September 2001
Intermediate to advanced
640 pages
31h 42m
English
Content preview from Web Design in a Nutshell, 2nd EditionBecome an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
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Design Strategies
Faced with the dilemma of varying browser capabilities, web designers have developed a variety of design approaches, some more extreme than others. The “correct” way to handle a particular site, of course, depends on its use and audience, but this section should provide a peek into the different positions in the ongoing debate over where to draw the line.
Lowest Common Denominator Design
One way to make sure your pages are accessible to everyone is to stick with the safest HTML standard (such as HTML 3.2) and shun any extras. That way your pages are sure to work on all browsers, including Lynx and Version 2.0 of the popular browsers.
A minority of web developers take the position that the current embellishments to HTML (Java, JavaScript, DHTML, and plug-in technologies like Flash) are unnecessary to successful communication over the Web. Designers who design for the lowest common denominator may choose not to use any of these technologies in their designs. This approach reflects the conservative extreme of the range of web design strategies.
Current Version Design
Another minority, at the other end of the spectrum, are the web developers who design only for the most current version of popular browsers (as of this writing, Netscape 6.0 and Internet Explorer 5.5), with little concern for site performance for other users. The statement “Tell them to upgrade—it’s free !” has often been used in defense of this design tactic. Beyond this, there are even designers ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
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I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.