Introduction
Welcome to Web Technologies Autumn 2011/12!
This page will eventually contain things that are awkward to host on StudySpace ... everything else will be on StudySpace!
Module content description
This module teaches you how to use CSS in XHTML web pages, dynamic HTML using JavaScript to manipulate the W3C DOM and gives you a very brief introduction to XML. See the module guide for a vague schedule, reading list and further information. (Also available on StudySpace.)
It relies on prior knowledge from the HTML module (CO1052/CO2052), programming experience (CO1040/Java or TS2140/VB, possibly concurrently) and (if you're 2nd year) leads nicely into 3rd year projects and modules like Databases and the Web (CO3041), Advanced Web Design Techniques (CO3060) and many others, including XML for the Web (CO3070) which you can also do (if level 6) in parallel with CO3013.
Important information:
IE File "Save As"
If you use Internet Explorer to save a web page (e.g. for an exercise) be careful to choose "Web Page, HTML only" otherwise Internet Explorer will rewrite the page using the HTML4 DOCTYPE and make your job much harder! (See IESaveAs.php for a picture!)
Backup your work!
Always remember to backup your work from your network drive! Ideally you should have copies on the network H: drive and on USB/CD but not on StudentNet as it's too easily copied! Don't make your work available for copying...
Please use the appropriate DOCTYPE!
- Level 5 use the Transitional XHTML style:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
- Level 6 use the Strict XHTML style:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTM 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
Character encoding & META tags
META tags are used to provide information about a web page (i.e. information about information). The following META tag is mandatory in most XHTML web pages, it identifies the character encoding used in the page (ISO-8859-1 is `Western European' whereas Unicode UTF-8 is the preferred catch-all multinational encoding) so generally you should use one or the other of these, not both:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
About this page
I've tried to practice a little of what I preach: This page mostly validates as Strict XHTML, uses mainly semantic markup and CSS for layout.
Send any comments to me at:
Dr James Denholm-Price j.denholm-price@kingston.ac.uk Lecturer & Learning and Teaching Coordinator Kingston University Faculty of SEC Kingston University Penrhyn Road Kingston upon Thames KT1 2EE work: 020 8417 2670