Doc Steve

Doc Steve provides consulting and programming services to assist those interested in improving the look and performance of their web sites and in bringing them into conformance with established standards.

Why Doc Steve

It is important that all of your visitors, regardless of the platform they are using, get the same quality of information that you intend to deliver. it would be nice if all web code generated the same display of information on every platform: nice, but dream on! Doc Steve helps you in the following ways:

• Usability

  Every effort is made to insure that all pages will read equally well (although not necessarilly identically) on all browsers (and on other platforms as well, such as I-Pads and I-Phones and other smart phones and even Apple's venerable Newton).

• Validation

  The standards of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) are always the standards followed, as opposed to guidelines of any particular broswer supplier. All pages are validated using the W3C HTML/XHTML validator (and on this and related sites are so marked: that's your choice; on this site, all pages conform to the W3C XHTML 1.1 specification [except for a few odd ones that are intended to display obsolete coding examples]).

• Web abbreviations: About alphabet-land

  • HTML and XHTML, SGML and XML:

    XHTML is to HTML as XML is to SGML; that is, XHTML and HTML are both programming languages, XML and SGML are their respective meta-languages. Among other things, XHTML 1.0 requires the closing of all elements (such as table cells), and HTML elements that do not have a close (for example, the stand-alone line break, <br>) must be closed internally (as <br />).

  • Meta-language?

    A meta-language is a framework within which a language is developed. XHTML is sometimes described as a bridge between HTML and XML, as in, "There's HTML, XHTML, and XML": it is, sort of, but that one-two-three typology is technically incorrect. HTML's meta-language, SGML, does not require tags to be closed, and other SGML-based languages (e.g., "Rich Text Format," RTF) similarly open tags with no need to close them; XHTML's meta-language, XML, does require tags to be closed (in effect putting all content into containers), and all other XML derivatives will likewise require tag closing.

  • About "transitional"

    HTML 4 and XHTML 1.0 include a transitional specification (XHTML 1.1 is only a "strict" form): this means that a site can still use "deprecated" elements, which can be particularly useful for formatting pages (even when they may still use style sheets as the overall basis for formatting the site). This is also helpful when migrating older sites forward toward conformance; it also helps ensure that the few users with older browsers get a similar presentation to the users with newer browsers. No depricated elements are still in use on this or related sites, just to show that we can do it: all pages conform to the XHTML 1.1 specification: XHTML 2.0 now exists, sort of, but there are no plans to make any programming changes in the foreseeable future to XHTML 2.0.

  • CSS?

    Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is the undertaking to separate the markup language from the presentation of the document. There are a number of reasons for this: for example, a paragraph is where it is, but the font family or size may be changed in order to make the page more readable. Style sheets are an entire programming undertaking in-and-of themselves, completely separate from SGML- or XML-based languages. At present (late 2012), the foundation standard for CSS is version 2.1, with version 3 — now in use — essentially a super-set of 2.1, and to which most of this website conforms.

• Accessibility

  All pages are written to conform to the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and U.S. Sect. 508 accessibility standards. This provides for access by persons using non-visual browsers and other assistive devices. Pages are checked for accessibility with the the various accessibility validators available (for example, AChecker, an open source tool sponsored in part by the Government of Ontario's Enabling Change Program).

• Links

  Links on all pages should be periodically checked: this may be done using the W3C link checker.

• Standards, Standards, Standards

  • As noted above, there are standards for web site development, specifically the ones promulaged by the W3C. These standards are for various iterations of HTML (2, 3.2, 4.0, 4.1) and XHTML (1.0, 1.1) and even for the the next generations, HTML 5 and XHTML 2; there are also standards for Style Sheets — CSS — (1, 2.0, 2.1, 3), which controls the presentation of the page. There are now an entire alphabet soup of standards for the writing of web code, for the presentation of web sites, and for the management of data contained therein.

    Browsers contemporary to each of these standards should have, but often did not, render pages in a uniform (and correct, i.e., according to the standard) manner, and although the standards are different, their definitions remain in effect, and current browsers should render pages written to older standards correctly. Over the years, browsers have gotten better at abiding by the standards. This makes it all the more important to conform to standards in order to maintain cross-browser presentations.

    (There is also an ISO version of the standards, ISO/IEC 15445, which is documented at "ISO/IEC 15445:2000(E)" and "User's Guide to ISO/IEC 15445:2000 HyperText Markup Language (HTML)" at Trinity College Dublin, that is based on the W3C standards and is essentially a style guide on top of the W3C standards: there is even its own icon,

    .)

    Much of the work noted here, devoted to cross browser conformity and allowing for local-user platform requirements, is just good programming practice; for a not insubstantial amount of this work, however, this cross-browser conformity issue would not be so much of a hassle were Microsoft (and others) to admit that the browser wars are moot and simply follow the W3C standards (hey guys, I first wrote this in 2004 and things haven't changed much in 2012 as I write this!).

    Unfortunately, they still have not implemented the W3C standards in an identical manner, making site development much harder, although things are getting closer to conformity; nevertheless, in developing pages, one must always assume that Internet Explorer, Mozilla/Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari will all display at least somewhat differently. The most current releases (as of 2012, IE [Ver. 8] and FireFox [Ver. 16], for example) are much better at uniform implementation, but some issues remain, and new ones arise (e.g., how the "current" IE and FireFox display "objects" in different manners: neither is "wrong" in terms of web standards, but the differences can be catastrophic in terms of the display). One does what can be done, but it is necessary to remember that the object of the page — with respect to all possible platforms — is total usability of the information, not total consistency of the presentation.

  • Also note that there will never be a "best viewed with" tag on any of our sites, an annoying practice now well on its way to the rubbish heap of history. Our sites will be viewable with any browser on any platform.

  • BTW, as of the fall of 2012, the web browsers that are currently in general use — as reported on the website w3schools.com — are (with user share) Google Chrome (44.9%), Mozilla Firefox (31.8%), Microsoft Internet Explorer (16.1%), Apple Safaru (4.3%), and Opera (2.0%). These numbers show a tremendous increase for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. It is important to use the latest version of the browser: earlier browsers lack so much functionality as to be hopelessly obsolete; also, other browsers (such as the various ones for Android platforms) may be (and often are) very idiosyncratic. Nevertheless, all pages should display well on any of them (although, as noted, not identically).

  • Obsolete Browsers

    Which leads us to one other point, browsers that really do not support standards, mainly because the standards did not exist when they were developed or the need to conform to the standards was not deemed essential to product development. This would not be so much of a problem if the browsers dropped into a clean mode, such as a text mode, but many do not: they break the standard, any effort to program around it is futile, and the result is often unreadable. Also, a fix for a previous IE standards problem caused frequently causes the presentation to break in the latest releases: then, fixing that for the current IE now re-creates the original problem in older releases; essentially, non-current browsers are functionally obsolete. Let's face it folks, Netscape 4.7 was a really good, stable product, but its time is done. It's time for the NS 4 users to step up in the world and get with Firefox!

• SEO

  What's that? SEO? Well, SEO is "Search Engine Optimization," which I could, but I don't. That is a service that not only do I not provide but also is not well implemented on this site. But what is Search Engine Optimization? There are certain techniques that may be used to generate high scores on search engine algorithms. These would not necessarilly be wrong scores, but the site is just designed wtih certain search engines in mind, and targets their means for rating sites. This would allow, for example, an optimized site to score high enough o be on the first page of returns, or even the very first return. However, it should be kept in mind that just because a site scores high does not mean that the users of search engines will actually find it to be useful: the optimization has to really be on target, while certain search engines actively program against SEO.

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• Ideas on Good Site Design
• Web Technical Notes
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• Web & Other Utilities

You Are Not Alone

Key Links and References

For more information on this revolutionary idea that site developers should make their sites viewable with any browser on any platform visit --

Viewable With Any Browser campaign

Also, for the more technically inclined, visit --

And of course the overall governing body of web standards,

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About Doc Steve

• [ steve.docsteve.com ]