COMMON TERMS USED THROUGHOUT THE BOOK

There are times throughout the book that I'll refer to various browser versions by their abbreviations. For instance, it's much easier to say IE5/Win than "Internet Explorer version 5 for Windows." That said, here's a little list of the shorthand browser version/platform conventions:

• IE5/Win = Internet Explorer version 5.0 and 5.5 for Windows

• IE6/Win = Internet Explorer version 6 for Windows

• IE5/Mac = Internet Explorer version 5 for Macintosh

When describing the common approaches found in the examples used for each chapter, I often refer to nested tables and spacer GIF shims. This describes the traditional techniques often used to build Web sites, in which tables are used to create pixel-perfect but inflexible beasts. Nesting tables inside one another made it easier to precisely align graphics and text, yet the result was a gigantic amount of code with accessibility problems galore.

The term spacer GIF shim refers to the use of a single transparent GIF image that's stretched to various dimensions in order to create gaps, columns, and divisions throughout a page. An unbulletproof Web site will have these littered throughout its markup, adding code and creating a maintenance nightmare.

But there are better ways of accomplishing the same visual goal using lean, meaningful markup and CSS. By embracing these Web standards, we can still create compelling designs that at the same time are flexible and ready for whatever situation is thrown at them. This is Bulletproof Web Design.