INTRODUCTION TO WEB TECHNOLOGY

Introduction

There are many Web technologies, from simple to complex,  However, to help you get started with developing your own Web sites, beyond simple designing of Web pages in FrontPage, this article provides brief definitions of the major Web technologies along with links to sites where you can find more information, tutorials, and reference documentation.

Markup Languages

Markup is used to in text and word processing documents to describe how a document should look when displayed or printed. The Internet uses markup to define how Web pages should look when displayed in a browser or to define the data contained within a Web document.
There are many different types of markup languages. For example, Rich Text Formatting (RTF) is a markup language that word processors use. This section describes the most common markup languages that are used on the Internet.

HTML

HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. HTML is the primary markup language that is used for Web pages. HTML tells the browser what to display on a page. For example, it specifies text, images, and other objects and can also specify the appearance of text, such as bold or italic text.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) defines the specification for HTML. The current versions of HTML are HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.1.
Note   DHTML stands for Dynamic HTML. DHTML combines cascading style sheets (CSS) and scripting to create animated Web pages and page elements that respond to user interaction.

For more information on HTML, see the following resources.
HTML FOR BEGINNERS
HTML BASICS
HTML REFERENCE

CSS

CSS stands for cascading style sheets. Cascading style sheets provide the ability to change the appearance of text (such as fonts, colors, spacing) on Web pages. Using CSS, you can also position elements on the page, make certain elements hidden, or change the appearance of the browser, such as changing the color of scroll bars in Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Cascading style sheets can be used similar to FrontPage Themes. For example, you can apply a cascading style sheet across all the pages in a Web site to give the site a uniform look and feel. Then all you need to do is to change the CSS style formatting in a single file to change the look and feel of an entire Web site.
For more information on CSS, see the following resources.
using css on your webpage
css Attributes
CSS frequently asked question

XML

XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. Similar to HTML, XML is a markup language designed for the Internet. However, unlike HTML, which was designed to define formatting of Web pages, XML was designed to describe data. You can use XML to develop custom markup languages.
As with HTML, the W3C defines the specifications for XML. See Extensible Markup Language on the W3C Web site.

XSLT

XSLT is an abbreviation for XSL Transformations. XSLT uses the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL), which you use to define the appearance of an XML document or change an XML document into another kind of document—XML, HTML, or another markup language format.
As with other Web markup languages, the W3C defines the specifications for XSL and XSLT.
For more information on XSLT, see the following resources

JavaScript (JScript/ECMAScript)

JavaScript is an interpreted scripting language commonly used on the Internet for creating Web pages that respond to user actions, such as when a user moves a mouse pointer over an image or clicks a form button. Combined with HTML and CSS, JavaScript allows you to create Dynamic HTML pages.
JavaScript is generally used for client-side scripting; as a result, users can easily view JavaScript code along with the HTML code in a page. Although it may be used for server-side scripting, JavaScript works best for visual animation (such as changing an image when a user moves the mouse pointer over it) or for validating form fields.
Various browsers may implement the JavaScript scripting objects differently, but most popular browsers support JavaScript.
The biggest disadvantage of JavaScript is that users can turn it off in the browser, which makes pages that use it not function as expected.
Netscape developed the JavaScript programming language. JScript is the Microsoft implementation of ECMAScript, as defined by the specification of Ecma International. Both JavaScript and JScript are ECMAScript-compliant languages.
For more information on JavaScript and JScript, see the following resources.

JScript Users Guide and Language Reference
Instant JavaScript
JavaScript Kit