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Archive for the ‘HTML’ Category

HTML5 and its’ Place in Web Design

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

Hi,

I just released a video where I discus the growing importance of HTML5 in web design and web programming. Some of the highlights:

  • HTML5 is now supported in all the major browsers.
  • HTML5 was built from a pragmatic point of view – this means it’s really functional!
  • HTML5 has made JavaScript a much more important language to learn.

The video:

If you are a total HTML beginner, you will need to learn that, before you can tackle HTML5. You can learn JavaScript with either my written introduction to JavaScript or my super fantastic JavaScript basics video tutorial.

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook
killersites.com

Tags:
Posted in HTML5, Real World Web Design, Web Design | Comments Off

HTML5 and Academic Shills.

Saturday, April 21st, 2012

Hey,

Anyone who has read anything I’ve written (or watched my video blogs,) knows that I can’t stand academics. I was particularly vocal against the Web Standards zealots of the early 2000’s, wherein reality was pushed aside in favor of code purity.

These nerds would ignore reality – for example:

  • They would ignore how the most popular web browsers would interpret HTML and CSS code – which often times, was in a method contrary to their nerd wet-dreams. As such, they would come up with harebrained hacks to jam in their ‘compliant’ code … hacks that eventually broke in many cases, defeating the supposed original purpose of the Web Standards movement!
  • They would also obfuscate what the actual browser use was in terms of real people surfing the Web. They would come out with numbers that did not reflect the reality they were desperately trying to ignore: that the vast majority of people surfing the Web were using web browsers (Internet Explorer) that did not play nice with their ideas of how a web browser should read code.

… It gets even more stupid: even the basic web design cycle seemed to be ignored, where their recommendations would actually get in the way of productive web design and development. I am convinced many of the big names in this movement barely created websites in, or for the real-world – they were academics.

HTML5 and the Rise of Pragmatism

Just like with Java, the client-side web nerds finally got their act together, and started to pay attention to reality when putting together the HTML5 specification. Much to the displeasure of the aforementioned Web Standards zealots (I’m sure), academic purity was replaced by pragmatism: HTML5’s specification was heavily influenced by the browsers being used and by the way people where actually building web pages!!!

…. They realized that the true ‘validator’ of web pages, were actually the browsers people where using and not some piece of software on the W3C’s website that only academics cared about. Nobody surfs the Web with the W3C code validators!!

They even took a step further, where they actually scanned millions of random web pages and based on those results, HTML5 tags and behavior was engineered. Again, what a concept!

HTML5 is Important

Even beyond what I would have ever thought, HTML5 has become super important today ( most likely for years to come) where you see it being deployed for desktop browsers and on mobile devices such as iPhones, iPads, Android devices and even now, it’s built into the core of Windows 8. This is a testament to pragmatic design.

If you are a web designer or programmer/developer, you need to learn HTML5.

Thanks for reading.

Stefan Mischook
killersites.com

Posted in HTML5, Web Browsers, Web Design | 2 Comments »

Book Review: Head First HTML5 Programming

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

I really like the style of the Head First series from O’reilly – they’ve managed to create a style of nerdbook that looks more like a graphic novel, than a tech book.

Let’s start with the verdict for this particular title:

Head First HTML5 Programming is a good book if you know HTML, CSS and at least a little Javascript.

Some details …

Basically it covers many of the big features in HTML5 and the surrounding technologies. The authors make heavy use of graphics and storylines to make the book more entertaining. If you are more of a beginner when it comes to programming or web application development, then I think this presentation style will be great for you.

If on the other hand, you are a hardcore grizzled nerd programmer, the wordy, graphic and puzzle rich book might annoy you a bit. That’s OK, because O’reilly has their more traditional style of book for you.

Some of the topics covered:

  • Canvas: drawing with HTML5
  • HTML5 video
  • Web Storage – savings files to client computers – much better than JavaScript cookies!
  • Web Workers – threading with HTML5!! Yea, this particular HTML5 capability freaked me out.

There’s more topics covered including some quick introductions to JavaScript and Dom scripting. Again, if you are new to programming, I think these sections will be a little too much to handle. That’s OK, you have our super fantastically easy KillerSites JavaScript video training to cover you there.

;)

Being a shameless self promoter that I am, we also have our own HTML5 interactive video courses you can learn from. It’s all good, depending on how you like to learn.

Stefan Mischook
killersites.com
killerphp.com

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Posted in HTML5 | Comments Off

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablet, iPads, Android … what it means for web designers?

Monday, September 20th, 2010

Google Android logo

A few months ago, I warned web designers against rushing into new technologies before their time. I was talking about HTML 5 and CSS 3 and how for the typical web browser, they would not be widely adopted for years.

Things change …

But now, just a few months later, with the crazy success of the iPad and iPhone along with the growing buzz for the soon to be released Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet (among many others), it has become clear to me that web designers need to start looking in this … especially if you are thinking about the mobile Web.

So in response to this (and demand from people) we released a video course on the most important aspects of HTML 5 and CSS 3. Some of the topics we cover include:

* XHTML and HTML5 Compared
* Looking at HTML5 Tags
* CSS3 Gradients
* Page Layout With HTML5
* Floats, Sidebars, and Overrides
* Working With Fonts
* Advanced Backgrounds
* Video
* Introducing The Canvas Tag
* Visualizing Data With Canvas

Thanks for reading.

Stefan Mischook

killersites.com

Posted in HTML, iPhone & iPad | Comments Off

HTML nerd trivia: what exactly is HTML?

Saturday, September 11th, 2010

Hi,

Once in a while, it can be fun to look at the deeper meaning of the technologies behind web design. So let’s start with the most basic: what exactly is HTML?

HTML is short for:

Hyper Text Markup Language.

In a nutshell: HTML is a written language used to mark-up a page. Think of marking-up like placing markers on a field. These markers give instruction to people who understand what the markers mean. In the case of web design, replace ‘makers’ with tags, a web page for a field and people with web browsers – like Internet Explorer or Firefox. To summarize:

markers = html tags/text
field = web page
people who read markers = web browsers

.. Confused? Then check out this screencast on basic web design.

What’s ‘Hyper’ in the Text?

I recently discovered that many a web designer and programmer may not really know that in HTML, hyper text is a reference to the links – links are the ‘hyper text’ in the markup language. The text in a web page that is turned into a link, is made ‘hyper’ because when you click on it, the web browser takes you to another page, or downloads a file etc … It’s kinda hyper active, like a 5 year old who’s had too much sugar.

There are other markup languages that predate HTML btw, languages like SGML. In fact, SGML is the father/mother of HTML.

Now you can impress your next date with this information. That’s all for now.

Stefan Mischook.
www.killersites.com

Posted in HTML, Web Design | Comments Off

Should web designers be learning HTML 5?

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

html 5

Hi,

I am starting to hear that all too familiar nerd-buzz of premature excitement – this time it’s about HTML 5 and all it’s cool new capabilities.

Yes, HTML 5 does have a lot of cool things it can do, and so it’s tempting to jump in and start learning. But that would largely be a waste of time … at least for now.

What?! Isn’t HTML 5 the future?

It sure is. In fact, I’ve been telling people for years that XHTML was a pipe dream (because IE would not support it) and I advised people to stick to good old HTML … even when it was heresy to say so! Here’s the problem (now) with HTML 5 – most of the browsers being used today don’t support it AND it will take a few years before the majority of people out there will have HTML 5 equipped browsers.

… Man, reality does bite!

Hard-core nerds tend to ignore reality

A time long, long ago, in an Internet that is now far, far away … back in the mid to late 1990’s, CSS was invented and naive nerds such as myself started playing with it, investing precious time that could have been spent playing video games, only to find that most of the browsers being used did not support it … so using CSS was basically useless.

… It took several years before CSS enabled browsers had penetrated enough to use CSS in a serious way. Using CSS prior to wide adoption, only ended with wasted time and disappointment, since you could not actually use it live. The same will be true for much of HTML 5 – unless you start hacking and browser sniffing and all kinds of other nonsense.

Let me conclude by quoting Coder’s Code #36:

The wise web designer shall not waste precious time on learning cutting edge technology … if said nerd wishes to earn a living.

Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com

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Posted in Coders Code, HTML, Professional Web Design, Real World Web Design, Web Design | 24 Comments »

Is HTML a scripting language?

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

I’ve seen this confusion come up from time to time – is HTML a scripting language?

Short answer: no.

Yes a nerd detail, but nonetheless, this is something that should be made clear.

THE DETAILS:

HTML is actually a markup language and not a scripting language.

Scripting implies decision making capabilities (the code can actually evaluate and take an action based on what it finds) – PHP, PERL, Ruby, Javascript are examples of scripting languages.

Markup languages create structure for a document … they only describe data. For example:

  • HTML
  • XHTML
  • XML

… but you knew that already.

[;)]

Stefan Mischook

Tags:
Posted in HTML, Nerd Concepts in English, Web Design | 9 Comments »

Book Review: Web Design in a Nutshell – 3rd edition

Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006

This book should probably be on any web designers/developers desk.

Web design has changed drastically since this book’s first edition came out … and thankfully Web Design In A Nutshell has been updated accordingly.

As with all of Oreilly’s ‘Nutshell’ books, Web Design In A Nutshell covers each topic in a concise and yet complete manner making it both a great learning title (for people with some web design skills,) and a great reference.

Some of the topics covered:

  • CSS – basics, page layout methods, hacks, tricks etc
  • HTML, XML and XHTML
  • Accessibility
  • Web graphics

… and so much more.

Besides the core coverage of the material itself, this book is also packed with great references to web sites and other good books on web design.

Get the book.

Posted in CSS, HTML, Nerd Book Reviews, Professional Web Design, Web Design | Comments Off

Three reasons you should learn to hand code your web pages.

Wednesday, January 25th, 2006

In this podcast, I discuss the 3 reasons why learning to hand code your web pages makes sense … and dollars too! 

Podcast running time: 7:30

Download MP3 link: 3 Reasons to hand code

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook

Tags: , ,
Posted in HTML, Podcast | Videos, Real World Web Design, Web Design | 12 Comments »

Tag Soup: why using XHTML does not make sense.

Monday, December 5th, 2005

Using XHTML instead of HTML to build web pages is one of today’s web design fads. Like other silly practices promoted by the web standards zealots (using CSS hacks for example,) this is something that will create extra work for no real PRACTICAL advantage and may even create problems for you!

People have been sold on XHTML with the typical web standards arguments that have a tendency to ignore the ‘reality in the field’. In this article I explain why you should stick to using good old HTML for the time being.

First, what is the reality today?

  1. Internet Explorer 6 and 7 (among other browsers,) will NOT render XHTML.
  2. If you use XHTML, DOM scripting and AJAX will be much more trouble.
  3. The supposed advantage (if ever realized,) are really minor at best.

Let’s consider these points:

BROWSERS AND XHTML

  • When you serve XHTML to most browsers, your crazy-cool XHTML will be treated like ordinary HTML, thus loosing all the supposed advantages of XHTML.
  • If you want browsers to treat XHTML as XHTML, you need to set the MIME type to: application/xhtm+xml. The problem is that IE6, IE7 and other browsers, will give you the ‘download this document’ pop-up box instead of displaying the page in the browser window.
  • If you’re really intent on using XHTML, you could use scripting to sniff out browsers and change the MIME type accordingly, but this would lead to script-branching – if you wanted to use any DOM / AJAX scripts … more headaches.

HOW DOM SCRIPTING IS MADE HARDER WITH XHTML

The issue that stands out the most for me (and is enough for me to not use XHTML,) is that you can’t use ‘document.createElement’ to create new elements with the DOM if you are using XHTML.

In case you don’t know, ‘document.createElement’ is one of the key methods of DOM programming and by extension AJAX.

-

This topic was recenty discused on the message board:

XHTML OR HTML

Stefan Mischook

Posted in HTML, Real World Web Design | 4 Comments »

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