Webmaster in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

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By Robert Eckstein, Stephen Spainhour

Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Released: June 1999

Pages: 540

Individuals, organizations, and businesses are relying on their web pages to provide and collect information, manage processes, and interact with communities and customers. A reliable, informative, and responsive web site can reduce cost, increase visibility, and create a positive image for the owner of that site.

Behind every successful web page is an overworked and underappreciated webmaster.

Webmasters make sure that the information on a site is accessible and usable; that the site is always available; that performance is good; that users can get the information that they need; and that the site can collect the information it needs to serve those users. These disparate tasks require many different tools and skills. Webmaster in a Nutshell pulls together in a single volume all the essential reference information for webmasters working on UNIX-based web servers.

In this second edition of Webmaster in a Nutshell, we've updated our material to include the latest versions of HTML and Javascript, and also expanded the book to cover the newest technologies emerging on the Web. The book covers:

HTML 4.0, with special attention to forms, tables and frames
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
XML, the next-generation markup language for the Web
CGI, with a chapter dedicated to the Perl module CGI.pm
JavaScript 1.2
PHP, the HTML-embedded programming language
HTTP 1.1, the underlying protocol that drives the Web
Apache server administration, including Apache modules
mod_perl, the Apache module for enhancing CGI

Webmaster in a Nutshell, part of the bestselling O'Reilly series of reference books, makes it easy to find the information you want about the technologies you use. You'll keep your other books on the shelf; you'll keep Webmaster in a Nutshell next to your keyboard.

Chapter 1 Introduction
1. The Web in a Nutshell
2. Who Are the Webmasters?
3. Recommended Books
HTML
1. Chapter 2 HTML Overview
  1. HTML Document Structure
  2. HTML Syntax
  3. JavaScript Event Handlers
2. Chapter 3 HTML Reference
  1. Core Attributes
  2. HTML Tag and Attribute Descriptions
3. Chapter 4 Frames
  1. Frame Layout
  2. Nested Framesets
  3. The <frame> Tag
  4. Frame Targets
  5. Frame Border Attributes
4. Chapter 5 Tables
  1. The <table> Tag
  2. The <caption> Tag
  3. The <tr> Tag
  4. The <th> and <td> Tags
  5. Border Color and Backgrounds
  6. Advanced Table Tags
5. Chapter 6 Forms
  1. The <form> Tag
  2. The <input> Tag
  3. The <textarea> Tag
  4. The <select> Tag
  5. An Example Form
6. Chapter 7 Character Entities
7. Chapter 8 Color Names and Values
CSS
1. Chapter 9 Cascading Style Sheets
  1. The Elements of Styles
  2. Style Syntax
  3. Style Properties
  4. CSS Reference
XML
1. Chapter 10 XML
  1. XML Terminology
  2. XML Reference
  3. Document Type Definitions
  4. The Extensible Stylesheet Language
  5. XLink and XPointer
JavaScript
1. Chapter 11 JavaScript
  1. Versions of JavaScript
  2. JavaScript Reference
  3. JavaScript Syntax
  4. Variables
  5. Data Types
  6. Expressions and Operators
  7. Statements
  8. Regular Expressions
  9. JavaScript in HTML
  10. Client-Side Object Hierarchy
  11. Windows and Frames
  12. Forms
  13. Events
  14. JavaScript Security Restrictions
  15. Global Properties
  16. Global Functions
  17. Alphabetical Object Reference
CGI and Perl
1. Chapter 12 CGI Overview
  1. A Typical CGI Interaction
  2. URL Encoding
  3. Extra Path Information
  4. CGI Environment Variables
2. Chapter 13 Server Side Includes
  1. Configuring the Apache Server for SSI and XSSI
  2. Basic SSI Directives
  3. SSI Environment Variables
  4. Configurable Time Formats for SSI Output
  5. Conditional Statements
3. Chapter 14 The CGI.pm Module
  1. HTML Tag Generation
  2. Importing Method Groups
  3. Maintaining State
  4. Named Parameters
  5. Using JavaScript Features
  6. Debugging
  7. CGI.pm Reference
4. Chapter 15 Web Server Programming with mod_perl
  1. Design of mod_perl
  2. Installing mod_perl
  3. mod_perl Handlers
  4. Running CGI Scripts with mod_perl
  5. Server Side Includes with mod_perl
  6. <Perl> Sections
  7. Apache:: Modules
PHP
1. Chapter 16 PHP
  1. Configuration
  2. Embedding PHP in HTML
  3. Language Syntax
  4. Variables
  5. Data Types
  6. Expressions
  7. Operators
  8. Control Structures
  9. Functions
  10. Web-Related Variables
  11. Examples
  12. Function Reference
  13. Array Functions
  14. Configuration and Logging Functions
  15. Database Functions
  16. Date/Time Functions
  17. Directory Functions
  18. File Functions
  19. Graphics Functions
  20. HTTP Functions
  21. IMAP Functions
  22. LDAP Functions
  23. Math Functions
  24. PDF Functions
  25. String Functions
  26. Variable Manipulation Functions
  27. XML Functions
  28. Miscellaneous Functions
HTTP
1. Chapter 17 HTTP
  1. Client Requests
  2. Server Responses and Status Codes
  3. HTTP Headers
  4. Cookies
  5. Media Types and Subtypes
Server Configuration
1. Chapter 18 Apache Configuration
  1. Understanding Apache
  2. Basic Server Configuration: Core Directives
2. Chapter 19 Apache Modules
  1. mod_access
  2. mod_actions
  3. mod_alias
  4. mod_auth
  5. mod_auth_anon
  6. mod_auth_db
  7. mod_auth_dbm
  8. mod_autoindex
  9. mod_browser
  10. mod_cern_meta
  11. mod_cgi
  12. mod_cookies
  13. mod_digest
  14. mod_dir
  15. mod_dld
  16. mod_dll
  17. mod_env
  18. mod_example
  19. mod_expires
  20. mod_headers
  21. mod_imap
  22. mod_include
  23. mod_info
  24. mod_isapi
  25. mod_log_agent
  26. mod_log_common
  27. mod_log_config
  28. mod_log_referer
  29. mod_mime
  30. mod_mime_magic
  31. mod_mmap_static
  32. mod_negotiation
  33. mod_proxy
  34. mod_rewrite
  35. mod_setenvif
  36. mod_so
  37. mod_speling
  38. mod_status
  39. mod_userdir
  40. mod_unique_id
  41. mod_usertrack
3. Chapter 20 Server Performance
  1. Turn Off Reverse DNS Lookups
  2. Use the Most Recent Version of Your Server
  3. Keep HTML Content and HTTP Logs on Different Disks
  4. Keep Content as Small as Possible
  5. Performance Tips for HTML Authors
  6. Graphics
  7. Preprocess Queries and Cache the Results
  8. Use Servlets or Server APIs
  9. Increase RAM and Bandwidth
  10. Look for Excessive TCP Retransmits
  11. Use the Same TCP MTU as Your ISP
  12. Use a Trailing Slash When Requesting a Directory

Colophon

Title:

Webmaster in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

By:

Robert Eckstein, Stephen Spainhour

Publisher:

O'Reilly Media

Formats:

Print
Safari Books Online

Print:

June 1999

Pages:

540

Print ISBN:

978-1-56592-325-6

| ISBN 10:

1-56592-325-1

Robert Eckstein

Robert Eckstein, an editor at O'Reilly, works mostly on Java books (notably Java Swing) and is also responsible for the XML Pocket Reference and Webmaster in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition. In his spare time he has been known to provide online coverage for popular conferences. He also writes articles for JavaWorld magazine. Robert holds bachelor's degrees in computer science and communications from Trinity University. In the past, he has worked for the USAA insurance company and more recently spent four years with Motorola's cellular software division. He is the co-author of Using Samba.

View Robert Eckstein's full profile page.
Stephen Spainhour

Stephen Spainhour co-authored Webmaster in a Nutshell, Perl in a Nutshell, 1st Edition, and contributed to many other OReilly titles. He is an avid fan of professional tennis, and when hes not checking for tennis scores on the Web, he enjoys cooking, electronic music, troubleshooting his home-built PC, and watching too much television.

View Stephen Spainhour's full profile page.

Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. A crab spider is featured on the cover of Webmaster in a Nutshell. Like the crustaceans after which they are named, crab spiders walk sideways or backwards. They feed on bees and other pollenizing insects, often laying in wait for them by hiding on flowers. Some species of crab spider can, over a period of several days, change color from white to yellow and back again to blend into the flower on which they are sitting. The spider can grab its prey quickly with its forward facing legs. It then injects its victims with a fast-acting, highly-poisonous venom, in this way protecting itself from the bee's sting.

Spiders are similar to, but not the same as, insects. They belong to the class Arachnida, named after Arachne, a maiden in Greek mythology. She defeated the goddess Athena in a weaving contest. In a fury of anger, Athena destroyed Arachne's weaving and beat her about the head. In utter disgrace, Arachne hanged herself. A regretful Athena changed Arachne into a spider so she could weave forever.

While they are certainly not going to win any popularity contests, spiders' insect-eating habits are extremely helpful to humans. Every year, billions of spiders do away with large numbers of disease-carrying and crop-destroying insects. If every spider ate one a day for just a year, those insects, piled in one spot, would weigh as much as 50 million people. Spiders are, by far, the most important predator of insects in the world. Mary Anne Weeks Mayo was the production editor for Webmaster in a Nutshell, Second Edition; Sheryl Avruch was the production manager; Clairemarie Fisher O'Leary and Maureen Dempsey provided quality control. Audrey Doyle was the copyeditor. Lenny Muellner provided troff technical support. Seth Maislin wrote the index.

Edie Freedman designed the cover of this book, using a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. The cover layout was produced with Quark XPress 3.32 using the ITC Garamond font. Whenever possible, our books use RepKover?, a durable and flexible lay-flat binding. If the page count exceeds RepKover's limit, perfect binding is used.

The inside layout was designed by Alicia Cech and implemented in groff by Lenny Muellner. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Rhon Porter using Macromedia FreeHand 8 and Adobe Photoshop 5. This colophon was written by Clairemarie Fisher O'Leary, with help from Elaine and Michael Kalantarian.

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