Foundation Website Creation with CSS, XHTML, and JavaScript

Foundation Website Creation with CSS, XHTML, and JavaScript covers the entire process of building a website. This process involves much more than just technical knowledge, and this book provides you with all the information you'll need to understand the concepts behind designing and developing for the Web, as well as the best means to deliver professional, best-practice-based results.

There is far more to building a successful website than knowing a little Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). The process starts long before any coding takes place, and this book introduces you to the agile development process, explaining why this method makes so much sense for web projects and how best to implement it. Planning is vital, so you'll also learn how to use techniques such as brainstorming, wireframes, mockups, and prototypes to get your project off to the best possible start and help ensure smooth progress as it develops.

An understanding of correct, semantic markup is essential to any web professional, so this book explains how XHTML should be used to structure content so that the markup adheres to current web standards. You'll learn about the wide range of HTML elements available to you, and you'll learn how and when to use them through building example web pages.

Without creative use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), websites would all look largely the same. CSS gives you the ability to set your website apart from the rest while maintaining the integrity of your markup. You'll learn how CSS works and how to apply styles to your pages, enabling you to realize your design ideas in the browser.

JavaScript can be used to make your website easier and more interesting to use. This book provides information on appropriate uses of this technology and introduces the concepts of programming using it. You'll also see how JavaScript works as part of the much-hyped technique Ajax and in turn where Ajax fits into the wider Web 2.0picture.

While a website is being built, it needs to be tested across multiple browsers and platforms to ensure that the site works for all users, regardless of ability or disability, and the book explains how best to do these tasks. Then, it discusses the process of launching and maintaining the site so that it will continue to work for all its users throughout its life-cycle.

The book concludes by covering server-side technologies, acting as a guide to the different options available and explaining differences between available products. With insights from renowned experts such as Jason Fried of 37signals, Daniel Burka of Digg and Pownce, and Chris Messina of Citizen Agency, this book provides invaluable information applicable to every web project, regardless of size, scope, or budget.

Jonathan Lane is the president of Industry Interactive, Inc., a Mayne Island, BC, Canada‚-based web development company. Industry Interactive offers a range of services from hosted web applications to standards-based web application development. Its newest product offering, Mailmanagr, provides an e-mail interface to Basecamp, the popular web-based project management application.

Jonathan started his career working as the web development coordinator for the University of Lethbridge, where he managed the design and development of research, department, and teaching websites, as well as helped move the university's web strategy forward.

Jonathan is married and has a pair of sons, Reilly and Parker, which pretty much occupies all of his nonworking time.

Meitar Moscovitz

Born and raised in New York City, Meitar first touched a computer when he was an infant in 1986: an Apple Mac Plus. At his father's prompting, he created his first website at the age of 12 and through it created the first online community for teenagers and young adults with Bipolar Disorder. Out of school by 16, he officially joined the workforce as a junior Network Administrator, and at 18 he started freelancing full-time as a web developer. After brief excursions into corporate IT with such companies as Apple and Opsware (now HP), he returned to professional web development and worked on websites for clients including Oxygen Media, Inc. and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

He now lives in Sydney, Australia, with his brilliant girlfriend of three years, Sara Hames, and works as the senior front-end web developer and IT director for Digital Eskimo, Pty Ltd. In his rapidly diminishing spare time, Meitar enjoys volunteering his technical talents to non-profit organizations and other small groups. He's also an avid blogger and juggler, and has way too many profiles on social networking sites.

Joe Lewis

Joseph R. Lewis works as a team lead for web development at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California. Joe is a recognized expert in standards-based web development and accessibility, and he has presented and lectured in technology subjects nationwide. Before falling into the obsessive career of web design and development, Joe was a professional musician. He is a classically trained double bassist and graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, and he has performed with orchestras and chamber groups in major concert halls and festivals across the United States and Europe. When not cranking out code, writing nerd-struck pulp, or practicing music late at night, Joe spends his time with his adorable wife and two crazy kids.