About the Templates
Using the templates
After downloading the templates files, you should be able to edit them to meet your site's needs. Comments to help you understand how things work have been included in both the XHTML and CSS files. In particular, you'll need to specify which template you want to use by editing the CSS file name that is called from within the file named index.html.
Working with Web standards
The templates adhere strictly to Web standards. The content in the templates validates to XHTML 1.0; the styling and layout of the content is controlled by the style defintions in the CSS files. Most notably, the templates do not rely upon HTML table tags to determine the layout areas of the page. Keeping the content separate from the style of a page allow you greater flexibility in designing and maintaining your sites.
By way of example, you can change the look of this page simply by changing the CSS file:
The underlying XHTML file is the same for each look.
If you are new to designing with Web standards, you should still be able to use these templates. Just add your content in the areas designated within the template files. For best results, we encourage you to learn how to write valid XHTML.
If you want to learn more about designing with Web standards, we highly recommend reading the Style Guide for the Branch Libraries of the New York Public Library.
The following print books are also excellent sources of information:
- Designing with Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman
- Eric Meyer on CSS by Eric Meyer
For continuing study of standards-based design (and Web design in general) we recommend visiting A List Apart.