Assignment 8 - Chapter 10, 11 & 12 Blog entry

Chapter 10
It’s interesting to note that tables use to be the principal means by which web sites were built. As
they were used for overall page layout and positioning content. Although doing so did cause many
issues. Luckily though, because of the wide support for CSS, using tables to control content
positioning and layout is not necessary anymore and therefor tables can be used as they were
intended to, to present and organize related data that can be substantial but in a dense form.

To do this and to use the CSS rules to style table but one must be accustomed with the HTML table
elements. There are several different elements in HTML that can be used for defining and structuring
data. The minimum amount of elements that you would need to create a table would be the table
<table>, table row <tr> and table data <td> elements. The other remaining elements that one gets
add semantics and structure to the table.

For example, the table caption element helps in identifying the type of data one can expect in either
a short or long description. Other elements such as the table head, body and foot aid in structuring
tables.

Attributes such as <colspan> and <rowspan> act on either the table row or table data elements,
where it is used to span a single cell over multiple columns or to span a single cell over multiple rows
within a table respectively.

For readability one can alternate the background of table row colours. Personally, doing this does
help as I can quickly scan through a table without a lot of effort and still makes sense of what I am
reading.
Chapter 11
If you think about it, web forms play quite an important role for something so simple. From
registering on a job recruitment site, applying for admission to study, answering a survey or
purchasing something online, forms are almost everywhere on the web.

Understandable, a form gathers information that the user enters. The information is then processed
by a web server where various application process the data that can be used for spreadsheet
programs, databases and other software.

Although the form element does not create a form itself it does contain form controls that controls
the forms presentation. One of these form controls is the input element which has a type attribute
where several object types can be used on a form to enhance its usability. These object types such as
the radio button, text box field, submit button and check boxes to name but a few, are types that us
as users are already familiar with, so implementing them should not be all that difficult.

This chapter on forms took my interest, as forms are very common if not standard on most web
sites. To actually gain an understanding as to how forms operate behind the scene and how a forms
components are integrated and work together.

Chapter 12
As we live in an age with a vast amount of information out there in the world and numerus devices
on which we can view information, it’s a fitting to conclude with Responsive Web Design. The text in
this final chapter is the pinnacle of designing a web site. More so in designing a responsive web site.
It takes everything built upon in the previous chapters with a few extra bits of information.

Why Responsive Web Design? As new technologies develop to view information, more specifically
on the web, it’s safe to say that a one-fits-all method of presenting the information on various
technologies won’t work. So an adaption needed to take place and that’s where Responsive Web
Design came in. Creating web sites that are effortless to read and navigate on a mixed batch of
devices and browsers.

Although the option is there for one to design pages for different browsers and devices, it would be
inefficient and tedious way of doing so as housekeeping of the web it would be a pain.

At our disposal we have several ways in which we can go about creating a Responsive Web Design,
namely CSS media queries, Flexible Images and Layouts.

Thought does need to be given to how and where you will start. Will it be an existing design or a
design from scratch that needs to be suited to the various browser and devices? How would the
content match each device and what styling would you need to include or exclude from each device?

Most importantly, remodelling it in a way that always keeps the end user in mind and how they will
see it. I must say got excited reading that one could use media types, features and the browsers
viewpoint in creating a responsive design. Felt like most of the hard work was done and all I needed
to do was know what the techniques are and understand how to use them, which I did by doing the
activities given and playing around a bit.
As we live in an age with a vast amount of information out there in the world and numerus devices
on which we can view information, it’s a fitting to conclude with Responsive Web Design. The text in
this final chapter is the pinnacle of designing a web site. More so in designing a responsive web site.
It takes everything built upon in the previous chapters with a few extra bits of information.

Why Responsive Web Design? As new technologies develop to view information, more specifically
on the web, it’s safe to say that a one-fits-all method of presenting the information on various
technologies won’t work. So an adaption needed to take place and that’s where Responsive Web
Design came in. Creating web sites that are effortless to read and navigate on a mixed batch of
devices and browsers.

Although the option is there for one to design pages for different browsers and devices, it would be
inefficient and tedious way of doing so as housekeeping of the web it would be a pain.

At our disposal we have several ways in which we can go about creating a Responsive Web Design,
namely CSS media queries, Flexible Images and Layouts.

Thought does need to be given to how and where you will start. Will it be an existing design or a
design from scratch that needs to be suited to the various browser and devices? How would the
content match each device and what styling would you need to include or exclude from each device?

Most importantly, remodelling it in a way that always keeps the end user in mind and how they will
see it. I must say got excited reading that one could use media types, features and the browsers
viewpoint in creating a responsive design. I felt like most of the hard work was done and all I needed
to do was know what the techniques were and how to use them by doing the activities given and
playing around a bit.