HTML CSS Best Practices

HTML & CSS
Best Practices
Presenter: Đặng Minh Tuấn
aka. ohisee
from: hoctudau.com

About Presenter - Who am I?
Fullname: Đặng Minh Tuấn
Worked for:
• 2010: HocTuDau.com - http://hoctudau.com/
• 2008 - 2010: Aprotrain Aptech - http://www.aptech-news.com/
• 2008: NAISCORP - http://socbay.com/
• 2003 - 2008: Many IT Companies
Trained HTML, CSS in:
• NAISCORP - http://socbay.com/
• Vietsoftware International - http://www.vsi-international.com/
• VNEXT - http://vnext.vn/
• VietNamBiz - http://www.vietnambiz.com/
• Hanoi PHP Day 2008, 2009, 2010
Programming:
• Clientside
o HTML
o CSS
o Javascript
• Serverside
o PHP
o MySQL
http://hoctudau.com/slides/html-css-best-practices/

About HTML, CSS - What is this?
If a browser is a worker and a web page is a house
then contents are bricks, HTML elements are
divisions, and CSS is paint.

About HTML, CSS - How and Who?
How they grow up?
Who has been "playing" with them?
• Web Designer > CSSer > Javascripter > Serversider
o http://hoctudau.com/slides/web-pro

About this Presentation - It is ...
... for one who
• know what is HTML, CSS
• and has been working with
HTML, CSS daily and want
to make better code
... not for one who
• don't know or don't care
about HTML, CSS
• or still working with HTML,
CSS (and may get thing
done) but don't want to
make better code

About this Presentation - legends
Wrong
= Something you should not do in almost cases.
Acceptable
= Something you should not do in some cases
Right
= Something you should do in almost cases.

10 Rules of Ss
– Skinable
– Sensible
– Simple
– Semantic
– Speed
– Standard
– Safe
– Structural
– Study
– Smart
About this Presentation - structure

Skinable - definition
Skinable = Changeable and Flexible Skin (Style)

Skinable - examples
Wrong
<h1><u><i>Heading</i></u></h1>
Right
<style>
h1 {
font-style: italic;
text-decoration:
underline;
}
</style>
<h1>Heading</h1>

Skinable - examples
Wrong
<p>
<img src="image.jpg"
align="left"> Hoctudau.com ...
</p>
Right
<style>
.thumbnail {
float: left;
}
</style>
<p>
<img src="image.jpg"
class="thumbnail">
Hoctudau.com ...
</p>

Skinable - examples
Wrong
<table>
<tr>
<td bgcolor=red width=500 height=50 colspan=2> ... </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor=red width=100 height=300> ... </td>
<td bgcolor=red width=400 height=300> ... </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor=red width=500 height=50 colspan=2> ... </td>
</tr>
</table>
Right
<link rel="stylesheet"
href="style.css">
<div id="header">
<div id="sidebar">
<div id="content">
<div id="footer">

Skinable - examples
Wrong
<ul style="padding-left: 5px" >
Right
CSS (styles.css)
#menu {
padding-left: 5px;
}
HTML (index.php)
<ul id="menu">

Skinable - best practices
• Separate Data (Structure) from Style (Presentation) and
Behavior (Themeable)
o Don't use HTML/XHTML Deprecated Tags and Attributes and
avoid presentational Tags. Use CSS instead
 http://www.tutorialspoint.com/html/html_deprecated_tags.htm
 Link Note: <center> can be replaced by : margin: 0 auto;
width: ... and text-align: ...
• Take a (careful) look at: CSS Zen garden -
http://www.csszengarden.com/
o One HTML Structure create Many Beautiful and different
Interfaces by using many different CSS files.
• TEAM NOTE:
o Train this rule first!

Sensible - definition
Sensible = understandable
• Somebody need to understand your code
• You need to understand ... your code after a long time

Sensible - examples
Wrong
<div id="xxx">
<p class="abc">
<div id="middle-left-and-then-
a-little-lower">
Right
<div id="header">
<div id="left_column">
<div id="sidebar">
<p class="first">
<p class="intro">
<div class="section">

Sensible - best practices
• Give id and class right spelling and understandable names.
• Know some kinds of naming -
http://sixrevisions.com/css/css-tips/css-tip-2-structural-
naming-convention-in-css/
o Prefer structural name: describe what elements are
 header
 sidebar
o to styling (presentational) name: describe how element look like
 right_column
 red_link
• Comment (in HTML, CSS) when needed
o to explain the reason (why?)
• TEAM NOTE:
o Build a Naming Convention for common Web UI elements
 http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/archives/naming_conventions_table.html

Simple - definition
Simpler = Shorter
• Less code to type
• Less code to read
• Less data to send

Simple - examples
Wrong
<ul>
<li class="active_menu_item"
<li class="menu_item">
</ul>
Right
<ul id="menu">
<li class="active">
<li>
<li>
<li>
<li>
<li>
<li>
</ul>

Simple - examples
Wrong
<div>
<div>
<div>
<h1>
<div>heading</div><br></h1>
<div>
<div>
paragraph<br>
<div>
paragraph
</div>
<br><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Right
<div>
<h1>heading</h1>
<p>
paragraph
</p>
<p>
paragraph
</p>
</div>

Simple - best practices
• Naming short enough to keep it sensible
• Good CSS skills enough to:
o know how to use CSS Selector
 http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/selector.html
 html selector
 id selector
 class selector
 descendant selector
o avoid classitis
o use CSS Shorthand
o keep as little as nested elements as possible.
o know how to solve issues by adding more CSS instead of HTML
• TEAM NOTE:
o require and train better CSS skill for team member
o train this rule

Semantic - definition
Semantic
= Software can understand your code.
so your web is accessible for all people.
= Search engine can understand your code
so your web has better SEO
Warning:
Semantic is
sometimes not
simple!

Semantic - examples
Wrong
<div class="heading1">
<div class="heading2">
<div class="paragraph">
Right
<h1>
<h2>
<p>
Right (but complex or not good supported)
<abbr class="dtstart"
title="2001-01-15T14:00:00+06:00">2</abbr>-
<abbr class="dtend"
title="2001-01-15T16:00:00+06:00">4</abbr>
<section>
Acceptable
<p>2-4pm</p>
<div class="section">

Semantic - best practices
• Use Right Tags for Right Jobs. Don't misuse any element.
Don't create a tag soup.
o div (divitis?)
o table (tableless layout?)
o ul, li (divless?)
• Learn elements semantic
o HTML References
 http://www.w3schools.com/html5/html5_reference.asp
o Semantically styling breadcrumbs
 http://kumpunen.com/?p=125
o Learn some others' data formart Microformat, Microdata,
RDF, etc.,
• TEAM NOTE:
o Build a Common Semantic List

Speed for the Web
Faster
= Users load your web faster
= Users feel more comfortable
= Your web can satisfy more users
What affect web speed?
• Request time
• Server processing time
• Data Transfer time
• Web Rendering time
• Client processing time
Warning: Faster is not always better

Speed - examples
Wrong
* {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}
Right:
use a good CSS reset file

Speed - best practices
Learn how the browser request and render your web
• Web Performance Best Practices — http://code.google.com/
speed/page-speed/docs/rules_intro.html
• Best Practices for Speeding Up Your Web Site -
http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html
• Some Tools - http://code.google.com/speed/tools.html
• TEAM NOTE:
o Hire a Clientside Ninja
Note: Speed has its cost
• Learning about performances is hard
• Implement what you learn is even harder
• "Speedy" code is usually complex

Standard - definition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_standards
Web standards is a general term for the formal standards and other technical
specifications that define and describe aspects of the World Wide Web. In recent years,
the term has been more frequently associated with the trend of endorsing a set of
standardized best practices for building web sites, and a philosophy of web design and
development that includes those methods
http://www.w3.org/
Create & develope Web Standards
http://www.webstandards.org/
Fighting for Web Standards
http://w3schools.com/
Teach

Standard - examples
Wrong
<div>
<p>
example paragraph
</div>
</p>
Right
<div>
<p>
example paragraph
</p>
</div>

Standard - best practices
• Read the Specification
o World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) - http://www.w3.org/
o Learn DTD - http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd
• Learn about the mission of fighting for standard
o http://www.webstandards.org/about/mission/
• Know how to use online and offline validator
o online HTML, XHTML validator - http://validator.w3.org/
o online CSS validator - http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
o Firefox Addon HTML validator - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/249/
• TEAM NOTE:
o Validation is a must in training progress.
Good News:
Browsers are more and more
supporting Web Standards
Bad News:
Good things (?) can
break standards

Safe (fallback) - definition
Everything can be in trouble
but If we care enough, troubles can become less troubles
or become good chances!

Safe Fallback - examples
Wrong
<img src="hoctudau.png" />
#header {
background: url(header.png);
color: white;
}
Right
<img src="hoctudau.png"
alt="hoctudau.com"
title="hoctudau.com" />
#header {
background: black
url(header.png);
color: white;
}

Safe Fallback - best practices
• Follow Web Standard
o use alt in img element
• Think about the failures
o image doesn't work?
o CSS doesn't work? Some CSS rules don't work?
o JS doesn't work? Some JS functions don't work?
o frame, iframe don't work?
o Flash doesn't work?
• Bulletproof
o Ebook: Bulletproof Web Design: Improving flexibility and
protecting against worst-case scenarios with XHTML and CSS
• TEAM NOTE:
o train this rule.

Structural - definition
Structural = good organized

Structural - examples
Wrong (development phase)
style.css
john.css
Right (development phase)
reset.css
debug.css
layout.css

Structural - best practices
• Separate 2 phases: development and deployment
(production)
o minified, combined css (js) files in deployment phase
• Separate 2 types of files structure in development phase
o top down
 debug.css
 reset.css
 layout.css
 typo.css
o bottom up
 reset.css
 layout.css
 menu.css - menu_debug.css
 infobox.css - infobox_debug.css
• TEAM NOTE:
o Study: OOCSS and CSS Frameworks
o Build a CSS Libary

Study - definition
Study = Explore, Seach, Ask, Learn, Store, Bookmark,
Remember by Heart

Study - examples
Right
google: IE6 common bug
• http://www.virtuosimedia.com/tutorials/ultimate-ie6-
cheatsheet-how-to-fix-25-internet-explorer-6-bugs

Study - best practices
• Learn when and how to google
o Learn English
o Learn to generalize (expand) and specialize (restric)
search results
 double text vs IE6 double text vs IE6 common bugs
• Bookmark useful link
o http://jhop.me/ie8-bugs
• Read useful Webs and Blogs
o http://www.smashingmagazine.com/
• TEAM NOTE:
o share bookmark and experience between team member

Smart - definition
Smart people follow the targets, not the rules!
Sometimes we should break the rules!
Warning:
We have to learn to follow the rules
before learning to break them!

Smart - examples
Wrong
Try to make a perfect quality
web when lacking of resources
Right
Think about what you want,
but do what you can.
Sometimes you should make
an art, but sometimes you
need money first.

Smart - best practices
• Thinking about your target before thinking about the other
rules
o Sometimes you have to break some rules to follow other
(more important) rules
 "kill" speed to "save" simple
 or "kill" simple to "save" speed
 kill "semantic" to save "simple" and "time"
• When needed, you can use anything
o Table Layout
 Softwares: Dreamweaver, Photoshop
o HTML Frameworks
 Baker Ebook Framework
o HTML Generator, Editor
 Zen Coding (not Zend)
o CSS Frameworks
 YUI, Blue Prints, 960gs
o CSS Generators
 SASS, LESS
• TEAM NOTE: Look ahead and prepare for future

Want to learn more?
Google: CSS best practices
• Be a CSS Team Player: CSS Best Practices for Team-Based Development
o http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptjunkie/ff679957.aspx
• 9 CSS Best Practices You Need to Know
o http://fwebde.com/css/css-best-practices/
• 30 CSS Best Practices for Beginners
o http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/html-css-techniques/30-css-best-practices-for-
beginners/
Google: HTML best practices
• 20 HTML Best Practices You Should Follow
o http://sixrevisions.com/web-standards/20-html-best-practices-you-should-follow/
Note again: Follow your targets and apply others' rules smartly

Good HTML, CSS Showcases
• Deliver WOW Through Service
o http://about.zappos.com/our-unique-culture/zappos-core-values/deliver-
wow-through-service
• Chris Shiflett: Blog
o http://shiflett.org/blog
• Webkit CSS Transformers Top Trumps
o http://line25.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/webkit-flip/demo/index.html
• CSS Media Queries Sidebar
o http://css-tricks.com/examples/MediaQueriesSidebar/
• The Official Site of Bill Gates - The Gates Notes
o http://www.thegatesnotes.com/Default.aspx
• About | Mozilla Messaging
o http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/about/
• Simon Collison | Colly | The Celebrated Miscellany
o http://colly.com/
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
o http://www.w3.org/

Good HTML, CSS Showcases
Web Applications
• Wordpress
• VBB 4.x

The End
Q&A
Sponsored by HocTuDau.com
Avarage Score of HTML, CSS Code of some famous
websites in Rule of Ss Scale?
This slide is available online at:

HTML CSS Best Practices

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