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A Site Directory of all those things relevant to the furtherance of Web Standards, HTML and CSS education.

Site Standards Articles

  1. A Proposed W3C Validation Icon

    An illustrative article about seemingly authoritative icons which lack substance and how they may be used for sites which fail Web Standards.

  2. Progress Reconsidered

    Commentary on Web Standards as it has progressed and its state in late 2008.

  3. An Excellent Web Standards Checklist

    Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0, List of Best Practice Statements and reasons by which it should be used as a Web Standards Checklist.

  4. Character Sets and Character Coding Mismatches

    CSS Reboot Spring 2006, Character Sets, Character Coding Mismatches and .htaccess files for the correction of those mismatches.

  5. CSS Reboot as Web Standards Validation Indicator

    How using CSS Reboot Spring 2006 as a Web Standards HTML and CSS validation indicator illustrates the need for all web developers to understand Web Standards.

  6. CSS Spring 2006 Reboot Errors Afterword

    An afterword which posits the Web Standards Community with responsibility for HTML and CSS validation failures experienced by the CSS Reboot Spring 2006 participants.

  7. Evangelism induced by Fundamental Errors

    A small article about aversions with errors found on web sites and the resultant need for eradication of those errors.

  8. HTML Italic and Bold Elements as regards Web Standards

    HTML presentational elements, Content Management Systems (CMS) use thereof (with eBay as a use case for burgeoning standards), HTML5 backwards compatibility requirements and Web Standards all are noted in this article regarding italicized and bolded text.

  9. Microsoft Staff Web Logs fail Validation

    An article regarding web standards, Microsoft Staff blogs and Community Server.

  10. Site Object Recognition

    An article about the benefits of accessibility, usability and visibility obtained from favicons and gravatars.

  11. Standard Compliance has Two Different Meanings

    A brief explanation about web standards and standards-compliant mode with an illustrated example of what could happen in quirks mode.

  12. Standards Reboot Spring 2007 as Standards Indicator

    One year after CSS Reboot Spring 2006, site authors and web developers are understandard regarding validation as an aspect of Web Standards (as results from a study of Standards Reboot Spring 2007 participating sites illustrates).

  13. Time Magazine promotes Web Standards Sites

    An article regarding Time Magazine's '50 Coolest Websites (2006)' list as reason for continuing Web Standards education efforts.

  14. W3C HTML Reinvention

    Commentary on the article by Tim Berners-Lee regarding W3C reinvention of the HTML Working Group.

  15. Web Standards, Validation and CSS Reboot Spring 2006

    The collected articles written about web standards, validation, common HTML errors, common CSS errors, character sets and HTML 4.01 after researching CSS Reboot Spring 2006 websites.

  16. Error Handling in Browsers make Web Standards Difficult

    The W3C stated XHTML would solve all the ills of faulty markup languages but User Agents did not follow that specification when it came to error-handling. Anne van Kesteren's site mod illustrates it.

  17. HTML 5 shall not murder Web Standards

    A Reply to those Standardistas who believe that The W3C HTML WG, HTML5 and The WHAT WG have conspired against The Web Standards Movement by allowing graceful error handling and supporting existing nonconforming content. They haven't.

  18. What makes Valid Code Valid?

    A minor article musing on the difference between writing valid code and writing code which validates.

  19. What Web Standards Crisis?

    An article about the significance of Web Standards and the need for continuous education.

  20. Which Character Set Encoding should be Used?

    An article regarding character set declarations and which set should be used based on a review of fifty web standards compliant websites.

  21. Why Bother?

    A small sample of a quality assurance study regarding Alexa’s Top 200 Global Sites as performed on behalf of the W3C HTML Working Group in their efforts with HTML 5 and it’s acceptance.

  22. (X)HTML Well-Formedness requires Validation

    A brief article regarding web pages with ill-formed markup which includes an example of the error-handling of said pages by browsers (or, User Agents).

  23. Yahoo gets Standards with the New Professionalism

    A small review of the site redesign by Yahoo on May 16, 2006.

HTML Articles

  1. And All That HTML5 Malarkey

    A case study wherein Andy Clarke's “And All That Malarkey” XHTML undergoes six interations before it becomes HTML5 compliant.

  2. HTML and XHTML are Identical in HTML5

    The WHAT WG has devised a simple method of document handling which mutes the argument between use of HTML 4.01 or XHTML 1.0.

  3. HTML5 Anchor Difference

    A small difference between HTML 4.01 and HTML 5 as regards anchors, significant text and embedded content.

  4. HTML5 Doctype is Unrecognized

    Web Application 1.0 (or, HTML5) has simplified the Document Type Declaration whereby it renders web pages in standards-compliant mode, does not require definition and is unrecognizable.

  5. They aren't HTML5 docs in the first place

    Document Type Delcaration (DTDs) are incidental elements when validation efforts are performed. Validation occurs from valid content: markup languages and stylesheets. Occasionally, valid content will be HTML, XHTML and HTML compliant regardless of which

  6. HTML5 Image Difference

    A small difference between HTML 4.01 and HTML 5 as regards images and embedded content.

  7. The Most Common HTML Markup Errors

    The most common and prevalent errors found in HTML Markup code of sites which participated in CSS Reboot Spring 2006.

  8. WHAT Working Group boils Ocean!

    The Web Hypertext Application Technology (WHAT) Working Group (WG) Mailing List has this thread. Everyone should read this thread. It's titled “HTML5 should allow for the empty element syntax.” It's very informative.

  9. Why do You use HTML 4?

    Web developer replies from a small questionnaire sent to CSS Reboot Spring 2006 participants and commenter's on 456 Berea Street regarding the use of HTML 4.01 on their sites.

  10. HTML5 and http-equiv Difference

    An article regarding one difference - http-equiv - between HTML 4.01 and HTML 5 which concludes with <meta http-equiv="imagetoolbar" content="no"> and its deprecation by HTML 5.

  11. The Philosophy of HTML 5 as Explained by Ian Hickson

    The Philosophy of HTML 5 as Explained by Ian Hickson

  12. Why Use HTML 5?

    The purpose of this article regards using WHAT WG HTML 5 (as it existed on January 24, 2007) which includes a selected History Lesson as to how it originated and what may occur.

  13. (X)HTML5 Character Encoding

    Ian Hickson offers clarification regarding a present-day misconception of the (X)HTML5 speicification's allowance for UTF-8 character sets only.

  14. Yahoo! recommends HTML 4

    The Yahoo! Developer Network offers its recommendation that all sites should be constructed with HTML 4.01/Strict for rendering standards mode in user agents.

  15. Why XHTML™?

    Which DTD should be used? Persuasive arguments abound. This article represents a less academic resolution of this web standards conundrum.

  16. XHTML’s Gift

    An Introductory Article regarding websites that use HTML 4.01.

HTML Tutorials

  1. How to Semantically Extend the Markup of Lists

    An example of a semantically-structured list that uses headers and paragraphs for benefits with users and assistive technologies.

  2. How to Comprehend Validation Error Results

    The W3C HTML Validation Service is invaluable. However, some error results are difficult to understand when they include an error executing a domino effect.

  3. The Definition Title

    How to add Jörn Zaefferer's jQuery Tooltip plugin or Dunstan Diaz's Sweet Titles to the HTML Phrase definition <dfn> element.

CSS Articles

  1. CSS Validator-Induced Errors

    The most common and prevalent CSS Validator-Generated errors found in cascading style sheets code of sites which participated in CSS Reboot Spring 2006 wherein some errors are governed by CSS level selection and some errors are imposed by the CSS Validati

  2. CSS Vendor-Specific Extensions fail

    The most common vendor-specific extensions found in Cascading Style Sheets of CSS Reboot Spring 2006 participants. Vendor-specific extensions fail CSS validation.

  3. How Things Change

    What ever happened to those authoritative albeit historical tutorials regarding Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) that Everyone read years passed. More importantly, how does Web Standards promote them as one of the fundamental foundations of Web Standards.

  4. Mobile Web Best Practices and CSS Image Replacement

    A slight disagreement with the W3C Mobile Web Best Practices and its CSS image replacement statement.

  5. The Most Common CSS Markup Errors

    The most common and prevalent author-induced errors found in the cascading style sheets of sites which participated in CSS Reboot Spring 2006.

  6. Why Validate Cascading Style Sheets?

    Why web developers should validate their cascading style sheets before publishing content on websites according to W3C CSS specifications.

  7. Errors found in Yahoo! UI Library Templates

    This page details errors found in Yahoo! UI Library templates as referenced in an article - Yahoo! Templates fail CSS Validation - written in 2006.

  8. Yahoo! Templates fail CSS Validation

    Everyone may have difficulties with cascading style sheets and web standards like Yahoo.

CSS Tutorials

  1. How to use CSS Background-Color for Layout Corrections

    How to use CSS background-color for the correction of faulty layouts when source code reading fails.

  2. A 1957 Typographic Typesetting with CSS

    A 1957 typography style rendered with CSS styles including the forgotten and spotty-supported attribute, "display:run-in" but - Finally - structured with simple floats.

  3. How to Author Cascading Style Sheets with Courtesy for Consistency

    CSS Structure

  4. How to use CSS Typography for a Broadside from 1855

    A tutorial on how to use broadsides as inspiration when practicing CSS usage for typographical elements.

  5. How to Overwrite Default CSS Files in Content Management Systems

    How to use an HTML Body ID for effecting CSS Specificity when Content Management Systems (CMSs) default template or core style sheets need to be overwritten.

Design Articles

  1. The Lesson of Vitaphone Cartoons as regards Web Design

    This article regards Standards Reboot Spring 2007, Vitaphone cartoons and notes Jon Hicks twice as regards web design for visual aesthetics.

Typography Articles

  1. Site Typography Elements, Widths

    A Typographic Style Elements reference from The Elementary Standards.

  2. The 1927 Composition Rules

    How to study typography and composition by empirical methods with printed matter from 1927.

HTML Elements (Tutorials)

  1. Head

  2. Title (Head) Element

  3. Base

  1. Div

  1. Blockquote

  2. Center

  3. Map

  4. No Script

  1. Abbreviation

  2. Acronym

  3. Anchor

  4. Applet

  5. BiDi Over-ride

  6. Big

  7. Bold

  8. Cite

  9. Code

  10. Defining

  11. Deleted

  12. Emphasis

  13. Heading

  14. Inserted

  15. Italic

  16. Keyboard

  17. Mark

  18. Paragraph

  19. Preformatted

  20. Quote

  21. S Element

  22. Sample

  23. Small

  24. Span

  25. Strike

  26. Strong

  27. Subscript

  28. Superscript

  29. Teletype

  30. Underline

  31. Variable

  1. Ordered List

  3. Unordered List

  4. List Item

  5. Definition List

  6. Definition Term

  7. Definition Description

  8. Directory List

  9. Menu List

  1. Area

  2. Basefont

  3. Horizontal Rule

  4. Image

  5. Line Break

  6. Parameter

HTML Attributes (Tutorials)

  1. ID

  2. Class

  1. Access Key

  2. ALink

  3. Align

  4. Alt Text

  5. Archive

  6. Background

  7. Character Set

  8. Cite

  9. Clear

  10. Code Type

  11. Compact

  12. Coordinates

  13. Height

  14. HSpace

  15. Href

  16. Href Language Code

  17. HTTP-Equiv

  18. Language Code

  19. Link

  20. Name

  21. Noshade

  23. Size

  24. Style

  25. Text

  26. Text Direction

  27. Title

  28. Type

  29. Value

  30. Attribute/Value Pair

  31. Version

  32. VSpace

  33. VLink

  34. Width

Elementary Service Announcements

  1. N° 1 [Simple Perceived Value]

    An Elementary Search Marketing Service Announcement for the benefit of those sites which may have perceived value deficiencies when uncurrent copyright dates are viewed.

  2. N° 2 [Simple Search Enhancement]

    An Elementary Search Marketing Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, percieved value and site design as approved and offered by The Elementary Standards.

  3. N° 3 [Simple Usability Enhancement]

    An Elementary Usability Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design.

  4. N° 4 [Simple Usability Enhancement]

    An Elementary Usability Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design.

  5. N° 5 [Simple Search Enhancement]

    An Elementary SEO Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design.

  6. N° 6 [Simple Usability Enhancement]

    An Elementary Usability Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design.

  7. N° 7 [Simple Perceived Value]

    An Elementary Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design.

  8. N° 8 [Simple Site Design Semantics]

    An Elementary HTML Semantics Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design.

  9. N° 9 [Simple Marketing Enhancement]

    An Elementary Search Engine Marketing Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design.

  10. N° 10 [Simple Usability Enhancement]

    An Elementary Usability Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design.

  11. N° 11 [Simple Search Enhancement]

    An Elementary SEO Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design.

  12. N° 12 [Simple Perceived Value Enhancement]

    An Elementary Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design.

  13. N° 13 [Simple Agency Process Enhancement]

    An Elementary Service Announcement for the benefit of a simple "Best Practice" when engaged in Agency, large-scale development.

  14. N° 14 [Simple Agency Process Enhancement]

    An Elementary Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design.

  15. N° 15 [Simple User Interface Enhancement]

    An Elementary Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design.

  16. N° 16 [Simple Search Engine Enhancement]

    An Elementary Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design.

  17. N° 17 [Simple Agency Process Enhancement]

    An Elementary Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design.

  18. N° 18 [Simple Search Enhancement]

    An Elementary Search Engine Optimization Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, percieved value and site design provided gratis by The Elementary Standards.

  19. N° 19 [Simple Search Enhancement]

    An Elementary Search Engine Optimization Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design provided gratis by The Elementary Standards.

  20. N° 20 [Simple Perceived Value Enhancement]

    An Elementary Perceived Value Service Announcement for the benefit of search optimization, perceived value and site design provided gratis by The Elementary Standards for sites whose designs fail.

Test Cases

  1. 1855 Broadside Typography made with CSS

    An 1855 broadside found in a library used as a found object for rendering its design layout with semantic HTML and CSS for presentation (including image replacement).

  2. 1957 Typography [Span]

    First example of setting 1957-style typography with a span element.

  3. 1957 Typography [CSS Run-in attribute]

    First example of setting 1957-style typography with the CSS run-in attribute.

  4. 1957 Typography [Heading Float-XHTML/Transitional]

    1957 Typography [Heading Float-XHTML/Transitional]

  5. 1957 Typography [Heading Float]

    1957 Typography [Heading Float]

  6. The Magical HTML 4.01/Transitional Page

  7. Anne XHTML Site Markup Errors

    Anne van Kesteren's site structured with XHTML/Strict that exhibits errors during Markup Validation.

  8. Anne's Weblog [The XHTML/Strict Version]

    This page is a facsimile of Anne van Kesteren's web site illustrating that XHMTL/Strict does not cause draconian error handling.

  9. Blockquote Element - Child:Paragraph

    An example of using CSS Specificity when the element to be overwritten has an ID and CSS !Important.

  10. CSS Specifity (Body ID Test)

    Test results for CSS Specificity applied to the various HTML elements used in this demonstration for Body ID Specificity.

  11. Comparing Conformance Requirements Against Real-World Documents

    Comparing Conformance Requirements Against Real-World Documents

  12. CSS Specificity

    An example of using CSS Specificity when the element to be overwritten has an ID and CSS !Important.

  13. Complex List [HTML 4.01/Strict]

    Complex List [HTML 4.01/Strict]

  14. Complex List [XHTML 1.0/Transitional]

    Complex List [XHTML 1.0/Transitional]

  15. Complex List [XHTML 1.0/Strict]

    Complex List [XHTML 1.0/Strict]

  16. Complex List [HTML 4.01/Transitional]

    Complex List [HTML 4.01/Transitional]

  17. DT-DD Float Left Test

    An Elementary Standards Simple Test for testing validation compliance.

  18. Directory List (XHTML 1.0/Transitional) Passes W3C Markup Validation

    An XHTML 1.0/Transtional document with a Directory List element passes W3C Markup Validation in a test case; it fails HTML 5.

  19. Definition List DD Missing [XHTML 1.0/Transitional]

    One of the examples of HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0 and HTML 5 validation results.

  20. Definition List DD Missing [XHTML 1.0/Strict]

    One of the examples of HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0 and HTML 5 validation results.

  21. Definition List DD Missing [HTML 4.01/Strict]

    One of the examples of HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0 and HTML 5 validation results.

  22. Definition List DD Missing [HTML 5]

    One of the examples of HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0 and HTML 5 validation results.

  23. Directory List (HTML 4.01/Strict) Fails W3C Markup Validation

    An HTML 4.01/Strict document with a Directory List element fails W3C Markup Validation in a test case of HTML 5 backwards compatibility.

  24. HTML 5 Datetime Attribute Test

    An HTML 5 Datetime Attribute Test.

  25. HTML 4.01/Strict (XHTML Elements) Passes W3C Markup Validation

    An HTML 4.01/Strict document with XHTML elements used passes W3C Markup Validation in a test case of HTML 5 backwards compatibility..

  26. HTML 4.01/Strict Document (Second Test) Fails W3C Markup Validation

    An Elementary Standards Simple Test for testing validation compliance in a test case of HTML 5 backwards compatibility..

  27. HTML 4.01/Strict Document (Third Test) Passes Validation

    An HTML 4.01/Strict document structured sans closing tags and XHTML-styled empty elements passes W3C validation in a test case of HTML 5 backwards compatibility..

  28. HTML 5 (XHTML Elements) Passes (X)HTML5 Validator

    An HTML 5 document with XHTML-styled empty elements passes W3C Markup Validation in a test case of HTML 5 backwards compatibility.

  29. HTML 5 Document (Second Test) Passes HTML 5 Validation

    An HTML 5 document with XHTML-styled empty Content-Type element passes W3C (HTML 5) Markup Validation in a test case of HTML 5 backwards compatibility.

  30. XHTML 1.0/Strict (XHTML Elements) Passes W3C Markup Validation

    An XHTML 1.0/Strict document with XHTML elements used passes W3C Markup Validation in a test case for HTML 5.

  31. XHTML 1.0/Strict (HTML Elements) Fails W3C Markup Validation

    An XHTML 1.0/Strict document with HTML elements used fails W3C Markup Validation in a test case of HTML 5 backwards compatibility.

  32. ID Language Characters [HTML 5]

    Test results for language characters used in identifier (ID) values in HTML styled with CSS using language characters using HTML 5 Document Type.

  33. ID Language Characters [HTML 4.01/Strict]

    Test results for language characters used in identifier (ID) values in HTML styled with CSS using language characters using HTML 4.01/Strict Document Type Definition.

  34. ID Language Characters [XHTML 1.0/Strict]

    Test results for language characters used in identifier (ID) values in HTML styled with CSS using language characters using XHTML 1.0/Strict Document Type Definition.

  35. ID Language Characters [HTML 4.01/Transitional]

    Test results for language characters used in identifier (ID) values in HTML styled with CSS using language characters using HTML 4.01/Transitional Document Type Definition.

  36. ID Language Characters [XHTML 1.0/Transitional]

    Test results for language characters used in identifier (ID) values in HTML styled with CSS using language characters using XHTML 1.0/Transitional Document Type Definition.

  37. Ill Formed XHTML Strict

    This Elementary Standards Simple Test illustrates browser error recovery in an noncompliant XHTML document.

  38. 'Il Pleut' Typography made with CSS

    An example of using the HTML Pre Element with CSS for the typography of Guillaume Apollinaire's Calligramme, Il Pleut.

  39. Image Map lacking image

    This is a test illustrating how an Image Map is rendered when the image itself is lacking.

  40. ID Language Characters [Hack]

    Test results for language characters used in identifier (ID) values in HTML styled with CSS using language characters using XHTML 1.0/Transitional Document Type Definition.

  41. Multiple Anchor ID Test

    An example of using identical ID attribute tags in multiple anchors in an HTML document.

  42. Multiple CSS ID Test

    An example of using identical ID attribute tags in multiple element with CSS styling in an HTML document.

  43. New HTML 5 Elements Recognized by Browsers

    A Simple browser test for those recognizing and rendering HTML 5 created elements.

  44. Obsoleted/Deprecated Elements and Attributes

    Obsoleted/Deprecated Elements and Attributes pass Transitional DocTypes

  45. Semantically Extended Lists [HTML 4/Strict]

    An example of using ordered and unordered lists that contain HTML Outline elements.

  46. Semantically Extended Lists [HTML 5]

    An example of using ordered and unordered lists that contain HTML Outline elements.

  47. Well-formed Validation

    This Elementary Standards Simple Test continues experimentation with error recovery and - Specifically - error handling with fradulent HTML markup.

The Elementary Standards: A Compendium of articles, tutorials and reference material regarding Web Standards, HTML and CSS Copyright ©2005-2010. All work is published by Sean Fraser under a Creative Commons License. All Rights Reserved.