Upgrade Your HTML IV

Published on Nov 27, 2022, filed under books, development, html, minimalism, optimization (feed). (Share this on Mastodon or Bluesky?)

HTML forms the heart of the Web. The beautiful thing is, HTML is easy to learn. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to master—a lot more difficult than people say, as we can tell from the markup we find on people’s websites. In the Upgrade Your HTML series, I’m taking examples of HTML, discuss these examples, and make them a little better (and more compact). I’m excited to announce the fourth book of the series.

Description

Upgrade Your HTML is the book series for HTML craftspeople and minimalists.

In Upgrade Your HTML IV, HTML and CSS optimizer Jens Oliver Meiert takes 10 more examples of HTML from actual websites in order to analyze, explain, and improve the respective markup.

Apart from discussing the appropriate use and the subtleties of HTML elements, this edition covers general topics like conformance, maintainability, and the balancing of optimization vectors. It also covers topics like attribute minimization, void elements, metadata, table buttons and button links, and even CSS art.

“Optimizing and minimizing HTML and checking if there are more appropriate elements or attributes to use is a helpful exercise, because it can improve accessibility while you learn about new features.”—Simon Pieters

→ This is the book if you enjoy the intricacies of working with HTML.

The outline:

• Foreword
• Intro
• Acknowledgments
• Write HTML
• Aim for a Good Balance
• Fight Divitis
• Stop Closing Void Elements
• Minimize Attributes
• Beware Metadata Madness
• Question Table Buttons
• Question Button Links
• Try to Do Without
• De-Duplicate Content
• Challenge Yourself, Even When It’s Art
• Outro
• Feedback
• About the Author
• About Upgrade Your HTML IV

❧ I’m happy with how this book turned out, which is in large part due to the support I received from Simon Pieters (who reviewed the manuscript and wrote the foreword), Jad Joubran (who reviewed), and Kirsty MacRae (who edited). Thank you so much!

Enjoy the new part of the series: Upgrade Your HTML IV!

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a web developer, manager, and author. I’ve been working as a technical lead and engineering manager for companies you’ve never heard of and companies you use every day, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (I value you being critical, interpreting charitably, and giving feedback.)