37 Questions Web Designers/Developers Should Know the Answer To
- What is HTML?
- What are the different versions of HTML?
- What about XHTML?
- Is HTML case-sensitive?
- What does the
DOCTYPEdeclaration do? - What is a DTD?
- What is the difference between Strict, Transitional and Frameset DTDs?
- Which DOCTYPE should I use?
- Why should I validate my markup?
- Why does HTML allow sloppy coding?
- Why does the validator complain about my
<embed>tag? - What does character encoding (
charset) mean? - What is a BOM?
- What encoding should I declare?
- How do I insert characters outside the encoding range?
- Why do I need to write
&instead of just&? - How should heading elements be used?
- What are block-level and inline elements?
- Can I make an inline element block-level with CSS?
- Why are external CSS and JavaScript files a good idea?
- Should I use
porbr? - What does “semantic” mean?
- Should I replace
bandiwithstrongandem? - Why are layout tables considered harmful?
- Should I use divs instead of layout tables?
- Are tables deprecated?
- What is the correct use of the
addresselement type? - What is the correct use of the
dfnelement type? - What is the correct use of the
varelement type? - Should I use quotation marks within or around a
qelement? - What is the difference between
abbrandacronym? - Why is
<feature X>deprecated</feature>? - Must I have an
altattribute for every image? - What is the difference between
classandid? - Why doesn’t
id="123"work? - Why doesn’t
<a href=My Cool Page.html>work? - How can I include an HTML page in another HTML page?
Do you know the answers?
Tommy Olsson has written an excellent article for SitePoint entitled “Bulletproof HTML: 37 Steps to Perfect Markup.” The article’s title is a bit misleading as it’s not actually outlining any process or steps to being a better designer, as it is answering some common questions regarding HTML. Olsson’s insight is invaluable for those new to HTML or those of us that thought we knew the answers to a few of the questions he poses.
Reader Comments
8 Responses to “37 Questions Web Designers/Developers Should Know the Answer To”
Michael Cober March 10th, 2007
Hmmm,
Good questions…. for a developer.
I think a designer would be better equipped with questions about colour theory, effective use of the elements and principles of design (line, shape, direction, size, texture, colour, value, balance, gradation, repetition, repetition, contrast, harmony, dominance, & unity, and of course a strong typographic understanding. The answers to these questions would just seal the deal.
Like I said, a good list for developers, but for a designer the aesthetics should be more important than the appropriate DOCTYPE.
Cheers
ia March 13th, 2007
Regarding Michael’s comment, I think you’re limiting the duty of a designer when the entry mentioned web designer. Web designers manipulate HTML. It is not a question of developing versus designing. Developers can be web designers, and so can “typical” designers like graphic designers and other aesthetically inclined people. In fact, anybody who comes in contact should read the answers to these questions to understand the Why behind the What.
As for the article, that was a good spin on the Sitepoint article. Crafty. :)
Julián Rodriguez Orihuela March 20th, 2007
Well, they had me at “BOM”… and I still don’t fully understand what it is…
Calle Grönlund March 20th, 2007
As the others mentioned I also think this far more Developer biased. Web design can be a broad area, but you still need to be a designer. I’ve seen too many crash and burns from developers who think 100% reasoning equals a good design. Sometimes it works, but you really really have to be and exceptional developer to achieve that.
I’m more of an all-around designer in every area of design (with this I mean industrial, graphical, web, furniture, game etc.) and I’ve had a good share of battles with the nemesis of designer vs. developer/engineer.
I mainly think it’s a symbiosis between the two. Designers are here to bend the rules and create something unique. Developers/engineers are there to make it possible and to keep it in balance. It HELPS for both sides to know about the others profession, but should they know it as a reflex? No. It starts to interfere with the process and in worst case scenarious it will cripple it.
I’ve learned that in a design process (can pretty much be anything from spoons to marketing) it’s a good beginning to use a 50/50 balance between the two, but when the product is getting closer to the final state the balance should be 60-70/30-40 (can be turned any way around you want). 50/50 is compromise between everything and finally leads to mediocre result.
As for this list, there are very few things are related to design (and most of them are really stretched).
Michael Persson May 5th, 2007
I like this site, in inspires me to see other web developers and designers make a good job
Keep up the good work..
Michael Persson
Felipe López June 19th, 2007
Good Article i think that it could be better with the correct answers
Michael Persson August 9th, 2007
Graphic designers are mostly graphics, printing and artistic and creative experts while a web designer are coding experts and have fortunately expert experience in web graphics, loading time, usability and Search Engine Optimization, xhtml and css.. knowledge.
These are two different jobs and cant be competitive but co-operative supporting each other professionally.
Agus Pelani November 12th, 2007
awesome articles……:D..very helpful for some designer like me..but should I learn these 37 step questions,mmmm…any designer cannot do that..isn’t it?