Description
This course provides students with the skills and knowledge needed to create flexible, maintainable Web sites with advanced features. The course covers Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Positioning (CSS-P) and explains their use in creating more attractive Web sites that are easily maintained. The course also introduces XML and XHTML and its use in creating Web sites. Other advanced HTML elements are also discussed, including image maps, meta tags, components, and multimedia.

Audience
Anyone involved with the development of Web sites who wishes to learn CSS, CSS-P, or other advanced HTML features.

Prerequisites
Participants must have basic proficiency with HTML and JavaScript or have completed introductory HTML and JavaScript courses such as Arkoa's HTML Programming and JavaScript for Non-Programmers courses.

Hardware and Software
Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000, version 4+ of preferred Web browser, and a text editor such as Notepad. Browser compatibility issues are discussed, so access to a second, different browser is preferable.

Format

• Presentation
  
• Hands-on
  
• Interactive Activities
  

Objectives
After completing this course, participants should be able to:

• Use meta tags to describe and control Web pages
• Create forms adhering to usability guidelines
• Identify Cascading Style Sheet Rules
• Insert CSS rules into a document
• Create CSS tags
• Manipulate CSS properties
• Set CSS position attributes
• Create an image map
• Identify cross-platform HTML rendering issues
• Insert a Multimedia element into a Web page
• Develop HTML code that will work in future browsers

Meta Tags, Forms, and Image Maps

• Meta tags
  • What are meta tags?
  • Meta tag use
• Advanced form construction
  • Creating usable forms
  • Form element control
  • Form processing
• Image maps
  • Creating image maps
  • Implementing image maps

Integrating External Elements and Cross-Platform HTML

• Using components in Web pages
  • Calling external components
  • Using multimedia elements in HTML
• Cross-platform HTML issues
  • Platforms and browsers
  • Design space
  • Tables
  • Frames

Basic Cascading Style Sheets

• Cascading Style Sheet basics
  • Defining CSS
  • CSS rules placement
  • Adding CSS to an HTML document
• Using Cascading Style Sheets
  • CSS fonts
  • CSS text control
  • Using style list properties
  • Using color and background properties
  • CSS margins and borders

Advanced Cascading Style Sheets and Positioning (CSS-P)

• Cascading Style Sheets Positioning (CSS-P)
  • Using CSS-P for page layout
  • Common positioning tasks
• Developing dynamic CSS
  • Changing attribute values via scripting
  • Changing an element’s class
  • Providing alternate style sheets
• Cross-platform CSS issues
  • Universally supported selectors
  • Resolving cross-platform differences

HTML and the Future

• Creating well-formed documents
  • !DOCTYPE definitions
  • Deprecated tags and elements
  • Obsolete tags and elements
• The Extensible Markup Language (XML)
  • XHTML
  • XML
  • XML and CSS
  • XSL
• Privacy issues
  • Privacy statements
  • Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P)
  • Implementing P3P