IDCC 380 Texts and Browsers
Two books are recommended for this course. If you purchase these, you should keep up with the readings as assigned in the course syllabus. We will also be testing our design works in the three major modern Web browsers mentioned below.
CSS The Missing Manual
Author: David McFarland. Publisher: Pogue Press, O'Reilly, 2006.
From O'Reilly: "Web site design has grown up. Unlike the old days, when designers cobbled together chunky HTML, bandwidth-hogging graphics, and a prayer to make their sites look good, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) now lets your inner designer come out and play. But CSS isn't just a tool to pretty up your site; it's a reliable method for handling all kinds of presentation--from fonts and colors to page layout. CSS: The Missing Manual clearly explains this powerful design language and how you can use it to build sparklingly new Web sites or refurbish old sites that are ready for an upgrade.
Like their counterparts in print page-layout programs, style sheets allow designers to apply typographic styles, graphic enhancements, and precise layout instructions to elements on a Web page. Unfortunately, due to CSS's complexity and the many challenges of building pages that work in all Web browsers, most Web authors treat CSS as a kind of window-dressing to spruce up the appearance of their sites. Integrating CSS with a site's underlying HTML is hard work, and often frustratingly complicated. As a result many of the most powerful features of CSS are left untapped. With this book, beginners and Web-building veterans alike can learn how to navigate the ins-and-outs of CSS and take complete control over their Web pages' appearance."
Don't Make Me Think
Author: Steve Krug. Publisher: New Riders, 2005.
This
book, as Krug explains, "is for people in the trenches--the designers, the programmers, the
web masters, the project managers, the marketing people, and the folks
who sign the checks. Krug's clearly explained, easily absorbed
principles will help you arrive at both the right questions to ask the
experts you hire, and practical answers so you can make difficult
technical, aesthetic, and structural decisions." (back cover) Steve
Krug's Web site is at http://www.sensible.com/
Browser Compatibility Testing
A good browser is key to the whole
enterprise. Browsers handle XHTML tags and CSS differently, so
you need to test your files in both.S I have a bias toward
Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox (as do many
programmers and Web developers) simply because they are
ubiquitous, fast, and allow for much more dynamic possibilities,
especially in regard to cascading style sheets (css), dynamic
XHTML (DHTML), and XHTML parsing.
But don't sell Opera short.They are very much
improved products over their earlier versions and handle CSS,
DHTML, and XML correctly. Opera, in fact, tends to be the one
browser that renders CSS most faithfully. Standards compliance is
saving all the browsers (and all of us Web developers and
designers).
Opera often
performs better than Firefox, but in some ways not as well as
I.E. Real pluses: extraordinary supply of bookmarks;
numerous user preference options; ability to toggle between
document mode and user mode (kill CSS); ability to toggle images
on/off (to check accessibility).In short, Opera is a great
developer's tool. Give it a try.
They are very much improved products over their earlier versions and can now handle CSS, DHTML, and XML correctly. Standards compliance is saving them all (and all of us Web developers and designers).
Note: these browsers are absolutely free. Do not pay money to any retailer for these programs. I have actually seen these on the shelf for $49.95 and up. Helllooo.
If you have any questions about this course, the Web design program at Bentley, the IDCC department . . . . whatever, let me know. I will answer your question via e-mail and post your question and my answer on this page for the world to see. Be sure to give me both your name and e-mail address.