At the heart of Web standards is "100% separation of presentation from content and structure, as well as the scripting behavior of UI elements." The book tackles these one at a time, starting with the front end. From determining whether to use XHTML or HTML, to the proper DOCTYPE declaration during a migration to Web standards, to CSS file content structure, specifying media type for CSS files, best practices for JavaScript and UI interaction, "unobtrusive" scripting, server-side PHP, ASP and other scripting, the advice is pragmatic and easy to implement. It also includes plenty of hands-on tips for transitional techniques.
There's a good, forward-looking discussion of POSH (plain old semantic HTML) and some guidance on giving meaningful class and id names in your CSS. Bringing meaning to content through semantic markup is another key element of standards based development, and provides the foundation for microformats – which are among the developing "protocols for classifying objects and collections of information support application programming interfaces (APIs) and data-mining activities, but also establish simple models for those looking for naming conventions."
The book also provides some good models for planning and managing the site build, as well a discussion of standards development within an organization and training, communication and process management. Two revealing, real-world case studies of standards adoption are also included: EverythingTori.com, the site of singer Tori Amos, and AOL.com.
This isn't a thick book, and it's worth noting that in and of itself it’s not a definitive guide to all standards, but guide to standards adoption. There are, however, plenty of links to related resources, references and tools. I found both exciting new information and a much-appreciated review of familiar concepts in this book – enough to inspire fresh enthusiasm and motivation to work toward standards and the kind of practical advice that can help prevent that enthusiasm from waning while trying to find a spot – among the massive web of choices – to start.
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