DigRepStandardsWebStandards

From DigiRepWiki

Contents

[edit]

Web Standards

The section covers standards for Web sites including HTML, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and DOM (Document Object Model).

[edit]

HTML / XHTML

Standard: HTML

About the Standards: HTML is the native Web format for the Web. HTML describes the structure of native Web documents.

Version: At the time of writing (27 July 2005) the recommended versions of HTML are HTML 4 and XHTML 1.

Maturity: HTML is a mature format, with many authoring tools available and a wide understanding of the technologies. (XHTML 1.1 is the latest version and is widely supported.)

Risk Assessment: Historically HTML provided both structural and formatting elements and many tools still support this approach. Use of CSS has, in the past, been hindered by poor support in browsers, although simple techniques are now available for overcoming such barriers. However inertia, investment in legacy authoring tools or a lack of awareness of current best practices may hinder deployment of HTML and CSS with corresponding difficulties in maximising accessibility and interoperability.

In addition there is a need to ensure documents using HTML comply with appropriate standards. There will be a need to deploy appropriate QA techniques to ensure that this is the case.

Also note that there are some minor issues concerning the MIME type to be used with XHTML 1 resources. In practice, however, there is a widespread, but not universal, view that the same MIME type can be used for both HTML and XHTML 1 resources.

SOA Role:

Further Information:

Author: Brian Kelly, UKOLN

Contributor:

Date Created: 1 June 2005

Update History:

[edit]

CSS

Standard: CSS (Cascading Stylesheets).

About the Standard: CSS Cascading Stylesheets) is the recommended technology for describing the appearance of HTML documents.

Version: At the time of writing (1 June 2005) the recommended version of CSS is CSS 2.

Maturity: CSS is a mature format, with many authoring tools available and a wide understanding of the technology.

Risk Assessment: Historically use of CSS has, in the past, been hindered by poor support in browsers, although simple techniques are now available for overcoming such barriers. However inertia, investment in legacy authoring tools or a lack of awareness of current best practices may hinder deployment of HTML and CSS with corresponding difficulties in maximising accessibility and interoperability. In addition there is a need to ensure documents using CSS comply with appropriate standards. There will be a need to deploy appropriate QA techniques to ensure that this is the case.

SOA Role:

Further Information:

Author: Brian Kelly, UKOLN

Contributors:

Date Created: 27 July 2005

Update History:

[edit]

DOM

Standard: DOM (Document Object Model)

About the Standard: The DOM (Document Object Model) is a platform- and language-neutral interface for Web resources (such as HTML and XML) that allows programs and scripts to dynamically access and update the content, structure and style of documents.

Version: Level 3 of various components of the DOM is the latest version.

Maturity: The DOM is widely used to provide interaction in Web pages.

Risk Assessment: There may be inconsistent support for DOM across various Web browsers and JavaScript implementations. There will be a need for testing across browser environments. Also note that support for the DOM may be disabled if users (or institutions) disable JavaScript support).

SOA Role:

Further Information:

Author: Brian Kelly, UKOLN

Contributors:

Date Created: 22 July 2005

Update History:

Retrieved from "/repositories/digirep/index/DigRepStandardsWebStandards"