Book description
The total number of web pages today has been estimated at over 3 billion, spanning millions of individual websites. Not surprisingly, there is tremendous pressure on web developers and designers to remain current with the latest technologies.
The Web Site Cookbook from O'Reilly covers all the essential skills that you need to create engaging, visitor-friendly websites. It helps you with the practical issues surrounding their inception, design, and maintenance. With recipes that teach both routine and advanced setup tasks, the book includes clear and professional instruction on a host of topics, including:
- registering domains
- ensuring that hostnames work
- managing the directory
- maintaining and troubleshooting a website
- site promotion
- visitor tracking
- implementing e-commerce systems
- linking with sales sites
This handy guide also tackles the various elements of page design. It explains how to control a reader's eye flow, how to choose a template system, how to set up a color scheme, and more.
Typical of O'Reilly's "Cookbook" series, the Web Site Cookbook is written in a straightforward format, featuring recipes that contain problem statements and solutions. A detailed explanation then follows each recipe to show you how and why the solution works. This question-solution-discussion format is a proven teaching method, as any fan of the "Cookbook" series can attest to.
Regardless of your strong suit or your role in the creation and life of a website, you can benefit from the teachings found in the Web Site Cookbook. It's a must-have tool for advancing your skills and making better sites.
Publisher resources
Table of contents
- Dedication
- Preface
-
1. Web Server Setup
- Introduction
- 1.1. Registering a Domain Name
- 1.2. Managing and Protecting a Domain Name
- 1.3. Choosing a Server Platform and Hosting Plan
- 1.4. Enabling Server-Side Includes
- 1.5. Setting the Default Filename for a Directory or Entire Site
- 1.6. Making Sure Your Web Site Loads With and Without the “www” Prefix
- 1.7. Creating and Accessing Directories Outside the Web Site Root Directory
- 1.8. Automating Routine Tasks
- 1.9. Restarting Your Web Server
- 1.10. Monitoring Web Server Activity
- 1.11. Building an Easy-to-Maintain Web Site with Free Tools
-
2. Site Planning and Setup
- Introduction
- 2.1. Writing a Functional Specification for Your Site
- 2.2. Assessing Available Materials for a Site
- 2.3. Organizing Your Files in Directories
- 2.4. Establishing a Naming Convention for Your Files
- 2.5. Establishing a Naming Convention for Page Titles
- 2.6. Establishing a Naming Convention for Your Variables
- 2.7. Downloading All Files from a Site
- 2.8. Making URLs Easy to Find and Remember
- 2.9. Creating a Flowchart for Complex Site Functionality
-
3. Page Design and Navigation
- Introduction
- 3.1. Choosing Between a Flexible and Fixed Layout
- 3.2. Creating a Color Scheme
- 3.3. Making Room for All Your Navigation
- 3.4. Designing Pages for Advertisements
- 3.5. Expanding Your Web Site
- 3.6. Adding Background Images
- 3.7. Creating Breadcrumb Links
- 3.8. Creating a Link Menu to Other Pages
- 3.9. Creating Navigation That Does Not Link to Itself
-
4. Formatting Text and Code
- Introduction
- 4.1. Writing Standards-Compliant Web Pages
- 4.2. Displaying Foreign and Special Characters
- 4.3. Choosing Type Sizes for Display and Body Text
- 4.4. Including Dynamic Content in Static Pages
- 4.5. Adding a Discretionary Hyphen to Long Words
- 4.6. Dividing a Text Block into Multiple Pages
- 4.7. Reformatting Database Content as HTML
- 4.8. Optimizing Web Page Code
- 5. Formatting Graphics
-
6. Displaying and Delivering Information
- Introduction
- 6.1. Explaining Who’s Responsible for Your Site
- 6.2. Writing Meaningful Link Text
- 6.3. Adding Preview Information to Links
- 6.4. Creating Effective Pop-up Windows
- 6.5. Randomizing Text or Images
- 6.6. Highlighting the Search Term
- 6.7. Embedding RSS Feeds on Your Site
- 6.8. Creating an RSS Feed from Database Content
- 6.9. Adding a Poster Frame to a QuickTime Movie
- 6.10. Creating a Printer-Friendly Version of Your Site
- 6.11. Generating Downloadable Files Dynamically
- 6.12. Offering Your Site on Mobile Devices
-
7. Interacting with Visitors
- Introduction
- 7.1. Preventing Blank Form Fields
- 7.2. Duplicating Form Field Data
- 7.3. Using Sample Input to Reduce Errors
- 7.4. Formatting User-Entered Information
- 7.5. Generating Form Menu Choices from a Database
- 7.6. Storing Multiple Values in One Database Field
- 7.7. Using a Graphical Character String for Form Authentication
- 7.8. Putting Additional Information in mailto Links
- 7.9. Send Visitor Messages to Your Mobile Phone
- 7.10. Using Cookies to Remember Visitor Choices
- 7.11. Internationalizing Your Web Site Problem
- 7.12. Creating an Email Newsletter
-
8. Promotion and E-Commerce
- Introduction
- 8.1. Turning Site Traffic into Loyal Visitors and Customers
- 8.2. Creating an Effective Landing Page
- 8.3. Creating a Favicon
- 8.4. Forcing a Secure Connection
- 8.5. Creating a Self-Signed SSL Certificate
- 8.6. Disabling a Form Submit Button After the First Click
- 8.7. Creating Complex Select Menus with optgroup
- 8.8. Protecting Your Site from Fraud
- 8.9. Generating Income from Traffic and Content
- 8.10. Tracking and Blocking Visitors Based on Their IP Numbers
- 8.11. Soliciting Donations and Contributions
-
9. Maintenance and Troubleshooting
- Introduction
- 9.1. Handling Requests for Missing or Relocated Pages
- 9.2. Adding the Referring Page to a Form
- 9.3. Improving Site Performance
- 9.4. Tracking and Documenting Site Changes
- 9.5. Modifying an Auto-Indexed File List to Match Your Site’s Design
- 9.6. Converting Source Documents to Web Pages
- 9.7. Coordinating Site Updates and Testing
- 9.8. Taking Care of Your Database
- 9.9. Evaluating Your Site with Metrics
- 9.10. Developing Test Procedures for Your Site
- 9.11. Preventing Email Address Harvesting
- About the Author
- Colophon
- Copyright
Product information
- Title: Web Site Cookbook
- Author(s):
- Release date: February 2006
- Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
- ISBN: 9780596101091
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