COAP:COAP-2100/week3-2011

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Week 3

Topics Covered

HTML

• Introduction to HTML and XHTML
• Valid HTML. Why is valid code important and what needs to be validated ?

Styling with CSS

• Introduction to CSS

Software

We will use the following tools

• Kompozer (grab the latest development version !)
• NoteTab light (optional)

Browser extensions (if installable):

• HTML Validator. You can get it directly from Source Forge
• Codeburner for Firefox (HTML and CSS reference)
• Screengrab (easy tool to create screen captures of web sites. As of March 2012, this extension is dead)
• web-developer

The tidy program (optional, if you need a local validator that also works with NoteTab light)

• Go to HTML Tidy for Windows
• Download the EXE version. You will get a *.zip file called tidy.zip
• Extract the single tidy.exe to some directory, e.g. c:\bin\

Teaching materials

• HTML and XHTML elements and attributes‎‎ (lecture notes)
• HTML and XHTML validation and repair
• Online HTML reference manual (at sitepoint, but you are free to choose others ...)
• CSS tutorial
• Online CSS reference manual

Alternatives

• See HTML links

Classroom activities

Monday

(1) Some major HTML tags Online documentation about HTML:

• We will use HTML and XHTML elements and attributes‎‎ (lecture notes)
• We also will demonstrate the Codeburner Firefox extensions and the related Sitepoint web site.
• See HTML links (Manuals and short references) for other HTML documentation if you wish...

(2) A introduction to W3C Quality Assurance Tool set. It includes several tools

1. http://validator.w3.org/ (Markup Validation Service)
   • You can enter a URL, upload file or directly copy/paste code
   • Supported formats (Sept 2009): HTML, XHTML, SMIL, MathML
2. http://validator.w3.org/checklink (W3C Links Checker)
3. http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ (on line CSS validation service)
   • URL validation: You can enter either an HTML/XHTML URL or just a CSS
   • Alternatively you can upload a CSS file (and pick the CSS profile).
4. Other tools, e.g. a Feed validator are available from the Quality page ...

(3) Using web browser development tools

• Use of HTML Validator (install it if you didn't do it on week2). Basically you just go View-Source and look at the errors.

(4) Using Tidy inside NoteTab light

• This may not work (since Tidy must be installed on your computer)

(5) Homework 1 feedback and Q/A Homework 2 (if needed)

• Overal: ok work ... some could have invested some more work, e.g. use all features (or at least remove unused pages).
• Pay attention to copyright (i.e. lock the web site or kill it if you reuse copyrighted materials)

(6) Start of Homework 3 / Objectives and requirements for a term project

• Discussion of the term project

(6) Using the tidy program (if time left)

• You can get various flavors from SourceForge. More precisely:

1. Get the Windows binary version from http://www.paehl.com/open_source/?HTML_Tidy_for_Windows
2. Unzip it somewhere on the harddisk (I stronly suggest the C: drive, we will discuss this with the Lab assistants, so wait)
3. Then configure NoteTab light, i.e. hit CTRL-F7 and tell the editor where to find tidy.exe
4. Alternatively (v.s. using a default repair configuration through NoteTab ), you also can install GuiTidy: http://www.paehl.de/tidy/ (scroll all the way down). It will give you more options. Advanced users will have to use the command line.

Wednesday

We will start learning CSS, in particular

• Associating a styles and stylesheets with HTML
  • Inline Styles
  • Embedded Style Sheets
  • Linking External Style Sheets
• CSS Validation ( http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ )
• CSS Selectors
• Text styling (e.g. fonts, size, aligns)
• HTML div and span tags
• Backgrounds
• CSS “boxes” , positioning elements and text flow (if time only !)

Homework 3

Task: Create a little HTML page that spells out a proposition for the term project: creating a website with an online service (see homework 1)

1. Think about objectives and requirements for your term project
2. Create an HTML page (either in HTML 4.01 strict or XHTML strict) and write down a draft proposal
3. Create an external CSS style sheet that is linked to the HTML page

Constraints:

• HTML must include at least 3 titles plus paragraphs and lists (of your choice)
• Define a global default CSS rule or a rule for the body
• Define an extra rule for titles, paragraphs and list elements
• You should make a serious attempt to define a project (i.e. explicitly define some objectives and requirements)

Evaluation:

• I only will evaluate whether you comply with the constraints, e.g. technical and design quality of the CSS, validity of the HTML
• Details of the term project proposal will not be evaluated and it is not yet binding. However, I require that you you define certain key elements:
  • Objectives: What is the purpose of the web site ?
  • Audience: What is your main target audience ? Can others consult it/find it useful ?
  • Functions: What kind of information / applications should the site provide
  • Styling: Any ideas about its look and feel ?
  • Other information: ???

Submission:

• Upload both the HTML and the CSS file to the World classroom before start of week 3 Monday lesson.