Introduction

THE BULLETPROOF CONCEPT

Out in the nonvirtual world, a bulletproof vest never guarantees complete, 100% protection, but rather being bulletproof is something that's constantly strived for. You're far better off wearing a bulletproof vest than if you weren't.

The same rule applies to Web design and the techniques described in this book. By increasing a page's flexibility and taking the necessary steps to ensure that it's readable in as many circumstances as possible, we're making a real difference in our work. It's an ongoing process, and one that becomes easier when utilizing Web standards such as semantic XHTML and CSS to construct compelling, yet adaptable, designs.

As the adoption of CSS-based layouts has steadily risen over the past few years , it's become increasingly important to learn how to utilize CSS well . The goal is to harness the benefits that make the technology powerful from a design standpoint: less code, increased accessibility, and easier maintenance, to name a few.

But just using CSS and XHTML doesn't necessarily mean things are automatically better. By embracing the flexibility that can be gained from separating the core content from the design, you'll be well on your way to creating better designs for all the Web's citizens . But what do I mean by flexibility exactly?

note

I'm using the term bulletproof partly to describe flexibilityin other words, designs for the Web that can easily accommodate various text sizes and amounts of content, designs that expand or contract along with whatever is placed within them. In addition, we can (and will) also talk about flexibility from a editing, maintenance, or development view as wellimproving the ease with which content is edited and code updated and maintained , while at the same time not hindering the design. And last, we'll also talk about flexibility from an environment standpoint. How will designs impact the integrity of a Web site's content and function? We'll make sure that what we create can adapt to a variety of scenarios.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Around the time that I began thinking about the topic for this book, I realized that there are two important pieces that make up great, compelling Web designs. One piece is the visual component the piece that's obvious to anyone just looking at the finished page. This is a combination of the graphic design, colors, and typography the designer chose. Just visit the CSS Zen Garden (www.csszengarden.com), and it becomes obvious that compelling visual design is certainly possible and thriving when XHTML and CSS are used.

The second (but equally important) piece to a building a great Web site is the bulletproof implementation . It's this piece that the book will focus on: you've wisely decided to use XHTML and CSS to build Web sites to reap all of the benefits that come along with them. And now you're ready to leverage those Web standards with some ingenuity to create visually compelling Web sites that are also as flexible, adaptable, and accessible as possible.

As the adoption of Web standards such as XHTML and CSS increases rapidly , it becomes more and more important to have resources that discuss how these standards can be utilized and implemented in the most optimal way.