Transcript Slide 1

Internet Librarian International
Birmingham, UK
Authoring Web Sites in
XHTML
Darlene Fichter
[email protected]
University of Saskatchewan Library
Canada
26 March, 2003
Overview
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Frameworks
Portlets
Why use XHTML?
XHTML syntax
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How XHTML differs from
HTML
XHTML and CSS
XHTML tools
Yesterday
Today
Computer - Device
Web Page
Static HTML
hand coding
HTML
Tag Editors
HTML, Forms,
Client Side Scripts
WSIWYG &
Management Tools
Distributed Authoring
Web Site
Dynamic / Database
SQL & Perl/PHP/ASP
CMS
Authoring & workflow
Web Services
Portals & Personalization
“My Library”
Objects - XML
Portals & Portlets
Web Services
XML, SOAP
Content Challenges in 2003:
Document Collections
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Storage & Management
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Content
Structure
Work
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Ease of use
Ease of creation
Good retrieval
Service Challenges
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Just in Time
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Repackaging
Over the Long Term
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Preservation
Migration
HTML
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Simple, general-purpose document
markup language
Simple hyperlinking
Designed for collaborative authoring
Combined authoring and viewing
roles
HTML Strengths
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Open standard
Lots of tools and applications
Easy and cheap
Rapidly adopted
HTML Weaknesses
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Not extensible
Supports only “simple” document
types
Mixes presentation and structure
Cross-browser wars
XML
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More meaningful searches
Flexible web applications
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data from disparate
sources/applications
client processing
multiple views
granular updates
Open standard
Unicode
Hope --> good for web delivery
What is XHTML?
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Called “Next generation” HTML
HTML that conforms to XML
standards
Will eventually support integration
with other XML applications
Device independent web access
Why use XHTML?
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Most documents on the Internet are
in HTML – this is the logical next
step
Simpler than XML for most authors
XHTML documents are XML
compliant, which allows you to use
XML tools such as XSL
Future -- XHTML easier than HTML
with the next generation of
browsers
Why do We Need XHTML?
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Both HTML and SGML have major
drawbacks.
XML’s use for encoding web documents
is still at early stages of adoption
Benefits of Adoption
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Easier to develop software
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Process data using inexpensive
software
Allows greater end-user control of
information display
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handle specialized information distributed
over the Web
stylesheets
Metadata for resource discovery
XHTML - What does it take?
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All documents must have a doctype
declaration
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The transitional doctype declaration-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0
Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/transitional.
dtd">
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Head and body
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Syntax
XHTML – 3 Variations
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Strict
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Transitional
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/strict.dtd">
Used when CSS is used for all your formatting
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/transitional.dtd">
Frameset
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Frameset//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/frameset.dtd">
Syntax: Lower case
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Case matters
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HTML:
<Title> or <TITLE> or <title>
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XHTML:
<title>
Syntax: Attributes
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Attributes must be quoted
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HTML
<p class=quotes>
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XHTML
<p class=“quotes”>
Syntax: Close Elements
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All tags must be closed
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HTML:
<p>Le chien dort. <p>La chat joue.
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XHTML:
<p>Le chien dort. </p><p>La chat
joue.</p>
Syntax: Empty Elements
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Empty elements must be
terminated
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HTML:
<br>
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XHTML:
<br />
Elements Must Be Nested
<bigdoll>
<mediumdoll>
<littledoll>
<littlestdoll/>
</littledoll>
<mediumdoll>
</bigdoll>
Scripts
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<script> and <style> tags must be
marked as CDATA
<script>
<!-- <![CDATA]
(script)
]]> - ->
</script>
Tip: Place your scripts in a external file.
Use entities for all
ampersands
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<a href="http://www.lights.ca/
cgi-bin/script.cgi?what=chien&id=9">
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<a href="http://www.lights.ca/
cgi-bin/script.cgi?what=chien&amp;
id=9">
Style Sheets & XHTML
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The use of external style sheets is
recommended
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href=“lib.css" />
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The type attribute is mandatory for
<style> tag – text/css
Enclose inline styles with <![CDATA[
and the ending tag ]]>
Find Out More: XHTML
syntax
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W3C
http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/
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XHTML: le web devient coopératif
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XHTML.org
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http://www.xhtml.net/
http://www.xhtml.org
Darlene Fichter. “Web Authoring in
XHTML”. ONLINE Magazine
November/December 2002
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www.findarticles.com
What about conversion?
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HTMLTidy
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http://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/tidy/
Resources for Conversion
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Converting HTML documents to
XHTML by Bejoy Alex Jaison
http://www22.brinkster.com/beeand
nee/techzone/articles/htmltoxhtml.a
sp
Roy Tennant. XML for Libraries.
Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2002.
XHTML Validators
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Validator
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http://validator.w3.org/
Typical Web Author
XHTML is available in standard tools
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Macromedia Dreamweaver
HTML-Kit
Macromedia HomeSite 5
NoteTab Pro
Content Provider
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Usually authoring in Word
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Import in Dreamweaver
Run it through a program like HTML
TIDY
New York Public Library
www.nypl.org/styleguide/
Major Project
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Consider the value of the content
over the long term
Likelihood of delivery to
“appliances”
If there is an XML “dialect”, use it
If not, use XHTML (ideally XML
rendered as XHTML)
Example: Law Cases
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1994
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2001
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527 law cases edited, and formatted as HTML
rigourous coding rules, poor validation
Cost: $150,000
converted to XML, DTD creation, enhanced,
rendered as XHTML
Cost: $15,000
Future
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Cost < $300
Canadian Native Law Cases
http;// library.usask.ca/native/cnlch.html
Developers
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Repackaging, reuse, migration,
archiving
Code
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How long will this content be around?
Always wise to separate presentation
from content
Decision/Balance
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Short term pain/effort vs. long term
gain?
XHTML &amp; You
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XHTML will make your life a little
more challenging
XHTML will make your computer
happier (eventually)
Silver Bullets? XHTML / XML
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No! In fact, these new choices just
raise some interesting challenges
Only certainty is change
Content will outlive devices!
Thank you!
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Darlene Fichter
[email protected]
University of Saskatchewan Library