Beyond HTML

Hypertext Markup Language(HTML and XHTML) is the base language of the World Wide Web. Everybody and their brother can do a webpage using HTML editors(FrontPage, etc.). By getting this far in the class you are now more knowledgeable than "everybody and their brother". To become a true "pro webdesigner" you need to be able to work with accessory languages to HTML. These languages do not replace HTML, but are add-ons that increase the power of your page. These languages accomplish something that HTML alone can not do. I have included an example of such an add-on on this page.

Move your mouse over the title of this page, "Beyond HTML". Notice how the title changed to it's subtitle, "The Future of WebDesign". I accomplished this by creating 2 like sized images in Photoshop and preloading them both in the <HEAD> section of my HTML document. I then used a script to tell any users browser to substitute the "The Future of WebDesign" image(bh2.JPG) for the original image(bh1.JPG) when the user moves his/her mouse over the image. If you want to see the scripting code for this page, click on the title image to see it. Is this really important to the page or is it just glitz? In this case, I think it's glitz and I wouldn't waste my time with it. There are, however, uses of these add-on languages that are more than just cosmetic. An example of a "more than html" is found on Park Center's homepage. The menu near the top of the page is done using javascript. It allows users to get many links on one page and organized into categories. You can see this menu at the PC homepage. This concept of webdesign is called "usability". The added functionality would not be possible with straight HTML.

This class does not have the time to teach any of these add-on languages, but that doesn't mean you can't learn them on your own. There are many books available for each language as well as tutorials on the Web. If you want, you can learn them. In addition, some webdesigners don't "learn" any of the add-on languages but instead cut, paste, and adapt code from someone who is offering their coding skills for free. All you have to do is search the internet to find free scripts and codes. For this class, one of the last element requirements in your 2 websites is one of these add-ons. You can choose to quickly learn a language or you can cut, paste, and adapt an existing code. My guess is that most of you will do the latter.

But first, let's take a look at some of the current add-on applications that complement HTML. Many of these languages/applications complement and overlap each other. For example, Javascript is a common component of DHTML. Expect that this list will grow and change over time. Everything on the web does!! But all of these applications plug into the backbone of the World Wide Web, HTML.

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