Basics of Web Design

Chapter 1 - Internet and Web Basics

The Internet and the Web are parts of our daily lives. How did they begin? What networking protocols and programming languages work behind the scenes to display a web page? This chapter provides an introduction to some of these topics and is a foundation for the information that web developers need to know.

This chapter also gets you started with your very first web page. You'll be introduced to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), the language used to create web pages, eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML), the most recent standardized version of HTML, and HTML5—the newest draft version of HTML. Resource websites and chapter links are listed below.

Resources & Chapter Links

• A Brief History of the Internet
• Growth of the Internet
  
  
• W3C - World Wide Web Consortium
• The Web Standards Project
• WOW - World Organization of Webmasters
  
  
• WAI - Web Accessibility Initiative
• WCAG 2.0 - Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
• Section 508
• IITAA - Illinois Information Technology Accessibilty Act
  
  
• WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organization
• Creative Commons Copyright
      Example: Color Blender
  
  
• Country Code TLD List
  
  
• HTML5 Markup Language Reference
• Configure TextEdit for the Mac
  
  

Web Page Structure Practice Activity

Each web page has a basic structure with a DOCTYPE statement and html, head, title, meta, and body tags. Check your understanding of this structure with this Web Page Structure Practice Activity.

The Internet & Web — Critical Thinking

Take a moment to carefully consider some of the issues below:

1. Has the Internet changed the way that you communicate with your friends and family, work on school assignments, research and compare products? If so, how? Cite specific examples. How do you think it will impact these activities in the future?
2. Are you aware of a so-called "Digital Divide"— the difference between individuals that use computers and those that do not? Do you think there really is a Digital Divide? Cite examples. What can be done to bridge this divide? Explore http://digitaldivide.org for further information.

Chapter Updates

• Page 12: The last sentence in the second paragraph should be
  "In this case, the root file (which is usually index.htm or index.html) of the chapter1 directory will be displayed."

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