Intro to HTML & Semantic Markup (Chapter 2 - Sorta Brief Version)

Fundamentals of Web DevelopmentRandy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web DevelopmentRandy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar
Fundamentals of Web DevelopmentRandy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar
Textbook to be published by Pearson Ed in early 2014
http://www.funwebdev.com
Fundamentals of Web DevelopmentRandy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar
© 2015 Pearson
http://www.funwebdev.com
HTML 1: Overview
Chapter 2

Objectives
HTML Syntax
Quick Tour of
HTML
HTML
Semantic
Elements
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5 6
Structure of
HTML4Semantic Markup
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HTML SYNTAX
Section 2 of 6

What HTML lets you do
 Insert images using the <img> tag
 Create links with the <a> tag
 Create lists with the <ul>, <ol> and
<li> tags
 Create headings with <H1>, <H2>,
…, <H6>
 Define metatdata with <meta> tag
 And much more…

Elements and Attributes
<a href="http://www.centralpark.com">Central Park</a>
Element Name Attribute
Opening Tag Closing Tag
Content
May be text or other HTML elements
<br />
Element Name
Trailing Slash
Example empty element

Hierarchy of elements
<body>
<p>
This is some <strong>text</strong>
</p>
<h1>Title goes here</h1>
<div>
<p>
This is <span>important</span>
</p>
</div>
</body>
child
parent
sibling
descendants
ancestor
<body>
<p> <div><h1>
<strong>
<span>
<p>
children
siblings
descendants
ancestors

Nesting HTML elements
In order to properly construct a hierarchy of elements,
your browser expects each HTML nested element to
be properly nested.
That is, a child’s ending tag must occur before its
parent’s ending tag.
<h1>Share Your <strong>Travels</strong></h1>
<h1>Share Your <strong>Travels</h1></strong>
Correct Nesting
Incorrect Nesting

SEMANTIC MARKUP
Section 3 of 6

Semantic Markup
Over the past decade, a strong and broad consensus
has grown around the belief that HTML documents
should only focus on the structure of the document.
Information about how the content should look when
it is displayed in the browser is best left to CSS
(Cascading Style Sheets).
What does it mean?

Semantic Markup
As a consequence, beginning HTML authors are often
counseled to create semantic HTML documents.
That is, an HTML document should not describe how
to visually present content, but only describe its
content’s structural semantics or meaning.

Semantic Markup
Eliminating presentation-oriented markup and writing
semantic HTML markup has a variety of important
advantages:
Maintainability. Semantic markup is easier to update and
change than web pages that contain a great deal of
presentation markup.
Faster. Semantic web pages are typically quicker to author
and faster to download.
Accessibility. Visiting a web page using voice reading
software can be a very frustrating experience if the site
does not use semantic markup.
Search engine optimization. Semantic markup provides
better instructions for search engines: it tells them what
things are important content on the site.
Its advantages

STRUCTURE OF HTML
Section 4 of 6

Simplest HTML document
The <title> element (Item ) is used to provide a broad description of the
content. The title is not displayed within the browser window. Instead, the
title is typically displayed by the browser in its window and/or tab.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<title>A Very Small Document</title>
<p>This is a simple document with not much content</p>
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A more complete document
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head lang="en">
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>Share Your Travels -- New York - Central Park</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/main.css">
<script src="js/html5shiv.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Main heading goes here</h1>
...
</body>
</html>
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DOCTYPE
Tells the browser (or any other client software that is
reading this HTML document) what type of document
it is about to process.
Notice that it does not indicate what version of HTML
is contained within the document: it only specifies that
it contains HTML.
(short for Document Type Definition)
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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head lang="en">
</head>
<body>
...
</body>
</html>
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HTML, Head, and Body
HTML5 does not require the use of the <html>,
<head>, and <body>.
However, in XHTML they were required, and most web
authors continue to use them.
The <html> element is sometimes called the root
element as it contains all the other HTML elements in
the document.
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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head lang="en">
</head>
<body>
...
</body>
</html>
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Head and Body
HTML pages are divided into two sections: the head
and the body, which correspond to the <head> and
<body> elements.
The head contains descriptive elements about the
document
The body contains content that will be displayed by
the browser.
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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head lang="en">
</head>
<body>
...
</body>
</html>
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Inside the head
You will notice that the <head> element contains a
variety of additional elements.
The first of these is the <meta> element. Our example
declares that the character encoding for the document
is UTF-8.
There are no brains
5
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head lang="en">
</head>
<body>
...
</body>
</html>
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Inside the head
Our example specifies an external CSS style sheet file
that is used with this document.
It also references an external Javascript file.
No brains but metas, styles and javascripts
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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head lang="en">
</head>
<body>
...
</body>
</html>
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QUICK TOUR OF HTML
Section 5 of 6

Why a quick tour?
HTML5 contains many structural and presentation
elements – too many to completely cover in this
presentation.
Rather than comprehensively cover all these elements,
this presentation will provide a quick overview of the
most common elements.

Sample Document
<body>
<h1>Share Your Travels</h1>
<h2>New York - Central Park</h2>
<p>Photo by Randy Connolly</p>
<p>This photo of Conservatory Pond in
<a href="http://www.centralpark.com/">Central Park</a>
New York City was taken on October 22, 2011 with a
<strong>Canon EOS 30D</strong> camera.
</p>
<img src="images/central-park.jpg" alt="Central Park" />
<h3>Reviews</h3>
<div>
<p>By Ricardo on <time>September 15, 2012</time></p>
<p>Easy on the HDR buddy.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p>By Susan on <time>October 1, 2012</time></p>
<p>I love Central Park.</p>
</div>
<p><small>Copyright © 2012 Share Your Travels</small></p>
</body>
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Headings
HTML provides six levels of
heading (h1, h2, h3, …), with
the higher heading number
indicating a heading of less
importance.
Headings are an essential way
for document authors use to
show their readers the
structure of the document.
<h1>, <h2>, <h3>, etc
1

Headings
The browser has its
own default styling for
each heading level.
However, these are
easily modified and
customized via CSS.

Headings
In practice, specify a heading level that is semantically
accurate.
Do not choose a heading level because of its default
presentation
• e.g., choosing <h3> because you want your text to
be bold and 16pt
Rather, choose the heading level because it is
appropriate
• e.g., choosing <h3> because it is a third level
heading and not a primary or secondary heading
Be semantically accurate

Paragraphs
Paragraphs are the most basic unit of text in an HTML
document.
Notice that the <p> tag is a container and can contain
HTML and other inline HTML elements
inline HTML elements refers to HTML elements that
do not cause a paragraph break but are part of the
regular “flow” of the text.
<p>
2

Divisions
This <div> tag is also a container element and is used
to create a logical grouping of content
• The <div> element has no intrinsic presentation.
• It is frequently used in contemporary CSS-based
layouts to mark out sections.
<div>
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Using div elements
HTML5 has a variety of new semantic elements (which
we will examine later) that can be used to reduce
somewhat the confusing mass of div within divs within
divs that is so typical of contemporary web design.
Can you say “div-tastic”

Links
Links are created using the <a> element (the “a”
stands for anchor).
A link has two main parts: the destination and the
label.
<a>
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Label (text)
<a href="index.html"><img src="logo.gif" /></a>
Label (image)
Destination

Types of Links
You can use the anchor element to create a wide range of
links:
• Links to external sites (or to individual resources such
as images or movies on an external site).
• Links to other pages or resources within the current
site.
• Links to other places within the current page.
• Links to particular locations on another page.
• Links that are instructions to the browser to start the
user’s email program.
• Links that are instructions to the browser to execute a
Javascript function.

Different link destinations
<a href="http://www.centralpark.com/logo.gif">Central Park</a>
Link to resource on external site
<a href="index.html">Home</a>
Link to another page on same site as this page
<a href="#top">Go to Top of Document</a>
Link to another place on the same page
Link to external site
<a href="productX.html#reviews">Reviews for product X</a>
Link to specific place on another page
<a href="mailto://person@somewhere.com">Someone</a>
Link to email
<a href="javascript://OpenAnnoyingPopup();">See This</a>
Link to javascript function
<a href="tel:+18009220579">Call toll free (800) 922-0579</a>
Link to telephone (automatically dials the number
when user clicks on it using a smartphone browser)

Link Text
Links with the label “Click Here” were once a staple of
the web.
Today, such links are frowned upon, since:
• they do not tell users where the link will take them
• as a verb “click” is becoming increasingly inaccurate
when one takes into account the growth of mobile
browsers.
Instead, textual link labels should be descriptive.
“Click here to see the race results”
“Race Results” or “See Race Results”.
Some guidance … or … don’t “Click Here”

URL Absolute Referencing
When referencing a page or resource on an external
site, a full absolute reference is required: that is,
• the protocol (typically, http://),
• the domain name,
• any paths, and then finally
• the file name of the desired resource.
For external resources

URL Relative Referencing
We also need to be able to successfully reference files
within our site.
This requires learning the syntax for so-called relative
referencing.
When referencing a resource that is on the same
server as your HTML document, then you can use
briefer relative referencing. If the URL does not include
the “http://” then the browser will request the current
server for the file.
An essential skill

If all the resources for the site reside within the same
directory (also referred to as a folder), then you can
reference those other resources simply via their
filename.
However, most real-world sites contain too many files
to put them all within a single directory.
For these situations, a relative pathname is required
along with the filename.
The pathname tells the browser where to locate the
file on the server.

Pathnames
Pathnames on the web follow Unix conventions.
• Forward slashes (“/”) are used to separate directory
names from each other and from file names.
• Double-periods (“..”) are used to reference a
directory “above” the current one in the directory
tree.

Share-Your-Travels
/
index.html
example.html
images/
logo.gif
central-park.jpg
css/
main.css
members/
index.html
about.html
(root folder)
images/
background.gif
randyc/
bio.html
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Relative Link Type Example
Same Directory
To link to a file within the same
folder, simply use the file name.
To link to example.html from
about.html (in Figure 2.18), use:
<a href="example.html">
Child Directory
To link to a file within a subdirectory,
use the name of the subdirectory
and a slash before the file name.
To link to logo.gif from about.html,
use:
<a href="images/logo.gif">
Grandchild/Descendant
Directory
To link to a file that is multiple
subdirectories below the current
one, construct the full path by
including each subdirectory name
(separated by slashes) before the file
name.
To link to background.gif from
about.html, use:
<a
href="css/images/background.gif"
>
Parent/Ancestor Directory
Use “../” to reference a folder
above the current one. If trying to
reference a file several levels above
the current one, simply string
together multiple “../”.
To link to about.html from
index.html in members, use:
<a href="../about.html">
To link to about.html from
bio.html, use:
<a href="../../about.html">
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Share-Your-Travels
/
index.html
example.html
images/
logo.gif
central-park.jpg
css/
main.css
members/
index.html
about.html
(root folder)
images/
background.gif
randyc/
bio.html
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Sibling Directory
Use “../”to move up to the appropriate
level, and then use the same technique as
for child or grandchild directories.
To link to logo.gif from index.html in
members, use:
<a href="../images/about.html">
To link to background.gif from bio.html,
use:
<a
href="../../css/images/background.gif">
Root Reference
An alternative approach for ancestor and
sibling references is to use the so-called
root reference approach. In this approach,
begin the reference with the root reference
(the “/”) and then use the same technique
as for child or grandchild directories. Note
that these will only work on the server!
That is, they will not work when you test it
out on your local machine.
To link to about.html from bio.html, use:
<a href="/about.html">
To link to background.gif from bio.html,
use:
<a href="/images/background.gif">
Default Document
Web servers allow references to directory
names without file names. In such a case,
the web server will serve the default
document, which is usually a file called
index.html (apache) or default.html
(IIS). Again, this will only generally work on
the web server.
To link to index.html in members from
about.html, use either:
<a href="members">
Or
<a href="/members">
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Inline Text Elements
Inline elements do not disrupt the flow of text (i.e.,
cause a line break).
HTML5 defines over 30 of these elements.
e.g., <a>, <br>, <em>, <strong>
Do not disrupt the flow

Images
While the <img> tag is the oldest method for
displaying an image, it is not the only way.
For purely decorative images, such as background
gradients and patterns, logos, border art, and so on, it
makes semantic sense to keep such images out of the
markup and in CSS where they more rightly belong.
But when the images are content, such as in the
images in a gallery or the image of a product in a
product details page, then the <img> tag is the
semantically appropriate approach.

Images
<img src="images/central-park.jpg" alt="Central Park" title="Central Park" width="80" height="40" />
Specifies the URL of the image to display
(note: uses standard relative referencing)
Text in alt attribute provides a brief
description of image’s content for users who
are unable to see it.
Text in title attribute will be displayed in a popup
tool tip when user moves mouse over image.
Specifies the width and height of
image in pixels.

Lists
Unordered lists. Collections of items in no particular
order; these are by default rendered by the browser as
a bulleted list.
Ordered lists. Collections of items that have a set
order; these are by default rendered by the browser as
a numbered list.
Definition lists. Collection of name and definition
pairs. These tend to be used infrequently. Perhaps the
most common example would be a FAQ list.
HTML provides three types of lists

Lists
<ol>
<li>Introduction</li>
<li>Background</li>
<li>My Solution</li>
<li>
<ol>
<li>Methodology</li>
<li>Results</li>
<li>Discussion</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>Conclusion</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li><a href="index.html">Home</a></li>
<li>About Us</li>
<li>Products</li>
<li>Contact Us</li>
</ul>
Notice that the list item element
can contain other HTML
elements

Character Entities
These are special characters for symbols for which
there is either no way easy way to type in via a
keyboard (such as the copyright symbol or accented
characters) or which have a reserved meaning in HTML
(for instance the “<” or “>” symbols).
They can be used in an HTML document by using the
entity name or the entity number.
e.g.,   and ©

HTML SEMANTIC ELEMENTS
Section 6 of 6

HTML5 Semantic Elements
One substantial problem with modern, pre-HTML5
semantic markup:
most complex web sites are absolutely packed solid
with <div> elements.
Unfortunately, all these <div> elements can make the
resulting markup confusing and hard to modify.
Developers typically try to bring some sense and order
to the <div> chaos by using id or class names that
provide some clue as to their meaning.
Why are they needed?

XHTML versus HTML5
<body>
<div id="header">
<div id="logo-headings">
...
</div>
...
<div id="top-navigation">
...
</div>
</div>
<div id="main">
<div id="left-navigation">
...
</div>
<div class="content">
<div class="story">
...
</div>
<div class="story">
...
<div class="story-photo">
<img ... class="blog-photo"/>
<p classs="photo-caption">...
</div>
</div>
<div class="related-stuff-on-right">
...
</div>
</div>
<div class="content">
...
</div>
</div>
<div id="footer">
...
</div>
</body>
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<header> <hgroup>
<nav>
<article>
<aside>
<footer>
7
<figure>
5
<figcaption>
<section>
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<body>
<header>
<hgroup>
...
</hgroup>
...
<nav>
...
</nav>
</header>
<div id="main">
<nav>
...
</nav>
<section>
<article>
...
</article>
<article>
<figure>
<img ... />
<figcaption>...
</figure>
...
</article>
<aside>
...
</aside>
</section>
<section>
...
</section>
</div>
<footer>
...
</footer>
</body>
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Header and Footer
Most web site pages have a recognizable header and
footer section.
Typically the header contains
• the site logo
• title (and perhaps additional subtitles or taglines)
• horizontal navigation links, and
• perhaps one or two horizontal banners.
<header> <footer>
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Header and Footer
The typical footer contains less important material,
such as
• smaller text versions of the navigation,
• copyright notices,
• information about the site’s privacy policy, and
• perhaps twitter feeds or links to other social sites.
<header> <footer>
1 10

Header and Footer
Both the HTML5 <header> and <footer> element can
be used not only for page headers and footers, they
can also be used for header and footer elements
within other HTML5 containers, such as <article> or
<section>.
<header>
<img src="logo.gif" alt="logo" />
<h1>Fundamentals of Web Development</h1>
...
</header>
<article>
<header>
<h2>HTML5 Semantic Structure Elements </h2>
<p>By <em>Randy Connolly</em></p>
<p><time>September 30, 2012</time></p>
</header>
...
</article>

Heading Groups
The <hgroup> element can be used to group related
headings together within one container.
<hgroup>
<header>
<hgroup>
<h1>Chapter Two: HTML 1</h1>
<h2>An Introduction</h2>
</hgroup>
</header>
<article>
<hgroup>
<h2>HTML5 Semantic Structure Elements </h2>
<h3>Overview</h3>
</hgroup>
</article>
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Navigation
The <nav> element represents a section of a page that
contains links to other pages or to other parts within
the same page.
Like the other new HTML5 semantic elements, the
browser does not apply any special presentation to
the <nav> element.
The <nav> element was intended to be used for major
navigation blocks, presumably the global and
secondary navigation systems.
<nav>
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Navigation
<header>
<img src="logo.gif" alt="logo" />
<h1>Fundamentals of Web Development</h1>
<nav role="navigation">
<ul>
<li><a href="index.html">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="about.html">About Us</a></li>
<li><a href="browse.html">Browse</a></li>
</ul>
</nav>
</header>

Articles and Sections
The <article> element represents a section of content
that forms an independent part of a document or site;
for example, a magazine or newspaper article, or a
blog entry.
The <section> element represents a section of a
document, typically with a title or heading.
<article> <section>
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Articles and Sections
According to the W3C, <section> is a much broader
element, while the <article> element is to be used for
blocks of content that could potentially be read or
consumed independently of the other content on the
page.

Sections versus Divs
The WHATWG specification warns readers that the
<section> element is not a generic container element.
HTML already has the <div> element for such uses.
When an element is needed only for styling purposes
or as a convenience for scripting, it makes sense to use
the <div> element instead.
Another way to help you decide whether or not to use
the <section> element is to ask yourself if it is
appropriate for the element's contents to be listed
explicitly in the document's outline.
If so, then use a <section>; otherwise use a <div>.
How to decide which to use

Figure and Figure Captions
The W3C Recommendation indicates that the <figure>
element can be used not just for images but for any
type of essential content that could be moved to a
different location in the page or document and the
rest of the document would still make sense.
<figure> <figcaption>
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The <figure> element should not be used to wrap
every image.
For instance, it makes no sense to wrap the site logo
or non-essential images such as banner ads and
graphical embellishments within <figure> elements.
Instead, only use the <figure> element for
circumstances where the image (or other content) has
a caption and where the figure is essential to the
content but its position on the page is relatively
unimportant.
Note however …

<p>This photo was taken on October 22, 2011 with a Canon EOS 30D camera.</p>
<figure>
<img src="images/central-park.jpg" alt="Central Park" /><br/>
<figcaption>Conservatory Pond in Central Park</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>
It was a wonderfully beautiful autumn Sunday, with strong sunlight and
expressive clouds. I was very fortunate that my one day in New York was
blessed with such weather!
</p>
Figure could be
moved to a
different
location in
document
…
But it has to
exist in the
document
(i.e., the
figure isn’t
optional)

Aside
The <aside> element is similar to the <figure> element
in that it is used for marking up content that is
separate from the main content on the page.
But while the <figure> element was used to indicate
important information whose location on the page is
somewhat unimportant, the <aside> element
“represents a section of a page that consists of
content that is tangentially related to the content
around the aside element.”
The <aside> element could thus be used for sidebars,
pull quotes, groups of advertising images, or any other
grouping of non-essential elements.
<aside>
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What You’ve Learned
Semantic Markup Structure of
HTML
Quick Tour of
HTML
HTML
Semantic
Elements
3 4
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Intro to HTML & Semantic Markup (Chapter 2 - Sorta Brief Version)

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