Apress Web Standards, Mastering HTML5 CSS3 and XML (2011).pdf

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Contents at a Glance

 About the Author................................................................................................. xvii

 About the Technical Reviewer ........................................................................... xviii

 Preface................................................................................................................. xix

 Part 1: Web Standards ............................................................................................ 1

 Chapter 1: Introduction to Web Standards ............................................................. 3

 Chapter 2: Internationalization ............................................................................. 39

 Chapter 3: Markup Languages: More Than HTML5 .............................................. 55

 Chapter 4: Serving and Configuration................................................................. 139

 Chapter 5: Style Sheets....................................................................................... 161

 Chapter 6: Scripting and Applications ................................................................ 213

 Chapter 7: Metadata and the Semantic Web....................................................... 245

 Chapter 8: Web Syndication................................................................................ 307

 Chapter 9: Optimized Appearance ...................................................................... 335

 Chapter 10: Accessibility .................................................................................... 367

 Part 2: Developing with Standards ..................................................................... 401

 Chapter 11: Development Tools .......................................................................... 403

 Chapter 12: Putting It All Together ..................................................................... 419

 Chapter 13: Best Practices ................................................................................. 443

 Chapter 14: Validation ........................................................................................ 455

 Chapter 15: Most Common Errors ...................................................................... 481

 Index ................................................................................................................... 491

iii

PART 1

Web Standards

In this part of the book, you will become familiar with the theoretical background behind web standards.

You will learn the fundamental concepts of web site standardization, along with the standardization

bodies that develop standards and the most influential web sites that announce, promote, and distribute

them. You will learn about the importance of web standards and understand the reasons for incorrect

implementations, along with techniques to correct or eliminate them. You will learn the web standards

by category, from server configuration and internationalization settings to standard-compliant markup,

style sheets, object embedding, metadata annotations, and news feeds. After reading these chapters, you

will have a solid foundation of web standards and will be able to select the most appropriate standards

for your projects.

C H A P T E R 1

Introduction to Web Standards

Technical standards are widely used in various fields of life—think of the standards of paper size and the

standard envelopes that fit them. Web standards , similar to other standards, are normative specifications

of technologies and methodologies. In other words, they are well-defined sets of requirements to be

satisfied. They are not only ideal from the technical point of view but also represent user needs.

However, web standards are often ignored; the World Wide Web consists of billions of documents that

do not consider proper restrictions or regulations, causing serious problems. This is because the Web is

a “free forum” where everyone can publish even without a technical background. Unfortunately, this

approach comes at a price: you will often encounter sites that download slower, have an inadequate

appearance, or have poor functionality. Further, in spite of the benefits of standard compliance, not only

content authors but also web developers find it difficult to implement web standards. One of the major

reasons for that is the lack of widespread distribution. Even the most popular web sites can be very

confusing, and in contrast to the common misconception, developers cannot use them as references to

learn from. Moreover, many developers ignore standards because they think incorrectly that developing

with standards means an additional workload. People have a limited knowledge about web standards,

and they generally know neither the reason nor the optimal method for applying them.

In this chapter, you will learn about the significance of web standards and the reliable resources you

should know in order to make the best use of web standards in your own applications. Web standards

are often ignored, causing serious problems that are described in the “Problem Statement” section later

in this chapter. This chapter sets out the major benefits of web standards. It will also give you a solid

understanding of the diversity and status of standards. After reading the chapter, you will be able to

recognize finalized specifications and select the most appropriate ones for any project.

The Basic Concepts

Web standards are applicable to the World Wide Web (for short, the Web). These formal standards define

and describe various aspects of the Web. According to the Web Standards Project, a major standards

promoter, “Web standards are carefully designed to deliver the greatest benefits to the greatest number

of web users while ensuring the long-term viability of any document published on the Web. Designing

and building with these standards simplifies and lowers the cost of production, while delivering sites

that are accessible to more people and more types of Internet devices. Sites developed along these lines

will continue to function correctly as traditional desktop browsers evolve, and as new Internet devices

come to market” [1].

Web standards are often de facto (in practice) standards. Since there is no law that enforces them,

web standards are ignored by a large share of web developers. The Recommendations published by the

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the largest web standardization body in the world, are not

exceptions either. However, in November 2010, W3C made a big step forward when it became an

ISO/IEC JTC 1 PAS Submitter because any stable core web technologies produced by W3C are also in the

scope of ISO. The International Standards Organization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical

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