HTML editor: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:36, 23 July 2023

Revision as of 23:15, 16 October 2023

Line 32:

:The same page may display slightly differently, by example, in [[Google Chrome|Chrome]], [[Safari (web browser)|Safari]], [[Microsoft Edge|Edge]], [[Internet Explorer]] and [[Firefox]] on a high-resolution screen, but it will look very different in the perfectly valid text-only [[Lynx (browser)|Lynx]] browser. It needs to be rendered differently again on a [[Personal digital assistant|PDA]], an [[Digital television|internet-enabled television]] and on a [[mobile phone]]. Usability in a [[Voice browser|speech]] or [[braille]] browser, or via a [[Screen reader|screen-reader]] working with a conventional browser, will place demands on entirely different{{clarify|date=October 2020}} aspects of the underlying HTML. All an author can do is suggest an appearance.

;Web browsers, like all computer software, have [[computer bug|bugs]]

:They may not conform to current [[Web standards|standards]]. It is hopeless to try to design Web pages around all of the common browsers' current bugs: each time a new version of each browser comes out, a significant proportion of the [[World Wide Web]] would need re-coding to suit the new bugs and the new fixes. It is generally considered much wiser to design to standards, staying away from 'bleeding edge' features until they settle down, and then wait for the browser developers to catch up to your pages, rather than the other way round.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.w3.org/People/Bos/DesignGuide/designguide.html |title=An essay on W3C's design principles |publisher=W3.orgW3C |access-date=2013-10-23 |date= 6 Mar 2003 |first=Bert |last=Bos}}</ref> For instance, no one can argue that CSS is still 'cutting edge' as there is now widespread support available in common browsers for all the major features,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/#browsers |title=Cascading Style Sheets |publisher=W3.orgW3C |access-date=2013-10-23}}</ref> even if many WYSIWYG and other editors have not yet entirely caught up.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/#editors |title=Cascading Style Sheets |publisher=W3.orgW3C |access-date=2013-10-23}}</ref>

;A single visual style can represent multiple semantic meanings

:Semantic meaning, derived from the underlying structure of the HTML document, is important for search engines and also for various accessibility tools. On paper we can tell from context and experience whether bold text represents a title, or emphasis, or something else. But it is very difficult to convey this distinction in a WYSIWYG editor. Simply making a piece of text bold in a WYSIWYG editor is not sufficient to tell the reader *why* the text is bold – what the boldness represents semantically.

Line 40:

==Valid HTML markup==

HTML is a structured [[markup language]]. There are certain rules on how HTML must be written if it is to conform to [[W3C]] standards for the World Wide Web. Following these rules means that web sites are accessible on all types and makes of computer, to able-bodied and people with disabilities, and also on [[wireless]] devices like mobile phones and PDAs, with their limited bandwidths and screen sizes. However, most HTML documents on the web do not meet the requirements of W3C standards. In a study conducted in 2011 on the 350 most popular web sites (selected by the Alexa index), 94 percent of websites fail the web standards markup and style sheet validation tests, or apply character encoding improperly. Even those syntactically correct documents may be inefficient due to an unnecessary use of repetition, or based upon rules that have been [[Deprecation|deprecated]] for some years.

Current W3C recommendations on the use of CSS with HTML were first formalised by W3C in 1996<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS1 |title=Cascading Style Sheets, level 1 |publisher=W3.orgW3C |access-date=2013-10-23 |author1= Håkon Wium Lie |author2=Bert Bos }}</ref> and have been revised and refined since then.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cascading Style Sheets Level 2 Revision 1 (CSS 2.1) Specification |url=http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/ |website=W3C's current CSS recommendation}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=XHTML™ 1.1 - Module-based XHTML - Second Edition |url=http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/ |website=W3C's current HTML recommendation}}</ref>

These guidelines emphasise the separation of content (HTML or XHTML) from style (CSS). This has the benefit of delivering the style information once for a whole site, not repeated in each page, let alone in each HTML element. WYSIWYG editor designers have been struggling ever since with how best to present these concepts to their users without confusing them by exposing the underlying reality. Modern WYSIWYG editors all succeed in this to some extent, but none of them has succeeded entirely.

Line 54:

}}</ref> It should not be considered ready for the World Wide Web, until its HTML and CSS syntax have been successfully [[Validator|validated]] using either the free W3C validator services ([http://validator.w3.org/ W3C HTML Validator] and [http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/ W3C CSS Validator]) or some other trustworthy alternatives.<ref name="RefactoringHtml"/>

[[Accessibility]] of web pages by those with physical, eyesight or other disabilities is not only a good idea considering the ubiquity and importance of the web in modern society, but is also mandated by law. In the U.S., the [[Americans with Disabilities Act]] and in the UK, the [[Disability Discrimination Act]] place requirement on web sites operated by publicly funded organizations. In many other countries similar laws either already exist or soon will.<ref name="RefactoringHtml"/> [[Web Content Accessibility Guidelines|Making pages accessible]] is more complex than just making them valid; that is a prerequisite but there are many other factors to be considered.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/|title=Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0|publisher=W3.orgW3C|year=2008|access-date=2013-10-23}}</ref> Good web design, whether done using a WYSIWYG tool or not needs to take account of these too.

Whatever software tools are used to design, create and maintain web pages, the quality of the underlying HTML is dependent on the skill of the person who works on the page. Some knowledge of HTML, CSS and other scripting languages as well as a familiarity with the current W3C recommendations in these areas will help any designer produce better web pages, with a WYSIWYG [https://jsfeed.io/ HTML editor] and without.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Guide/ |title=Dave Raggett's Introduction to HTML |publisher=W3.orgW3C |date=2005-05-24 |access-date=2013-10-23}}</ref>

==See also==