can i hasz webdesignz guidlinez?

September 22, 2007 7:18 PM

Can you point me to any documents or websites that give a generally agreed upon guideline on how to build webpages?

What I'm talking about is a a kinda of step by step general guide on how to lay the foundations for building webpages, based on current browsers.

For instance, I've noticed a lot of css documents start with defining basic elements, such as giving zero padding and margin to the body and then adding it to later elements as needed. Is there a webpage or site out there that lists these things so as I'm building a site I can know to avoid x 'cause it creates huge headaches in IE or to define your basic text size like this or your elements like that?

I realize there's a lot of ways to build webpages, and that those ways may differ based on the project, but I'm looking for a general guideline on how to go about this.

I'm NOT looking for guidelines on how to build webpages, but rather guides on how build good, semantic pages by doing x and y and avoiding z, except when there's w etc, etc.

posted by Brandon Blatcher to computers & internet (5 answers total)

http://www.w3schools.com/
posted by white light at 8:15 PM on September 22, 2007

seconding all things w3c. This is basically what their whole purpose is, afaik.
posted by philomathoholic at 8:33 PM on September 22, 2007

I've constantly return to this Particletree article on how to structure your code.

Yahoo has great resources for web devs. I often use their CSS code for resetting CSS, giving elements a consistent looks, and getting fonts right.

Quirks mode has lots about how different browsers support CSS, DOM and JavaScript.

The always excellent w3C has an useful accessibility checklist. Do basic accessibility evaluation using Wave.

Web site optimization is often neglected, so make sure you test how long it takes to download your site.

And to see how your fancy design actually looks like, Browser shots is the tool to use.


Is this what you had in mind?
posted by Foci for Analysis at 8:52 PM on September 22, 2007 [7 favorites]

Also, some books that you might find useful:

Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites

Designing with Web Standards

Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook

Bulletproof Web Design

The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web
posted by Foci for Analysis at 9:09 PM on September 22, 2007

Yeah, Foci, you nailed it, especially with the Particletree link
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:00 AM on September 23, 2007