HTML XHTML-The Complete Reference, Fourth Edition

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Thomas Powell

McGraw-Hill /Osborne
2100 Powell Street, 10th Floor
Emeryville, California 94608
U.S.A.

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Copyright 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of publisher, with the exception that the program listings may be entered, stored, and executed in a computer system, but they may not be reproduced for publication.

1234567890 CUS CUS 019876543

ISBN 0-07-222942-X

Publisher
Brandon A. Nordin

Vice President & Associate Publisher
Scott Rogers

Acquisitions Editor
Megg Morin

Project Editor
Julie M. Smith

Acquisitions Coordinator
Tana Allen

Technical Editor
Fritz Schneider

Copy Editor
Nancy Rapoport

Proofreader
Susie Elkind

Indexer
Valerie Perry

Composition
Carie Abrew, Tabitha M. Cagan,
Tara A. Davis, Elizabeth Jang

Illustrators
Kathleen Fay Edwards,
Melinda Moore Lytle, Lyssa Wald

Series Design
Peter F. Hancik, Lyssa Wald

This book was composed with Corel VENTURA ¢ Publisher.

Information has been obtained by McGraw-Hill /Osborne from sources believed to be reliable. However, because of the possibility of human or mechanical error by our sources, McGraw-Hill /Osborne, or others, McGraw-Hill /Osborne does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or the results obtained from the use of such information.

Acknowledgments

The fourth edition of this book might as well be the first edition of a brand new series focused on XHTML. Given the amount of rewrite necessary, I want to make sure that all those that helped are given their due. First I want to acknowledge the numerous fixes and improvements that came from the feedback from both my students at UCSD and readers around the world. I write these books for you and I am glad you are putting this information to good use.

I would also like to show my appreciation to the many staff members at PINT who helped on this book project. First, Mine Okano is now three for three on book projects. It may have taken a while for us to get started, but Mine made sure everything proceeded along and I owe her big time, as usual. Once again Dan Whitworth helped out and I especially need to make sure to acknowledge the tenth-anniversary of his first Web site. Rob McFarlane always came through when given a mere afternoon to come up with any desired image changes. Daisy Bhonsle kept up a long standing proofing relationship and I am very glad she always helps out. Plenty of others helped directly or indirectly on examples, proofing, or just running the shop, including Maria Defante, Jimmy Tam, Eric Raether, Meredith Hodge, Cathleen Ryan, Catrin Walsh, James Brock, Jason Gan, David Sanchez, Melinda Serrato, Dave Andrews, Kim Smith, Matt Plotner, Marcus Richard, Cory "TAF" Ducker, Jeremy Weir, Candice Fong-Guleno, Kun Puparussanon, Michele Bedard, Michael Wootton, Heather Jurek, Kevin Griffith, Borrego, and Dutch. Of course Joe Lima, Allan Pister, Christie Sorenson, Chris Neppes, Jared Ashlock, Tad Fleshman, and Perry Herst deserve some credit as well.

The folks at Osborne are always a pleasure to work with. I am not so sure Megg Morin finds my tardiness a pleasure , but somehow our relationship remains intact. Despite skipping our usual long phone calls, Julie Smith was still able to put this monster together. Tana Allen, Nancy Rapoport, Valerie Perry, Roger Stewart, Susie Elkind, Jim Kussow, Elizabeth Jang, and others at Osborne had to deal with all those details and issues that authors take for granted.

My Technical Editor Fritz Schneider, formerly of PINT and now of Google, was of course instrumental in making sure that I was precise. Now that he graduates on to his own books I wish him luck and hope I can edit his tomes someday.

Finally, to my friends and family who tried to give me space to write this thing, you deserve the biggest thanks. However, Tucker and Angus, who can't read, will have to be told of their importance in this production. And finally, Sylvia, I am sure you can appreciate the ironic importance of HTML in our lives.

Thomas A. Powell
[e-mail]
July 2003

About the Author

Thomas Powell       is a long time Internet and Web industry veteran. After an stint at CERFnet in the early 90s, he founded Powell Internet Consulting (later renamed PINT) in 1994, a Web and network consulting services firm. The firm has grown significantly over the years to become a well-respected player in corporate Web site development and has large clients all over the country in a variety of industries.

Beyond his involvement at PINT, Thomas is well known in the academic community both regionally and internationally. He founded the UCSD Extension Web Publishing program in the late 1990s and continues to teach classes in Web development and design there. He is also an instructor for the UCSD Computer Science Department where he teaches classes in Web design theory, Web Programming and the theory of programming languages.

Mr. Powell is well published and his work has appeared in numerous trade journals. He continues to publish regularly in Network World and is a member of the prestigious Network World Test Alliance. He also has published numerous books on Web technology and design, including the best-selling Web Design: The Complete Reference and JavaScript: The Complete Reference . His books have been translated into over 12 languages and are used around the world both in industry and college settings.

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