What are HTML and CSS?

HTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are your initial building blocks when creating a Web site. HTML is a language that is used to create the structure of your page; think about it like a well-structured outline or Word document. A set of HTML elements is available for displaying paragraphs, lists, images, forms, etc.

The Cascading Style Sheets comes into play by taking care of how those HTML elements and their content will be displayed, e.g. font styling. This is called the presentation layer and accomplished with the Cascading Style Sheet Language.

Who decides the standards and why does it take so long to implement them?

Generally speaking, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) decides and makes recommendations. It was founded in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web. The main focus of this international group of over 350 people is the development of standards for the Web.

Although it is the strongest force when it comes to Web standards, W3C didn’t keep a handful of individuals from forming the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) in June of 2004. Their concerns and complaints were that the W3C’s main focus had shifted from HTML to another language, XML, with the future plan of dismissing the HTML language completely.

Then in 2007, the W3C started the HTML working group, which adapted the work of the WHATWG, and used it as a starting point for its work. The group then released the first working draft in early 2008.

The development of CSS 3 was much less dramatic, but by no means any faster. The CSS working group, which is part of the W3C, released its first CSS 3 working draft in February of 2008. This release came almost 10 years after the release of CSS 2.

With the official release date for HTML 5 set for 2022 and CSS 3 taking over a decade to become a recommendation, the question roars: why does it take so long to define those specifications? The short answer is conflicts of interest among the variety of members with different motives. The important thing to know is that the official date doesn’t matter as much as the release of updated or new browsers that support the recommended standards.

What do the new standard features mean to me as a user?

When the standards are part of and supported by all browsers, including the finally-catching-up-to-standards browser Internet Explorer, developers will be capable of creating richer interfaces that are custom-tailored based upon the user and its user agent (browser). You, the end user, will benefit from HTML 5 and CSS 3 when these standards are put into action to create Web sites that are more interactive and easier to use.

Examples of some upcoming features:

• HTML 5: http://html5demos.com/
• CSS 3: http://www.css3.info/preview/

Example timelines:

• Tom Cruise
• Phoenix (Band)
• Apollo (not the Boxer from Rocky)
• H1N1 Vaccine

How do you remember the Web ten years ago?

Developer Janis Gonser

I clearly recall the magic of hyperlinks, writing HTML in Notepad, testing my sites in Netscape Navigator 4.x, and the never-ending sound of my modem repeatedly trying to connect to the university’s server. Hotwired.com was the place to go for tech news and the “skip flash intro” button was on its way to becoming the most clicked item on the Web. To learn more about the Web from the past visit: http://www.archive.org/web/web.php.

President and Strategy Director Nick Weynand

The Web as a visual medium came into being around 1995 with the release of Mosaic, the first graphical Web browser. Ten years ago, in 1999, the Web as we know it was barely getting started.

When I made my first Web site in college (probably around 1998), I used Macromedia Fireworks to create a layout made up of graphical “slices” and added Flash elements here and there for some animation. Much of the Web followed the same pattern. I remember:

• Table-based layouts
• 30-second Flash introductions (with no “skip” option)
• Animated GIFs (especially with the word “HOT” and flames)
• Under construction pages with traffic cones and hard-hats
• Really small fonts (There was a design trend a while back to get fonts as small as possible. Today, the opposite is the trend.)
• Lots of drop shadows (even Google’s logo ten years ago had a massive drop shadow)

The Web has grown up a bit (though I’d still call it an adolescent) and Web sites are much different now. In my opinion, they are better – we’ve had a decade of usability testing and the refining of design trends. I’m excited to do another article just like this, ten years from now, when I look back and say “Gosh, those Web sites of 2009 were terrible!”

Programmer Manoj Thomas

Ten years ago I was a junior in high school building my first Web sites using GeoCities and sending email with Lycos. Animated GIFs littered the Web and buzzwords like “accessibility” were an afterthought at best. I remember spending what felt like hours waiting for AOL to successfully connect, and although kicking my desktop didn’t make things run faster, it sure did help pass the time.

Business Development Director Jean Conover

I was a junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999, and I distinctly remember going to the computer lab on campus to send email and use the Internet. I went to class and took notes in my notebook (spiral with paper) and still used the library to do research. There was no one using personal laptops in the classroom or dorms. The computer lab was the place to see and be seen! That was the first year I heard about Google. I remember thinking it was a funny word that didn’t make much sense.

Designer Kyle Greenan

Ten years ago I was using a Pentium 2 350mHz Gateway Computer! Remember those with the cow spotted box?! Ever since I saw the movie Hackers, I wanted to learn more about computer security. Ten years ago there was not much you could do to protect yourself from intruders. Personal firewalls were still in their infancy and many ISPs did not block ports like they do now to circumvent certain attacks. I personally, during that time, was playing with Trojan horses and NetBIOS, as well as furthering my knowledge of computers through IRC.

User Experience Director Caroling Lee

Ten years ago, I was working at Discovery Channel. I remember using Lotus Notes for email and AOL Instant Messenger for chatting with my friends in other departments. That must have been before firewalls. I had a laptop at home (probably a 486) and I think I was struggling to get DSL. Not long after that I was at Discovery Health Channel as they were trying to launch their first ‘converged’ network – one with an online and TV presence. That didn’t take off at the time, but it was one of the first initiatives like its kind in TV.

Technology Director Mike Wisian

To illustrate the state of the Web ten years ago, allow me to create an analogy. Imagine if the latest fashion trend is to wear the most dazzling, sequined tracksuit complete with nearly every color in the spectrum and lined with flashing LED lights. The track top may only have one armhole, the pants are so stiff you can barely walk in them, and the entire suit cannot be washed or dry-cleaned. But man – that is one eye-catching tracksuit!

Account Manager Sarah Buser

The most significant parts of the Web ten years ago for me were probably AOL Instant Messenger and Napster. I was a sophomore in high school and hated the phone, so AIM was one of the primary ways I talked to friends after school. I also was starting to develop my tastes in music, so between the Yahoo! Groups I subscribed to and Napster, I was able to discover bands like the Pixies, whom I’m not sure how I would have found otherwise. I may have also had a GeoCities Web site devoted to bassists, but there’s no proof…

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1. SaaS (Software as a Service)

Going away from the one-time purchasing fee, the SaaS is based upon a subscription fee where the service received is usually located on the vendor’s server.  Features can differ based upon the subscription level.

Examples:

• Salesforce
• Basecamp
• Safari Books Online

2. ROI (Return On Investment)

ROI is a method to identify the efficiency of one or more investments. Basically ROI is what you get in exchange for doing something new. The formula is straightforward where ROI equals the gain from investment minus the cost of investment and then divided by the cost of investment.

3. Microblogging

Short and sweet is the key. Instead of running a blog with full articles, a microblogger posts content in the form of announcement s or updates. This can be done through text or instant messages, email, or the Web. Micromedia (e.g. photos, audio, and video) can be part of the message or actually be the message itself.

Examples:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Blip.fm

4. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

The term SEO has been around for a long time by now, but it is so commonly used that it needs to be part of this list. Starting with well-structured and semantic markup to very detailed content adjustment; anything in between that makes a positive impact on search engine ranking can be considered SEO.

Resources:

• Roundtable Discussion: Your SEO Questions Answered
• E-Marketing Part II: Search Engine Optimization
• Beginner’s Guide to SEO: Quickie Dos and Don’ts

5. AJAX  (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML)

Ajax is a combination of various development techniques, which is often used to update specific pieces of information on a page, rather than the “traditional” page load. The result is often a more exciting (in web terms, rich) user experience, due to short load time for the specifically requested information and its dynamic feel.

Examples:

• Google Maps
• Meebo
• Wikimapia

6. Social Media

You might not know exactly what this means, but chances are that you are already using it. Social media tools connect people to each other by sharing information in form of words, images, video and audio. The best examples are MySpace or Facebook, LinkedIn or Xing, although the latter two are tied to a more professional environment versus “just for fun.”

Examples:

• Facebook
• MySpace
• LinkedIn
• Xing

7. Web 2.0 and Web 3.0

Web 2.0 describes Web sites that engage the user, rather than just showing static information. Web 2.0 uses a whole new generation of tools, including AJAX and different social media tools. Everyone is still talking about Web 2.0, although the hype around this term has weakened. Someone jumped the gun on Web 3.0; at this point in time it’s still very much undefined but people are starting to describe it as “The Executable Web”.

Resources:

• What is Web 2.0?
• Web 2.0 from Google Videos
• What is Web 3.0?

Have more terms you’d like to know about? Let me know and I’ll consider a sequel.

Below I list some of the features worth mentioning and provide some findings that I discovered during browser testing on some of our own sites.

Advanced Tab Features

• When you open a new tab from a previous window, the related tabs are grouped together and color coded.
• You can recover previously closed tabs by right-clicking a tab and choosing “Reopen Closed Tab” (Ctrl+Shift+T) or view a list of all “Recently Closed Tabs.”
• The tabs run independently, so if one tab crashes, the other tabs stay intact. When recovering a crashed tab, previously entered info (e.g. form information) is reloaded as well.

Improved Address Bar

• You can now perform searches with your search provider of choice. View all search add-ons at http://www.ieaddons.com/en/searchproviders.
• The main domain of the URL is highlighted for easier identification.

Security: InPrivate Browsing

Under Tools, activate the InPrivate Browsing and all of your data, including browsing history, cookies, usernames and passwords, etc., is deleted after you close your session.

Security: Smart Screen Filter

This feature warns the user before entering a site that is known to contain malware. The list of sites with malware is updated frequently, although without having any evidence, I am a little bit skeptical how reliable the collection of sites is.

Compatibility View

Microsoft states that the compatibility view is useful when viewing sites that are designed for older browsers. In between the lines this might be more of a safety net for IE8 itself. (Attention: Tech Talk starts here.) I came across various instances where list items of an unordered list (main navigation) were pushed to the bottom of the ul. This can be fixed by setting the li to display block and float left or right. The list showed up fine when the compatibility mode was enabled. Also, there is no default padding to the left and right on inputs (type=submit), although this was an easy fix.

Overall, the support for Web standards has improved and after years of disapproval from the standard driven Web community, Microsoft’s latest browser is finally moving in the right direction. That said, I still prefer using Google Chrome or Firefox 3 over Internet Explorer 8.

Further Reading and Resources:

• “Review: Internet Explorer 8 is new and improved — is it back on top?“: More features and a detailed review from computerworld.com
• http://www.quirksmode.org/css/contents.html: A full list of CSS support (not only for IE8)
• http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/: Internet Explorer 8 download