In 1999, the W3C approved the HTML 4.01 specification for web-based publishing (this recommendation is commonly known as HTML4). In 2000, the W3C quickly followed up with the XHTML (Extensible HTML) standard, which redefines HTML as an XML application. During this same time, vendors were just starting to get serious about implementing the 1996 W3C recommendation for CSS functionality in their browser products.
Historically speaking, attributes played a key role in HTML formatting. All the way up to HTML4, there is a heavy reliance on attributes to specify colors, borders, spacing, position, and just about every other formatting option supported by HTML. With the adoption of XHTML, most of these attributes were deprecated in favor of the more powerful and flexible CSS model. In an attempt to follow modern user interface coding standards, I've used CSS and generated properly formed HTML in the examples of this chapter. All HTML results have
been tested for standards conformance in both Internet Explorer 6 and Firefox 2.0.
Historically speaking, attributes played a key role in HTML formatting. All the way up to HTML4, there is a heavy reliance on attributes to specify colors, borders, spacing, position, and just about every other formatting option supported by HTML. With the adoption of XHTML, most of these attributes were deprecated in favor of the more powerful and flexible CSS model. In an attempt to follow modern user interface coding standards, I've used CSS and generated properly formed HTML in the examples of this chapter. All HTML results have
been tested for standards conformance in both Internet Explorer 6 and Firefox 2.0.