Looking for HTML coding standard - HTML Forums

phatbass · 07-24-2008, 05:07 PM

I've searched all over the place, but can't find any documented HTML coding standard.

I'm looking for something that I can use as a guideline for my developers to use. Some kind of a document along the lines of:
- how layouts should be designed without using tables
- when to use div's and when to use span's
- how to properly control text flow
- only using CSS for formatting
- avoiding inline styles
- using inherited CSS classes
- etc...

I have an enterprise-level .Net application written in C# and using XML for content parsing. We already have a standards guide for C# and XML is pretty self explanatory (in our setup at least), but nothing for HTML.

I looked on W3C and other similar sites, but they don't have any actual "standards documents".

Did anyone ever have to write something like that?
Any help or a link would be appreciated.

athomas · 07-24-2008, 05:14 PM

4th link on google
http://www.december.com/html/tutor/standards.html

phatbass · 07-24-2008, 05:18 PM

But there is nothing in that document. I saw it.
I am looking for a document that could be referred to as a guideline. Preferrably something less than 300 pages long like most docs on W3C

AnthonyDamasco · 07-24-2008, 05:43 PM

maybe you'll find it here http://www.kayodeok.btinternet.co.uk.../webdesign.htm

JoeyD · 07-24-2008, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phatbass

- how layouts should be designed without using tables
- when to use div's and when to use span's
- how to properly control text flow
- only using CSS for formatting
- avoiding inline styles
- using inherited CSS classes
- etc...

IMHO that pretty much says it, except for the "how" bits which need examples for fluid designs, column control, floats and positoning, etc., and the "when" bits which i could put into a couple sentences, and "etc..." which probably means, like, everything in this forum.

AnthonyDamasco posted an excellent link which went right into my bookmarks, but it's way from distilled like a policy manual, if that's what you're after.

My $.02 is all, i like simplicity...

- Joey

Horus_Kol · 07-24-2008, 09:02 PM

well.. the tutorials at w3schools are pretty good for this

JoeyD · 07-24-2008, 09:45 PM

But you know what he's right, now i think about it and look around, there doesn't seem to be anything like that putting it all in a nutshell.

You've got big fat books on XHTML and CSS, and there are websites devoted to the subjects which never stop exploring, innovating, opining and arguing. So it's huge.

And then you've got employees which maybe ddn't read the books or go to the websites, or just don't have a sum total understanding of best practices, and everybody in between. Assuming the audience for this document understands the meaning of the terms, it should be a pretty darn simple document, only deeply hyperlinked along the continuum of understanding... if i know what i mean...

I think i'll write it.

-Joey

phatbass · 07-25-2008, 10:35 AM

Thanks for all the feedback!
The link AnthonyDamasco provided is a great resource but is still not what I'm looking for.

I might have not been very clear on the original request.
It's not that we don't have the knowledge, we don't have a STANDARD. Most of my developers write pretty good code but it looks inconsistent when put together as part of the same application since all developers have different styles and are used to different techniques.

I could write the document myself, but I guess I'm just being lazy, so I was looking if anyone else ever had to write or use something like that before so I could use it as a template. Most corporations have standards like this for more complex things (C#, PHP, etc.) but not for HTML/CSS/XML.

ringsoft · 07-25-2008, 11:15 AM

I think the reason no such manual exists is a cultural thing - web coders using html/css tend to think of themselves as creatives and resent the idea of being told how to put their code together so it fits a corporate pattern.

C or PHP coders are more likely to be from a programming background and have no qualms about working to an efficient, pre-determined standard.

JoeyD · 07-25-2008, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ringsoft

...web coders using html/css tend to think of themselves as creatives and resent the idea of being told how to put their code together so it fits a corporate pattern.

That might well be but IMHO it's a boneheaded way to think, it's selfish and egocentric and ultimately self-defeating when they knock heads with clients or bosses. I know this too well. And as Phatbass points out, if there's more than one of them involved with a project, you get inconsistency in the product.

The very best thing that ever happened to my "creativity" was when i started moving towards semantic XHML. It's difficult to articulate how or why that happened, but there it is. Seems the more constraints on my creative impulse, the better it expresses itself and i don't feel i'm being limited so much as i feel i'm being set free.

Not that it'd ever happen, but i'd be especially fond of this seeming paradox if i were ever stuck in a corporate environment. As an inveterate rebel, the best fun i can have is to break rules and color outside the lines without actually breaking rules and coloring outside the lines... nobody can say i didn't do what i was told.

Anyway there's something aesthetically pleasing about a lean and strong framework in and of itself, even if few will ever see it. It reflects in the end product as well... even with all the pretty colors and pictures and javascript magic, i can tell right off when a page loads if it's structurally sound.

Just a rant, not directed at anyone in particular, and i rant about this sort of thing because i'm passionate about it, even if i do still fail my own standards and perhaps stick a form into a table cuz it works.

phatbass · 07-25-2008, 02:37 PM

Joey, if you ever decide to write a document like the one I'm seraching for, please make it awailable somewhere as I'm sure other people were looking for it as well.

I guess I would actually have to write it myself....

IMO the main reason there is no such document is because HTML/CSS is not considered to be worthy of it as it is a given that you are supposed to have good basic coding habits in HTML if you're working in C# at a fairly high level. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. An employee I hired last week just gave me a webpage that made me shiver once I saw the code. It works correctly and 100% up to spec, the functionality is flawless, but I will quit this job before something like that gets checked into my code base

I just need something that I can use as a bible for HTML/CSS practices condensed to about 10-15 pages or so....

Horus_Kol · 07-25-2008, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phatbass

I might have not been very clear on the original request.
It's not that we don't have the knowledge, we don't have a STANDARD. Most of my developers write pretty good code but it looks inconsistent when put together as part of the same application since all developers have different styles and are used to different techniques.

I could write the document myself, but I guess I'm just being lazy, so I was looking if anyone else ever had to write or use something like that before so I could use it as a template. Most corporations have standards like this for more complex things (C#, PHP, etc.) but not for HTML/CSS/XML.

Ah, I see - you're looking for a style guide.

But that kind of thing is something that is typically agreed on by the team and set internally.