4.01B Authoring Languages and Web Authoring Software 4.01 Examine webpage development and design.

Authoring Languages  Used to control the appearance and functionality of webpages when displayed in a browser  Examples include:  HTML (HyperText Markup Language)  XML (eXtensible Markup Language)  XHTML (eXtensible HTML)  HTML 5

HTML HyperText Markup Language  First and still primary language for developing webpages/sites.  Uses codes, or tags, to instruct the browser how to display text and images.  Is platform independent. Example of HTML code Student Website Welcome to my website!

XML eXtensible Markup Language  Describes data types to facilitate data processing  Designed to carry data, not to display it  Allows the author to define tags to identify each data entry so that the data can be easily imported into other applications  Metadata—data about data Example of XML code Atlanta Georgia 75

XHTML eXtensible HyperText Markup Language  Combination of HTML and XML  Allows the designer to mix HTML and XML so that browsers can display and manage data correctly  Originally intended to replace HTML as dominant authoring language  Places restrictions on HTML tags so that code is cleaner and can display data as the author intended  Requires all HTML tag sets be closed  Requires lowercase tags  Many devices can’t interpret bad HTML code (mobile phones, PDAs)

HTML 5  The latest revision of HTML.  It has been adopted by the W3C as the next HTML standard.  It merges some of the features of HTML and XHTML.  It is still being developed.

Website Enhancement Tools  Style Sheets  Describe how browsers should present or display information on a webpage.  Give web developers more control over layout and page formatting.  Scripting Languages  Lightweight programming languages used to create interactive webpages.  Applets  Short programs written in Java code that can be embedded into webpages.

CSS Cascading Style Sheets  Separates content from appearance and gives web authors more control over layout and page format  CSS code instructs the Web browser how to format each item. h1 {color: #00ff00} h2 {color: #dda0dd} p {color: rgb(0,0,255)} This is header 1 This is header 2 This is a paragraph

Pros and Cons of CSS Advantages  One style sheet can control the formatting for multiple webpages.  An entire website can be reformatted by editing one CSS file.  Styles can also be set internally. The CSS code is keyed in the header section of the html document. Disadvantages  May alter the ability of some devices to accurately read and display information.  Not all browsers recognize style sheets, especially older versions of browsers.  Many browsers do not recognize all the styles in CSS.

JavaScript  An object based scripting language that allows creation and execution of procedures within a webpage.  Does not require plug- ins (additional programs for the user to install).  Widely supported by most browsers.  The JavaScript below displays this dialog box in the browser window: JavaScript Example var foo="Greetings, visitor!"alert(foo);

Java Applets  Short programs written in Java code  Added to basic HTML and XHTML  Used to add multimedia, animation, gaming, and other interactive elements to webpages to make them more interesting.

Web Authoring Software  There are several web authoring software solutions available for authoring and managing websites.  Text Editors – allow developers to write code in plain text.  Examples: Notepad and Wordpad  Web Editors - provides a graphical user interface with menus containing commands to make webpage creation easier for developers. Examples include:  Adobe’s Dreamweaver Adobe’s Dreamweaver  Microsoft’s Expression Web Microsoft’s Expression Web  Kompozer – open source software Kompozer  Seamonkey – open source software Seamonkey  Website hosts also provide proprietary web software authoring solutions for managing pages stored on their sites.