SpaceGirl wrote:
> www.w3schools.com is THE place to learn stuff if you get stuck.
No, it really isn't. To quote from page 1 of their "Learn to use HTML"
section.
> How does the browser fetch the pages?
>
> * A browser fetches a Web page from a server by a request.
Yes, and I get books by placing an order at Amazon. (Lets ignore the bit
where Amazon finds the books, packages them up, gives them to the post
office, and they bring them to my office where I have to walk down to the
collection shelves and pick them up.
This also fails to take into account that most webpages are made up of more
then one resource (images, style sheets, JavaScripts, etc) so the browser
has to make multiple requests.
> * A request is a standard HTTP request containing a page address.
Not according to the w3s definition of page address. An HTTP 1.0 request
will include the protocol and part parts of the URI, and HTTP 1.1 request
will unclude the authority part as well. A request for
"http://www.someone.com/page.htm" will look something like:
GET /page.htm HTTP/1.0
or
GET /page.htm HTTP/1.1
Host:
www.someone.com
So the http gets the case trasformed, the "://" is lost, the authority might
be dropped entirely and the remaining parts appear in a different order
with other data in between. The "page address" doesn't actually appear at
all.
> * A page address looks like this: http://www.someone.com/page.htm.
I've never see this called a "page address" before. "URI" - yes. "URL" -
yes. "Address" - yes. Not "page address" though.
> How does the browser display the pages?
>
> * All Web pages contain instructions for display
No they don't. An HTML 4.01 Strict document with no style sheet is very
unlikely to include any information about how to display it. Not that there
are any instructions anyway. The markup provides semantic information, the
style sheet provides presentational hints.
> * The browser displays the page by reading these instructions.
.... and processing them, etc etc.
> * The most common display instructions are called HTML tags.
.... which should not be used for presentation.
> * HTML tags look like this <p>This is a Paragraph</p>.
No, that looks more like an element. It consists of two tags and some text.
> Who is making the Web standards?
>
> * The Web standards are not made up by Netscape or Microsoft.
http://w3.org/Consortium/Member/List - err... Microsoft is on the list.
> * The rule-making body of the Web is the W3C.
The W3C produces Recommendations, not Rules.
> * W3C stands for the World Wide Web Consortium.
Amazing! They got something right!
> * W3C puts together specifications for Web standards.
> * The most essential Web standards are HTML, CSS and XML.
Opinion (and not one I agree with).
> * The latest HTML standard is XHTML 1.0.
No, its HTML 4.01. The W3C are pretty clear that XHTML is a replacement for
HTML, not a new version of it.
.... and that is just on the first page of their tutorial! Its a sad fact
that there are no really good online HTML tutorials at present. Its
probably best to stick to the specification (which is really pretty
readable).
--
David Dorward <http://blog.dorward.me.uk/> <http://dorward.me.uk/>
Home is where the ~/.bashrc is