BestPractice_Guide_XHTML_CSS

Acknowledgements

A good website follows conventions to keep users happy and responsive. I can only assume that a good web design book should do the same. So here are some people “without whom this would not have been possible.” Or something like that...

To my mother, for her share of my genetic material and all of the environmental stuff, for buying me my first computer, for putting up with my Kevin & Perry teen­age crap, and, most of all, for forbidding me to get a Michael Jackson perm at the age of 10, ta, Ma.

Even though her grasp of language is somewhat limited, for frequently walking across my keyboard Nutmeg, the feline member of the family, should probably have a co-author credit. At least blame any typos on her.

I am proud to be a member of such an open, intelligent, friendly professional community. Andy Budd, Andy Clarke, Jon Hicks, Jeremy Keith, Drew McLellan, Rich Rutter, Mike Stenhouse, and the rest of the Britpack (and the mighty Pub Standards, for that matter) have been an invaluable source of discussion, ideas, and constructive criticism, and have become good friends to boot. And there’s a plethora of luminaries further from home who have influenced me, and this book, in one way or another: Doug Bowman, Dan Cederholm, Joe Clark, Charles Darwin, Molly Holzschlag, Steve Krug, Jakob Nielsen, Valentino Rossi, and Jeffrey Zeldman in particular. Through raising awareness, it’s due to many of these people (and many more), and organizations like the Web Standards Project (webstandards.org) that the quality web design landscape is a much lusher one now than it was even a few years ago, so thanks are due not only for their influence, but for making books like this, and interest in them, possible.

Dan Webb (danwebb.net) has been the single most influential person when it comes to HTML Dog (site, book, and philosophy). From working together on numerous projects across the years to idle pub banter (across even more years), Dan is the first person I talked with about web standards, long before the emergence of that hat-wearing dude’s little orange book, the person I have discussed around 43,082.6 aspects of web design with, from liquid layouts to accessibility to Microformats to the absurdity of the term Web 2.0, and the person who has proofread, edited, tested, and critiqued pretty much every single article and website that I have ever been involved in. Cheers, Dan.

I’ve had a little something to do with a bash called @media (vivabit.com/atmedia) for almost as long as the HTML Dog book project. Thanks to everyone who has made that possible, including all of those who have attended it. It has been a great example of a genuine appetite for pushing best-practice web design and develop­ment to their limits, and it has kept my enthusiasm and passion for the subject fresh. @media and HTML Dog are my babies, so they must be related.
I have always regarded New Riders as by far the best, most discerning, and most respectable publisher of Web-related books. It has been a roller-coaster ride, but I am very proud to finally be a published New Riders author alongside so many great Web heavyweights. So, to the publisher, and extended family and friends, thanks to David Fugate, Linda Bump Harrison, Darcy DiNucci, Marjorie Baer, Nancy Davis, Joe Marini, Doug Adrianson, and everyone else involved in building this quality culturally infused slab of ink-sprinkled reconstituted plant fibers.
—Patrick Griffiths October 2006