Boot Camp

HTML/XHTML Basics
web browsers and validation, and also requires web authors to be professional and accurate
with their code. We will also add in some of the mark-up oriented HTML5 that is
reliable, in order to get a leg up on the upcoming changes that is being adopted by browsers.
Therefore, coding practices we will cover will focus on XHTML1.0, and added HTML5
mark-up basics. We will not integrate HTML5 section classes other than as a segment of
advanced HTML (there are ongoing excellent tutorials for you to explore on your own as
HTML5 evolves), and we will not support the coding of deprecated (discarded) HTML4
and earlier formats.
Note: Even though we will focus on XHTML Transitional, this book will refer to tags as
HTML-related tags. This is because XHTML is simply stricter HTML and uses the current
HTML tags. Should you move to XHTML Strict, your coding will need to be even
tighter or will face more validation errors.
Doctype
The doctype is critical to the build of a web page, because it tells the browser and validator
which version of HTML is being used. This is necessary since browsers and the validation
process need this information to interpret and display accurate web pages.
There are several current doctypes:
HTML 4.01 Strict
This DTD contains all HTML elements and attributes, but does not include presentational
or deprecated elements (like font). Framesets are not allowed.
HTML 4.01 Transitional
This DTD contains all HTML elements and attributes, including presentational and deprecated
elements (like font). Framesets are not allowed.
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