Practical Internet Code

Writing Friendly Code - Part 2

by Kenneth Tibbetts (areoka@areoka.com)

The Clockwise Box

So many Web pages, so little time. Not enough time to keep remodeling all the pages on all our sites every time a browser vendor coughs up another feature. 

This series, on writing friendly Internet code, is aimed at writing pages that will work (or at least not explode) in today's clients, and still be able to play next season. This time I'm concentrating on taking advantage of all the lovely positioning effects that can make a Webpage dance. 

Sticking with my theme, we are aiming at getting the light fantastic out of the browsers that get it, without embarassing our visitors who have two left feet.

The principles are easy to state, harder to implement - it takes some discipline and a little time. 

This article is a continuation of  Writing Friendly Code, and uses the same example Web page as the first part, which can be viewed in action at:
The Yankee Webshop Reader

Contents:

1. Principles
2. Duelling Browsers 
3. Safety Net for Scripts and Styles
4. XFiles - Future Proofing 
5. Forming Valid Habits 
6. Layout Before Code 
7. Name that Element
8. Style Sheet Syntax
9. The Friendly Coder
10. Last Words

Principles 

Comments are welcome