Standards and Best Practices at Port 80: Customhouse: concepts and buzzwords

How picky should you be? On the one hand, as long as your web pages work, what's the problem? Slap something up there. As long as it doesn't break, then it's ok. On the other hand, there is a standard way and there is a set of best practices.

What sets the standards?

As a web maker, you have to adapt to the reality of literal-minded computers. Because of the complex networked computing environment in which you communicate, as much as you'd like to, you can't just express yourself any old which way. It flat out won't work, no one will be able to see what you've done, and you will have wasted your time.

the computer

Most basically, the computer understands ones and zeros and can quickly and repeatedly manipulate them. The "quickly" is measued in trillionths of a second. There are several levels of abstraction between ones and zeros and what you see on the screen.

the operating system

For web sites, the most common operating system is Linux, followed by Unix, and then Windows NT or 2000. Ricci Street runs on Linux, which is case sensitive, for example. While http://RicciStreet.net and http://riCCistrEEt.NET will get you the same thing because the domain name is read by the name servers, everything after the domain name is read by the server and is subject to the standards of its operating system.

http://RicciStreet.net/port80/lighthouse/Standards.htm will get you an error message because of the capital S.

the server software

the client software and plug-ins

The most popular browser is Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Netscape just released its version 6 (skipping 5, it has been so long) and Microsoft will put its version 6 in the XP operating system released in late 2001.

the network protocols

The process used by the Internet community for the standardization of protocols and procedures. The stages in the standardization process, the requirements for moving a document between stages, and the types of documents used during this process. It also addresses the intellectual property rights and copyright issues associated with the standards process.

the mark-up and scripting languages

It was written ten years ago by Tim Berners-Lee as a subset of SGML, Standard Generalized Markup Language.

the file types

The Web works with any ASCII text file. If you want to use an unconventional extension such as .lampshade or nonsense such as .jftxvl, you only have to tell the server. However, almost all web pages use either .htm or .html. They are not identical. That is, if the browser requests pagename.htm, the server won't return pagename.html. So be careful.

My convention on Ricci Street is to use .htm for all pages except the index page of every directory, which has the filename index.html.

Other common text file types include .css for Cascading Style Sheets, .js for JavaScript, .pl for Perl, and .cgi for Common Gateway Interface, which are usually written in Perl.

Other media types commonly include images, which are either .jpg or .gif and now .png. While .wmf will work in Microsoft's browser only, .bmp and proprietary types such as .mix, .psp, and .pcd won't display at all.

In addition, you can put any other file type on the server, for example, Excel .xls, Word .doc, PowerPoint .ppt, video files such as .mpg, and audio files such as .mp3 or au. As with the proprietary image file types, the file may not display in the browser. It will start a download procedure and ask where you want to save it on your hard drive. From there, you can display it with the appropriate software. Learn more about streaming media.

What sets the best practices?

the fewer keystrokes, the better

clicking and dragging and dropping are better than typing

re-using code by cutting and pasting is better than typing

If your learning curve is anything like mine was, you're still going through the phase of making three and four times as many keystrokes as you need to. Most of them come at the level of page management. Some of them are rooted in your site management practices.

The Web Standards Project, WaSP, may have been down, but it's not out. The organization's got new life and new goals for the New Year.

The Web Standards Project ... announced an indefinite hiatus after more than three years of serving as the standards community's premier gadfly. ...

"We're taking a short break of sorts, chiefly in acknowledgement of two things. One: To a great extent, the browser makers have complied with the demands spelled out in our mission statement of 1998--thus some of our reason for being has gone away. ...

If that changes in the next few months, we will come back strong. If not, then we will speak from time to time from our WaSP pulpit.

This first-ever global Internet commerce standard will codify and promote the best practices used by merchants in Internet commerce. The Commerce Standard will lead to higher levels of consumer satisfaction, confidence and trust on the Internet and will improve merchant profitability and innovation.

The Standard for Internet Commerce addresses a comprehensive set of issues that directly impact the online consumer's experience, including customer service, privacy, security, provision of warranty and product support information, disclosure of refund, cancellation and refund policies.

We're talking real applications here - the kind where you log on, see a slice of information that is most relevant to you, and can then act on that information immediately. To do this, we use an existing website as a database and pull data from it dynamically in real time.

Web standards advocates are declaring victory in their battle over browsers, but as they turn up the heat on their next adversary it's clear that their longstanding crusade on behalf of elegant design principles is far from over.

Professional Associations

HTML Writers Guild - html/web writers and creators committed to excellence in html design, a master-apprentice approach to learning html, and promoting members in the job market.


concepts and buzzwords for exploring webs


Customhouse concepts and buzzwords	Charthouse trends and currents	Boardwalk people and communities
Lighthouse information and research	Shoreline issues and policies	Docks systems and processes


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modified: August 1, 2001 by Douglas Anderson http://RicciStreet.net/port80/customhouse/standards.htm