What the Site Is
This site is meant to be a repository and reference for technical information
about HTML elements, attributes and the popular browsers that support them.
This reference is not meant to replace any of the official references put
forth by the W3C or its member companies, it is rather meant to collect all
of the far-flung resources into a single, coherent whole (hopefully.)
Who This Site Is Aimed At
While some of the external links provided here are good beginner's entry points
to learning the HTML language, the contents of this site are directed generally
toward the more experienced author. It should be fairly easy to come up to speed
quickly on the basics of HTML though.
Why A Web Site?
The Internet in general, and the Web/HTML in particular, are fast moving
targets which change quickly. My goal is to keep up with that rapid pace of
change, only in its regard to HTML. Compiling this reference
and keeping it up to date in most ANY other format would be nearly
impossible. Wish me luck... All you readers out there can
help me achieve this.
What Is Covered
I have tried to gather and cohesively organize all known information about the
specifics of the HyperText Markup Language as of the time of writing.
- Comprehensive tables of all
HTML elements and attributes currently
supported by Internet Explorer, Mosaic, Netscape and Opera.
Support in the HTML 2.0, 3.2, and 4.0 specification is also detailed
(as well as HTML 3.0 features implemented in current browsers.)
This list breaks down the HTML elements and attributes by first letter
and details the very first version of each browser and standard where
support began.
- Brief overviews and histories of HTML
2.0,
3.0,
3.2,
4.0,
CSS1 and
CSS2
- Summary of Browser releases
important to the support of HTML.
These pages detail the platforms that the browsers run on, as well as
version release dates.
- Side by side comparison of
Internet Explorer,
Mosaic,
Netscape and
Opera release dates and versions.
- Tree structure detailing
all HTML elements in use today by the major browsers.
This tree organization loosely groups HTML elements by location in
an actual HTML document.
- Tag grouping overviews.
This part of the tree structure consists of pages giving an
introduction to each element section topic. Also included in these pages are
links to related sites on each HTML topic.
- Alphabetic element index to
all currently used HTML elements
- Tag pages for every HTML element.
This is THE biggest portion of the site. It lists everything
you might want to know about the HTML elements in common use. I decided to
cover all HTML 2.0, 3.2, and 4.0 elements, browser created extensions,
and only those HTML 3.0 elements in general use (because 3.0 was never
officially adopted.) Elements and attributes from HTML 3.0 that are not
in general use today (which is a large portion of the draft) will be of
little interest to authors unless they become supported at some future
date. (I hope. If I left anything out, please
tell me.)
In the pages for each element, you will find:
- Browser and standard support for each element
- A brief element description
- All known attributes for each element including allowed
attribute values
- Element examples
- Parent/content usage models
- Tips and tricks for using the element
- Known peculiarities in the implementation of the
element in the popular browsers.
- Cascading Style Sheets reference.
I never intended this section to be as big as it has become. The real
specification for CSS1 is 60-ish pages, and CSS2 is over 200 pages. While
mine is much smaller than either of these, it is still not a trivial
thing. The area of Style Sheets IS a complex topic, and one
that requires a lot of explanation. I try to explain things a bit more
than I do elsewhere in the site.
Why Were These Browsers Chosen?
- Internet Explorer
- This browser shows signs of supporting the greatest range of HTML
standards yet in a popular browser and its market share is gradually
gaining in strength to be on par with Netscape.
- Mosaic
- This is the most historically interesting of all the reviewed browsers
in terms of effect on the current state of the market, although it
does not have the market share it once commanded in 1994. The sad
news is that the 3.0 release will be the last Mosaic. This means that
coverage of this browser here will only be of mainly historical interest.
- Netscape
- This browser has had the largest market share of any browser for quite
some time (almost three years now.) Supports a wide range of HTML and
various browser features on a wide number of platforms.
- Opera
- This browser is not based on Mosaic like the other browsers reviewed.
Its user-base is growing (and very vocal.)
Design Strategy
The complexity inherent in presenting information about a language is
inescapable. I have tried to manage this complexity by offering several
different views on the same information, so that the readers may choose
for themselves the method of interface that works best for them.
I originally designed the color scheme of the site (light colors on a black
background) for maximum readability. Because of the levels of information
complexity, the contrasting emphasis colors can tend to look a bit
"circus-y" The chosen scheme was mostly for my benefit at the
time (I probably use and look at this site more than anyone.) I prefer
dark, passive backgrounds to bright, active ones to reduce eyestrain in
extended reading on a computer. I realize that not everyone may feel that
way about the appearance (although many do.)
Testing and the Change to CSS
There are several places where hacks existed to achieve a special appearance.
As time has progressed, and the size and complexity has increased, I have
been shackled to the original limited design and hacks. I finally decided
to take the plunge and convert the site to using Cascading Style Sheets.
For browsers that understand style sheets, the site will appear as it always
has (at least for now - I will be considering other presentation schemes
soon - I would love ideas on this
change.) For browsers that do not understand style sheets I have taken some time
to consider usability issues in the basic design of the site so that it
remains as useful as it has been in the past. In essence, appearance issues
should no longer hamper usability, only enhance it. Oh, and a great feature
of using CSS is that people that download the site can easily
customize the presentation of the site
as well.
I have tested the site at many different pixel resolutions and platforms, on
many different browsers and versions. I also spell-check and validate all
documents before publishing (see the caveats
page for more details.) There are still some issues to address, but I am
working on them as fast as I can and the site is LARGE.
|