Tag Archives: HTML

XHTML vs HTML: Round 2

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When XHTML was first released nearly everyone, myself included, rushed headlong into it. Countless websites were shredded, old HTML code was stripped out and rebuilt using XHTML syntax under the watchful eye of the W3 validators. When it was over, the dust settled and, for a time, everyone tried to pretend HTML no longer existed — scorning those who had the audacity to still use HTML.

Time passed. People began realizing that XHTML wasn’t the save all and be all that it was supposed to be: some popular browsers (cough: IE) couldn’t even properly render its content type of application/xhtml+xml, so developers were stuck calling it XHTML and pretending that it was truly XHTML+XML, but they were really just dishing out HTML that was properly formatted.

This is not to say that the “XHTML rush” ™ was bad or that it didn’t advance technologies and the semantic nature of programming: it, with the help of CSS, helped to banish the hack and slash methods that were intrinsic in the 1990′s because people started realizing what each tag really meant and peer pressure abounded.

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Generating Semantic Comment Lists with XHTML

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XHTML specifications provide three types of lists ordered lists <ol>, unordered lists <ul> and definition lists <dl>. Ordered lists are meant for content that must be arranged in a specific order — things like instructions, or lines of code. Unordered lists are meant to be used for content that can reasonably be displayed in any order such as navigation menus or shopping lists. The rarely used definition lists is meant to be used where one list item is logically defined by a subsequent item (a definition term <dt> followed by a definition description <dd>) it functions the same way as a FAQ or glossary. However, when specifically used for comments, the only sure bet is that the unordered list is inappropriate — because comments require a specific order to make sense — while the ordered list and definition list vie for being the second worst.

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WordPress How To: Easily make an admin panel for a plugin

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I find the Admin panel the most tedious part of plugin development–even the slightest changes to the plugin requires major changes to the Admin panel, and it can be hard to remember every option you have in your plugin. However by following a few simple rules, your next Admin panel will be a breeze. Once you have the basic parts down, new options are just a cut and past away. One thing to note is that his Admin panel uses a few features that are best if repeated inside your plugin itself.

Please note that these same general techniques work outside of WordPress also; the only thing that you would need to do is to change the way options are actually set. Also, I assume you already know HTML; this is not a basic HTML tutorial, but rather is a way to do a specific task.

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