Head First HTML and CSS, 2nd Edition

Book description

Tired of reading HTML books that only make sense after you're an expert? Then it's about time you picked up Head First HTML and really learned HTML. You want to learn HTML so you can finally create those web pages you've always wanted, so you can communicate more effectively with friends, family, fans, and fanatic customers. You also want to do it right so you can actually maintain and expand your web pages over time so they work in all browsers and mobile devices. Oh, and if you've never heard of CSS, that's okay--we won't tell anyone you're still partying like it's 1999--but if you're going to create web pages in the 21st century then you'll want to know and understand CSS.

Learn the real secrets of creating web pages, and why everything your boss told you about HTML tables is probably wrong (and what to do instead). Most importantly, hold your own with your co-worker (and impress cocktail party guests) when he casually mentions how his HTML is now strict, and his CSS is in an external style sheet.

With Head First HTML, you'll avoid the embarrassment of thinking web-safe colors still matter, and the foolishness of slipping a font tag into your pages. Best of all, you'll learn HTML and CSS in a way that won't put you to sleep. If you've read a Head First book, you know what to expect: a visually-rich format designed for the way your brain works. Using the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory, this book will load HTML and CSS into your brain in a way that sticks.

So what are you waiting for? Leave those other dusty books behind and come join us in Webville. Your tour is about to begin.

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Table of contents

  1. Head First HTML and CSS
  2. Dedication
  3. Praise for Head First HTML and CSS
  4. More Praise for Head First HTML and CSS
  5. Praise for other books by Eric Freeman and Elisabeth Robson
  6. Authors of Head First HTML and CSS
  7. How to Use This Book: Intro
    1. Who is this book for?
      1. Who should probably back away from this book?
    2. We know what you’re thinking
      1. And we know what your brain is thinking
    3. Metacognition: thinking about thinking
    4. Here’s what WE did
    5. Here’s what YOU can do to bend your brain into submission
    6. Read me
    7. Tech reviewers (first edition)
    8. Acknowledgments (first edition)
    9. Tech reviewers (second edition)
    10. Acknowledgments (second edition)
    11. Safari® Books Online
  8. 1. Getting to Know HTML: The Language of the Web
    1. The Web Video killed the radio star
    2. What does the web server do?
    3. What does the web browser do?
    4. What you write (the HTML)
    5. What the browser creates
    6. Your big break at Starbuzz Coffee
    7. Creating the Starbuzz web page
    8. Creating an HTML file (Mac)
    9. Creating an HTML file (Windows)
    10. Meanwhile, back at Starbuzz Coffee...
    11. Saving your work
    12. Opening your web page in a browser
    13. Take your page for a test drive
    14. Are we there yet?
    15. Another test drive
    16. Tags dissected
    17. Meet the style element
    18. Giving Starbuzz some style...
    19. Cruisin’ with style...
  9. 2. Going Further with Hypertext: Meeting the “HT” in HTML
    1. Head First Lounge, new and improved
    2. Creating the new lounge
    3. What did we do?
      1. What does the browser do?
    4. Understanding attributes
    5. Getting organized
    6. Organizing the lounge...
    7. Technical difficulties
    8. Planning your paths...
    9. Fixing those broken images...
      1. Finding the path from “lounge.html” to “drinks.gif”
      2. Finding the path from “elixir.html” to “red.jpg”
  10. 3. Building Blocks: Web Page Construction
    1. From journal to website, at 12 mph
    2. The rough design sketch
    3. From a sketch to an outline
    4. From the outline to a web page
    5. Test driving Tony’s web page
    6. Adding some new elements
    7. Meet the <q> element
      1. And test drive
    8. Looooong quotes
    9. Adding a <blockquote>
    10. The real truth behind the <q> and <blockquote> mystery
    11. Meanwhile, back at Tony’s site...
    12. Of course, you could use the <p> element to make a list...
      1. But there are lots of reasons not to
    13. Constructing HTML lists in two easy steps
    14. Taking a test drive through the cities
    15. Putting one element inside another is called “nesting”
    16. To understand the nesting relationships, draw a picture
    17. Using nesting to make sure your tags match
      1. So what?
  11. 4. Getting Connected: A Trip to Webville
    1. Getting Starbuzz (or yourself) onto the Web
    2. Finding a hosting company
    3. HELLO, my domain name is...
    4. How can you get a domain name?
    5. Moving in
    6. Getting your files to the root folder
    7. As much FTP as you can possibly fit in two pages
    8. Back to business...
    9. Mainstreet, URL
    10. What is HTTP?
    11. What’s an absolute path?
    12. How default pages work
    13. How do we link to other websites?
    14. Linking to Caffeine Buzz
    15. And now for the test drive...
    16. Web page fit and finish
      1. Improving accessibility by adding a title to your links
    17. The title test drive...
    18. Linking into a page
    19. Using the id attribute to create a destination for <a>
    20. How to link to elements with ids
      1. Finding the destination heading
      2. Now that you’ve got your hands on their HTML...
      3. Reworking the link in “index.html”
    21. Linking to a new window
    22. Opening a new window using target
  12. 5. Adding Images to your Pages: Meeting the Media
    1. How the browser works with images
    2. How images work
      1. So, what are the differences among JPEG, PNG, and GIF?
    3. <img>: it’s not just relative links anymore
    4. Always provide an alternative
    5. Sizing up your images
    6. Creating the ultimate fan site: myPod
    7. Check out myPod’s “index.html” file
    8. Whoa! The image is way too large
    9. Resize the image to fit in the browser
      1. Here’s what you’re going to do:
    10. Open the image
    11. Resizing the image
    12. You’ve resized—now save
    13. Save the image
    14. Fixing up the myPod HTML
    15. And now for the test drive...
    16. More photos for myPod
    17. Taking myPod for another test drive
    18. Reworking the site to use thumbnails
      1. Create a new directory for thumbnails
    19. Create the thumbnails
    20. Rework the HTML to use the thumbnails
    21. Take myPod for another test drive
    22. Turning the thumbnails into links
    23. Create individual pages for the photos
    24. So, how do I make links out of images?
    25. Add the image links to “index.html”
    26. Open the myPod logo
      1. A closer look...
    27. What format should we use?
    28. To be transparent, or not to be transparent? That is the question...
    29. Save the transparent PNG
    30. Wait, what is the color of the web page background?
    31. Set the matte color
    32. Check out the logo with a matte
    33. Save the logo
    34. Add the logo to the myPod web page
    35. And now for the final test drive
  13. 6. Standards and All that Jazz: Getting Serious with HTML
    1. A Brief History of HTML
    2. The new, and improved, HTML5 doctype
    3. HTML, the new “living standard”
    4. Adding the document type definition
    5. The doctype test drive
    6. Meet the W3C validator
    7. Validating the Head First Lounge
    8. Houston, we have a problem...
    9. Fixing that error
    10. We’re almost there...
    11. Adding a meta tag to specify the character encoding
    12. Making the validator (and more than a few browsers) happy with a <meta> tag...
    13. Third time’s the charm?
    14. Calling all HTML professionals, grab the handbook...
  14. 7. Getting Started with CSS: Adding a Little Style
    1. You’re not in Kansas anymore
    2. Overheard on Webville’s “Trading Spaces”
    3. Using CSS with HTML
    4. Wanna add more style?
    5. Getting CSS into your HTML
    6. Adding style to the lounge
    7. Cruising with style: the test drive
    8. Style the heading
      1. Test drive...
    9. Let’s put a line under the welcome message too
    10. We have the technology: specifying a second rule, just for the h1
      1. Another test drive...
    11. So, how do selectors really work?
    12. Seeing selectors visually
    13. Getting the lounge style into the elixirs and directions pages
    14. Creating the “lounge.css” file
    15. Linking from “lounge.html” to the external stylesheet
    16. Linking from “elixir.html” and “directions.html” to the external stylesheet
    17. Test driving the entire lounge...
    18. It’s time to talk about your inheritance...
      1. The elements inside the <p> element inherit the font-family style from <p>
    19. What if we move the font up the family tree?
      1. What are you waiting for...give it a try
    20. Test drive your new CSS
    21. Overriding inheritance
    22. Test drive
    23. Adding an element to the greentea class
    24. Creating a class selector
    25. A greentea test drive
    26. Taking classes further...
    27. The world’s smallest and fastest guide to how styles are applied
      1. First, do any selectors select your element?
      2. What about inheritance?
      3. Struck out again? Then use the default
      4. What if multiple selectors select an element?
      5. And if we still don’t have a clear winner?
    28. Making sure the lounge CSS validates
  15. 8. Styling with Fonts and Colors: Expanding Your Vocabulary
    1. Text and fonts from 30,000 feet
    2. What is a font family anyway?
    3. Specifying font families using CSS
    4. How font-family specifications work
    5. Dusting off Tony’s journal
    6. Getting Tony a new font-family
    7. Test driving Tony’s new fonts
    8. How do I deal with everyone having different fonts?
    9. How Web Fonts work
    10. How to add a Web Font to your page...
      1. Step one: Find a font
      2. Step two: Make sure you have all the formats of the font you need
      3. Step three: Place your font files on the Web
      4. Step 4: Add the @font-face property to your CSS
      5. Step five: Use the font-family name in your CSS
      6. Step six: Load the page!
    11. Test drive the Web Font in Tony’s journal
    12. Adjusting font sizes
    13. So, how should I specify my font sizes?
    14. Let’s make these changes to the font sizes in Tony’s web page
    15. Test driving the font sizes
    16. Changing a font’s weight
    17. Test drive the normal-weight headings
    18. Adding style to your fonts
    19. Styling Tony’s quotes with a little italic
    20. How do web colors work?
    21. How do I specify web colors? Let me count the ways...
      1. Specify color by name
      2. Specify color in red, green, and blue values
      3. Specify color using hex codes
    22. The two-minute guide to hex codes
    23. How to find web colors
      1. Using an online color chart
    24. Back to Tony’s page...we’re going to make the headings orange, and add an underline too
    25. Test drive Tony’s orange headings
    26. Everything you ever wanted to know about text decorations in less than one page
    27. Removing the underline...
  16. 9. The Box Model: Getting Intimate with Elements
    1. The lounge gets an upgrade
    2. The new and improved, ultra-stylish lounge
    3. Setting up the new lounge
    4. Starting with a few simple upgrades
    5. A very quick test drive
    6. One more adjustment
    7. Checking out the new line height
    8. Getting ready for some major renovations
    9. A closer look at the box model
    10. What you can do to boxes
    11. Meanwhile, back at the lounge...
    12. Creating the guarantee style
    13. A test drive of the paragraph border
    14. Padding, border, and margins for the guarantee
    15. Adding some padding
    16. A test drive with some padding
    17. Now let’s add some margin
    18. A test drive with the margin
    19. Adding a background image
    20. Test driving the background image
    21. Fixing the background image
    22. Another test drive of the background image
    23. How do you add padding only on the left?
    24. Are we there yet?
    25. How do you increase the margin just on the right?
    26. A two-minute guide to borders
    27. Border fit and finish
    28. Congratulations!
      1. Welcome back, and good timing. We’re just about to listen in on an interview with a class...
    29. The id attribute
    30. But how do I use id in CSS?
    31. Using an id in the lounge
      1. Step one: Change the class attribute to an id in your “lounge.html” file
      2. Step two: Change the “.guarantee” class selector in “lounge.css” to an id selector
      3. Step three: Save your changes and reload the page
    32. Remixing stylesheets
    33. Using multiple stylesheets
    34. Stylesheets—they’re not just for desktop browsers anymore...
    35. Add media queries right into your CSS
  17. 10. Divs and Spans: Advanced Web Construction
    1. A close look at the elixirs HTML
    2. Let’s explore how we can divide a page into logical sections
      1. Identifying your logical sections
      2. Using <div>s to mark sections
      3. Labeling the <div>s
      4. Adding some style
      5. Exposing even more structure
      6. Adding structure on structure
    3. Meanwhile, back at the lounge...
    4. Taking the <div> for a test drive
    5. Adding a border
    6. An over-the-border test drive
    7. Adding some real style to the elixirs section
    8. The game plan
    9. Working on the elixir width
    10. Test driving the width
    11. Adding the basic styles to the elixirs
    12. Test driving the new styles
    13. We’re almost there...
    14. What are we trying to do?
      1. What we have now
      2. What we want
    15. What we need is a way to select descendants
    16. Changing the color of the elixir headings
    17. A quick test drive...
    18. Fixing the line height
    19. Look what you’ve accomplished...
    20. It’s time to take a little shortcut
    21. But there’s more...
      1. ...and don’t forget the shorthand for backgrounds
    22. And even more shorthands
    23. Adding <span>s in three easy steps
    24. Steps one and two: Adding the <span>s
    25. Step three: Styling the <span>s
    26. Test driving the spans
    27. The <a> element and its multiple personalities
    28. How can you style elements based on their state?
    29. Putting those pseudo-classes to work
    30. Test drive the links
    31. Isn’t it about time we talk about the “cascade”?
    32. The cascade
    33. Welcome to the “What’s my specificity?” game
    34. Putting it all together
  18. 11. Layout and Positioning: Arranging Elements
    1. Did you do the Super Brain Power?
    2. Use the Flow, Luke
    3. What about inline elements?
    4. How it all works together
    5. One more thing you should know about flow and boxes
      1. When the browser is placing two inline elements next to each other...
      2. When the browser is placing two block elements on top of each other...
    6. How to float an element
      1. First, give it an identity
      2. Now give it a width
      3. Now float it
    7. Behind the scenes at the lounge
    8. The new Starbuzz
    9. A look at the markup
    10. And a look at the style
    11. Let’s take Starbuzz to the next level
    12. Move the sidebar just below the header
    13. Set the width of the sidebar and float it
    14. Test driving Starbuzz
    15. Fixing the two-column problem
    16. Setting the margin on the main section
    17. Test drive
    18. Uh oh, we have another problem
    19. Solving the overlap problem
    20. Test drive
    21. Righty tighty, lefty loosey
      1. Step one: Start with the sidebar
      2. Step two: Take care of the main content
      3. Step three: Take care of the footer
    22. A quick test drive
    23. Liquid and frozen designs
      1. HTML changes
      2. CSS changes
    24. A frozen test drive
    25. What’s the state between liquid and frozen? Jello, of course!
    26. Test driving with a tank of jello
    27. How absolute positioning works
      1. What the CSS does
    28. Another example of absolute positioning
      1. Who’s on top?
    29. Using absolute positioning
    30. Changing the Starbuzz CSS
    31. Now we just need to rework the main <div>
    32. Time for the absolute test drive
    33. How CSS table display works
    34. How to create the CSS and HTML for a table display
    35. Adding HTML structure for the table display
    36. How to use CSS to create table displays
    37. Meanwhile, back at Starbuzz...
    38. A quick test drive...
    39. What’s the problem with the spacing?
    40. Fix the spacing
    41. A final test drive of our table display
    42. Strategies for your CSS layout toolbox
      1. The Floating Layout
      2. The Jello Layout
      3. The Absolute Layout
      4. The Table Display Layout
    43. Problems with the header
    44. Fixing the header images with float
    45. Test drive your float
      1. How float works in the header
    46. Adding the award
    47. Positioning the award
    48. How does fixed positioning work?
    49. Putting the coupon on the page
    50. Putting the coupon on the page
    51. Using a negative left property value
    52. A rather positive, negative test drive
  19. 12. HTML5 Markup: Modern HTML
    1. Rethinking HTML structure
    2. Modern Starbuzz
    3. Update your Starbuzz HTML
    4. Test driving the new ride
    5. Before you continue...
    6. How to update your CSS for the new elements
    7. Test drive #2
    8. Building the Starbuzz blog page
    9. Setting up the CSS for the blog page
    10. Test drive the blog page
    11. We still need to add a date to the blog...
    12. Adding the <time> element to your blog
      1. Test drive the blog
    13. How to add more <header> elements
    14. Testing the header
    15. So, what’s wrong with the header anyway?
    16. A final test drive for the headers
    17. Completing the navigation
    18. Adding the navigation CSS
    19. Who needs GPS? Giving the navigation a test drive
    20. Adding a <nav> element...
    21. Making our CSS more specific...
    22. Ta-da! Look at that navigation!
    23. Creating the new blog entry
    24. And now, introducing the <video> element
    25. Lights, camera, action...
    26. How does the <video> element work?
    27. Closely inspecting the video attributes...
    28. What you need to know about video formats
    29. The video format contenders
    30. How to juggle all those formats...
    31. Take 2: lights, camera, action...
    32. How to be even more specific with your video formats
    33. Update and test drive
  20. 13. Tables and More Lists: Getting Tabular
    1. How do you make tables with HTML?
    2. Creating a table with HTML
    3. What the browser creates
    4. Tables dissected
    5. Adding a caption
    6. Test drive...and start thinking about style
    7. Before we start styling, let’s get the table into Tony’s page
    8. Now let’s style the table
    9. Taking the styled tables for a test drive
    10. Getting those borders to collapse
    11. How about some color?
    12. How about some color in the table rows?
    13. Did we mention that Tony made an interesting discovery in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico?
    14. Another look at Tony’s table
    15. How to tell cells to span more than one row
    16. Test drive the table
    17. Trouble in paradise?
    18. Test driving the nested table
    19. Overriding the CSS for the nested table headings
    20. Giving Tony’s site the final polish
    21. Giving the list some style
    22. What if you want a custom marker?
      1. And, the final test drive...
  21. 14. HTML Forms: Getting Interactive
    1. How forms work
    2. How forms work in the browser
    3. What you write in HTML
    4. What the browser creates
    5. How the <form> element works
    6. What can go in a form?
    7. What can go in a form? (part 2)
    8. Oh, even more can go in a form!
    9. Getting ready to build the Bean Machine form
    10. Figuring out what goes in the form element
    11. Adding the <form> element
    12. How form element names work
    13. Back to getting those input elements into your HTML
    14. A form-al test drive
    15. Adding some more input elements to your form
    16. Adding the select element
    17. Test driving the <select> element
    18. Give the customer a choice of whole or ground beans
    19. Punching the radio buttons
    20. Using more input types
    21. Adding the number and date input types
    22. Test driving the number and date input elements
    23. Completing the form
    24. Adding the checkboxes and text area
    25. The final form test drive
    26. Watching GET in action
    27. Getting the form elements into HTML structure for table display layout
    28. Styling the form with CSS
    29. Test drive the styled form
    30. A word about accessibility
    31. What more could possibly go into a form?
    32. More things that can go in a form
    33. Congratulations! You made it to the end
  22. A. Leftovers: The Top Ten Topics (We Didn’t Cover)
    1. #1 More CSS selectors
      1. Pseudo-elements
      2. Attribute selectors
      3. Selecting by siblings
      4. Combining selectors
    2. #2 Vendor-specific CSS properties
    3. #3 CSS transforms and transitions
    4. #4 Interactivity
      1. What else can scripting do?
    5. #5 HTML5 APIs and web apps
    6. #6 More on Web Fonts
    7. #7 Tools for creating web pages
      1. Some tools to consider
    8. #8 XHTML5
    9. #9 Server-side scripting
    10. #10 Audio
  23. B. This isn’t goodbye
  24. Index
  25. About the Authors
  26. Colophon
  27. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: Head First HTML and CSS, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s): Elisabeth Robson, Eric Freeman
  • Release date: August 2012
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9780596159900