XML y cualquier tecnología que te ayude en la elaboración de tus páginas Web. Podras leer libros en linea, o acceder a las mejores editoriales o librerias donde comprarlos e incluso acceder a robots de compra que te indicaran los lugares más baratos.

Bravo, Joaquin and Dani Rodriguez. Programacion.net (1999). (Spanish) Design>Web Design>HTML

HTML Help: Transition Without Fear  

You need not be a programmer to begin producing effective, attractive HTML Help or Webpages. You can use pubiished tempiates andauthonng toois and study an existing page’s HTML code to heb you produce pages whiie you learn. Templates allow you to add your content to existing skeleton pages. You can also use an HTML or HTML Heip authoring tooi to create your help. HTML Heip authoring tools aiiow you to add WinHeip-like functionality and ~eamnce to your HTML Hefppages. Using your browser and a text editoc you can study HTML code frum an existing Webpage. Using these methods, you can learn HTML while already producing effective Heip.

Lambert, Twyla Beth and J. Suzanna Laurent. STC Proceedings (1997). Presentations>Documentation>HTML

HTML Lists

Web browsers will show three different types of lists: ordered, unordered and definition lists. This tutorial explains to use each type, and how to make them in HTML.

Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>HTML

HTML Tables

HTML tables should only be used to display data in tabular form. This tutorial explains how to create tables in HTML properly.

Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2006). Design>Web Design>Document Design>HTML

HTML, XHTML, Semantics and the Future of the Web

Clarifies exactly what XHTML is, explains why you need to be learning about it from today, and steps through the process of transitioning to the standards based way of marking up for the web, and beyond.

Allsopp, John. Western Civilization (2005). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>XHTML

HTML: Making the Move  

HTML is perhaps the most discussed topic in technical communications since the invention of the word processor. Interest in the Internet and the World Wide Web has exploded beyond anyone’s expectations (and perhaps their imagination as well). Microsoft has announced that they are moving away from Rich Text Format (Rw) as the source format for their Windowsbased online help systems, and Netscape is in the process of developing a cross-platform online help API that is also based on HTML. The question seems no longer to be whether or not to make the move to HTML, but when to make the move.

Radecki, Steven Lewis. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Web Design>HTML