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 Web Design:
The Complete Reference
Second Edition
About the Author
An Internet professional for numerous years
prior to the introduction of the Web, Thomas
Powell brings an interesting combination of
networking and technical expertise to the Web
design community. In 1994 he founded PINT,
Inc. (www.pint.com), a web development firm
with headquarters in San Diego, which serves
numerous corporate clients around the country.
Powell is also the author of numerous other
Web development books, including the
bestsellers: HTML: The Complete Reference,
JavaScript: The Complete Reference, and Web Site
Engineering. He also writes frequently about
Web technologies for Network World magazine.
Mr. Powell teaches Web design and
development classes for the University of
California, San Diego Computer Science and
Engineering Department, as well as the
Information Technologies program at the
UCSD Extension. He holds a B.S. from UCLA
and an M.S. in Computer Science from UCSD.

About the Technical Editor

Fritz Schneider is a software engineer at a
major Internet search engine. He is co-author
of JavaScript: The Complete Reference and
served as the technical editor for HTML: The
Complete Reference. Schneider holds a B.S.
in Computer Engineering from Columbia
University and an M.S. in Computer Science
from UC San Diego.
 Web Design:
The Complete Reference
Second Edition
Thomas Powell

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Contents at a Glance
Part I Foundation

1 What Is Web Design? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 User-Centered Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3 The Web Medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4 The Web Design Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5 Evaluating Web Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Part II Site Organization and Navigation

6 Site Types and Architectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

7 Navigation Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
8 Basic Navigation Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
9 Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
10 Site Maps and Other Navigational Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

v
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vi Web Design: The Complete Reference

Part III Elements of Page Design

11 Pages and Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

12 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
13 Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
14 Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
15 GUI Widgets and Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543

Part IV Technology and Web Design

16 Web Technology Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621

17 Site Delivery and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691

Part V Appendixes

A Core Web Site Design Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743

B Site Evaluation Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767
C XHTML Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793
D CSS Quick Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811
E Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827
F Color Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839
G HTTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
 For more information about this title, click here.

Contents
Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiii

Part I
Foundation

1 What Is Web Design? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Defining Web Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Web Design Pyramid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Medium of the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Types of Web Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
A Clearer Definition of Web Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Web Design Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
User-Focused Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Form and Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Execution: The Easy Part? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Conformity versus Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Learning Web Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

vii
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viii Web Design: The Complete Reference

2 User-Centered Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Usability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Who Are Web Users? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Common User Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Response and Reaction Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Dealing with Stimulus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Thresholds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Cocktail Party Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Sensory Adaptation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Movement Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
The User’s World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
User Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
General Types of Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
GUI Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Web Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Building a Usable Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Usability Above All Else . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Who’s in Control of the Experience? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

3 The Web Medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Core Web Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Web Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Markup Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
HTML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
XHTML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
XML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Style Sheet Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
CSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
XSL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
GIF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
JPEG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
PNG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
SVG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
VML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Other Image Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
 Contents ix

Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Programming Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Client-side Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Helpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Netscape Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
ActiveX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Java . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
JavaScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Document Object Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Server-Side Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Web Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
CGI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Server-Side Scripting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Server APIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Network and Related Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
HTTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
MIME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Addressing: URL/URI/URNs/URCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Meta Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Web Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

4 The Web Design Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

The Need for Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Ad Hoc Web Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Basic Web Process Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Modified Waterfall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Joint Application Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Approaching a Web Site Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Goals and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Site Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
The Site Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Design Phase Dissected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Block Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Screen and Paper Comps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
The Mock Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Beta Site Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
User Acceptance Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Release and Beyond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Welcome to the Real World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
x Web Design: The Complete Reference

5 Evaluating Web Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

The Goals of Expert Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Conducting an Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
First Impression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Home Page Pretests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Site Navigation Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Task Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Execution Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
The Final Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Evaluation Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
User Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Part II
Site Organization and Navigation

6 Site Types and Architectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Site Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Grouping by Interactivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Grouping by Frequency of Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Grouping by Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Grouping by Technology Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Grouping by Look . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Grouping by Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Commercial Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Informational . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Navigational . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Artistic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Personal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Site Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Site Organization Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Linear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Usability and Site Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Porous and Solid Site Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Deep vs. Shallow Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Picking a Site Structure and Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
 Contents xi

7 Navigation Theory .............................. 187

Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Where Am I? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Precise Location on the Web: URLs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Page and Site Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Page and Site Style and Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Where Have I Been? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Where Can I Go? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Placing Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Top Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Bottom Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Left Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Right Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Center Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Consistency of Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Navigation Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Navigation and Scrolling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Navigation and Mouse Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Subwindows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Navigation Remotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Bookmarking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Navigation No-No’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

8 Basic Navigation Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Link Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
A Taxonomy of Link Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Text Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Graphic Text Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Image Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Other Link Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Usable Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Link Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Rollovers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Understanding User Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Using Scope Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
title Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Rollover Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Status Bar Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Keyboard Support for Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
xii Web Design: The Complete Reference

Advanced Web Linking Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Link Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Redirection Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Using Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Multiple Windows and Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

9 Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
How Users Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
How Search Engines Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Gathering Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Indexing Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Adding a Search Facility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Designing the Search Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Accessing Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Designing a Basic Search Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Advanced Search Form Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Result Page Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Negative Results Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Improving Local Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Public Searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Full Web Searching Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Search Engine Promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Adding to the Engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Robot Exclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Robots.txt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Robot Control with <meta> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Optimizing for Search Engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
<meta> Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Titles and File Naming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Relevant Text Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Links and Entry Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Tricky Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

10 Site Maps and Other Navigational Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Beyond Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Site Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Textual Site Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Graphical Site Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Site Map Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Showing Scope and Destination Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
“You Are Here” Indication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
 Contents xiii

“Where You Were” Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Producing Site Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Site Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Miscellaneous Site Navigation Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
“What’s New” Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Keyword Jump Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Site Tours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Following Traveled-Path Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Help Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
When to Use Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Complex Help Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Navigation Aid Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Part III
Elements of Page Design

11 Pages and Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

What Is a Page? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
Page Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
Dealing with Screen Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Page Margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Page Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
Entrance Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Splash Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Home Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Subpages: Navigation vs. Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
Content Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Task-Specific Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
Exit Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
Web Design Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Metaphor and Thematic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
GUI Oriented . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Unconventional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Layout Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
”TLB” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Header-Footer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
Centered and Floating Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
Stretchable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
The Road to Common Site “Looks” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
xiv Web Design: The Complete Reference

12 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
The Medium Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Taking Control of Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Throwing Up Your Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
Modern-Day Baskerville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Typography Terminology 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Proportional versus Monospaced Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
Setting Fonts in Web Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
Using Downloadable Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
Setting Font Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
Sizing Font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
Text Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
Text Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Line Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Line Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
Letter Spacing and Word Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
Setting Type Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
Headings and Subheadings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
Formatting Paragraphs and Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
Formatting Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
Text Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
Fancy Text Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
Special Text Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
Text Design Issues for the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
Font Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468
Number of Fonts to Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
Columns on the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
Is White Space Good or Bad? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
Print vs. Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
Writing for the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Reading vs. Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Nonlinear Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
Danger Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

13 Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
Color Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
Computer Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
Web Color Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
HTML Color Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
CSS1 Color Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486
 Contents xv

CSS2 Color Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488

Possible CSS3 Color Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489
Practical Web Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490
Browser-Safe Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
Hybrid Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
Color Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
Troublesome Color Reproduction Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
Color Shifting and the Reality of the Web Palette . . . . . . . 495
Gamma Correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496
Monitor Types: CRT vs. LCD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
Using Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
Color Harmony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
Color and Usability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
The Hidden Meaning of Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503

14 Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505
Image Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
GIF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
JPEG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514
PNG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
Other Image Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
HTML and Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
Alternative Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
Sizing Images in HTML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
Image Borders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
Image Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
Background Images in HTML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527
Images and CSS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
CSS and Backgrounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533
Image Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
Usability and Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
Delivery Image Distortion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
Image Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
Protecting Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542

15 GUI Widgets and Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543

Web Sites vs. GUI Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
GUI Design Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
Creating New Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
xvi Web Design: The Complete Reference

Full-Screen Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553

Sub-Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
Alerts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
Confirms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
Prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561
Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
Text Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564
Password Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
Multi-Line Text Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567
Check Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570
Radio Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572
Pull-Down Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580
Using Pull-Downs for Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
Scrolled Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
Push Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588
Reset Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
Submit Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
Image Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590
File Upload Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591
Usable Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
Required Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
Tabbing Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
First Field Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
Form Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
Field Masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
Disabling Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608
Read-Only Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
Default Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610
Internet Explorer AutoComplete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610
Advanced Web GUI Widgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
Tree Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
Tabbed Dialogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
Sliders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
Context Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
When Web Applications Are Just Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618

Part IV
Technology and Web Design

16 Web Technology Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621

Pragmatic Web Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
 Contents xvii

Browser Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623

Browser Detection Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
Browser Capabilities Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628
Browser Detection in Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 630
HTML Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
Doctypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
Move to XHTML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635
Avoid HTML/XHTML for Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
Miscellaneous HTML Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639
CSS Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
Consider HTML Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649
Include CSS Carefully . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
Address CSS Browser Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652
Miscellaneous CSS Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
XML Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657
Web Programming Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
Server-Side Programming Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
Client-Side Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666
JavaScript Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667
Netscape Plug-in Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680
ActiveX Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
Java Applets Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
Cookie Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686
Multimedia Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689

17 Site Delivery and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691

The Importance of Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
The Web Request Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
Request Formation and DNS Lookup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695
Request Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697
HTTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698
Web Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702
Web Server Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
Web Server Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704
Making the Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708
Server Capacity Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708
Server Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709
Outsourcing Web Hosting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711
Delivering the Payload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
Networking, Protocols, and Web Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
Exploiting Expiration and Caches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714
Dealing with State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715
xviii Web Design: The Complete Reference

Browser Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717

Managing Web Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717
Web Server Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717
Content Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721
Usage Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
Analyzing Site Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729
Privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
Content Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739

Part V
Appendixes

A Core Web Site Design Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743

What Is Web Design? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744
User-Centered Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744
The Web Medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746
The Web Design Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
Evaluating Web Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
Site Types and Architectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748
Navigation Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 749
Basic Navigation Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751
Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 752
Site Maps and Other Navigational Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753
Pages and Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753
Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756
Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756
Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 756
Forms and GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757
Web Technology Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 760
Site Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764

B Site Evaluation Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767

GENERAL SITE CHARACTERISTICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769
Site Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769
Visuals and Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
General Content Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773
TECHNOLOGY USAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 774
PROGRAMMING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777
Server-side Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777
Client-side Component Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
BROWSER SUPPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 782
 Contents xix

NAVIGATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783
Navigation Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
THE FINAL SCORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 792

C XHTML Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793

Basic Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794
XHTML Tags and Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794
Attribute Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809
Core Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810
International Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810
Event Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 810

D CSS Quick Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 811

E Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827
Specifying Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 828
Downloadable Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836

Y
Microsoft’s Dynamic Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836

F
FL
Color Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 839
Browser-Safe Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840
AM
Color Names and Numerical Equivalents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 843
CSS Color Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848
Three-Digit Hexadecimal Color Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849
RGB Color Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849
TE

RGB Color Values Using Percentages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849

Color Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849

G HTTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
HTTP in Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873
This page intentionally left blank.
 Acknowledgments
W
hen you take the time out of your life to write a doorstop-sized book like this
one, you tend to rely on a lot of people’s assistance. I’ll mention only a few of
them here to avoid adding any more pages to this already massive tome.
First, as always, the folks at Osborne were a pleasure to work with. Megg Morin
somehow puts up with me year after year and the books keep getting done. Without
Megg, I probably wouldn’t be a prolific author. Tana Allen also provided great
assistance in editing and project management, while Carl Wikander provided rigorous
copy editing. Finally, thanks to Julie Smith for enduring the ghastly long phone calls
necessary to help ferret out proof problems.
My technical editor Fritz Schneider did an excellent job. Having seen the other side
of the fence as my co-author on the JavaScript: The Complete Reference, he didn’t let me
get away with much.
My employees at PINT provided dozens of right hands for me and deserve special
mention. First, Mine Okano has helped run another book project and done an excellent
job at it. I am not sure she expected this when she came to work for me, but she’s done
a great job. Dan Whitworth also continues to tackle book projects, and probably wonders
what he did in a previous life to deserve fixing my poor grammar. Catrin Walsh and
Kim Smith lent some valuable assistance in the site production, usability, and site
testing content. Other PINT employees, including Jimmy Tam, Rob McFarlane, Maria

xxi
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xxii Web Design: The Complete Reference

Defante, Eric Raether, Cathleen Ryan, Meredith Hodge, Nigel Paxton, David Sanchez,
Dave Andrews, Melinda Serrato, Michele Bedard, Candice Fong, Cory Ducker, Anh
Gross, Kun Puparussanon, Huijuan Yin, Marcus Richard, Kevin Griffith, Christine
Lawson, and numerous others, helped out directly on edits or just kept the projects
rolling while I was busy. Joe Lima, Allan Pister, Christie Kennedy, and Jared Ashlock
deserve some praise for getting some of my outside software project duties taken care
of as well.
The students in my undergraduate and extension classes always make good points
and many of their ideas are incorporated into new editions. Daisy Bhonsle deserves to
be singled out for always helping with my books by catching errors and making
suggestions for improvements.
Somehow I find a way to have time outside of the Web for friends, family, and
home. My wife Sylvia made sure I didn’t work all day on the weekends, and our
Schnauzer puppy Tucker kept both of us very busy with his antics. However, now that
I’m finished with the book and the dog is housebroken, with any luck a restful Wakaya
visit or other trip will be up next.
Finally, the most thanks go to the thousands of readers around the world who have
purchased my various Web technology and design books. It is really a great pleasure to
get such positive feedback and see folks putting this information to good use.
 Introduction
A
thick Web design book without glossy paper and pictures! Who would have
thought it would be published? That’s exactly what I set out to do a few years
back and it seemed to make sense to enough readers that now it has even been
massively updated. Why engage in such a fool’s errand? Simply because there are
plenty of Web design books out there that provide color snapshots of well-implemented
sites or short discussions of the cool features in today’s trendy sites. However, given
the fluid nature of the Web, the interesting sites have often changed by the time the ink
has dried on the pages, leaving only a paper record of what the site used to be like.
Worse yet, what is left only tells part of the story. It often hides the usability problems,
the technical execution problems, and the slow loading pages. Even so, I often turn to
such resources as they provide a great deal of visual inspiration. But they tell only half
the story—and I will try to tell the other half in this book.
The goal here is to talk about what makes sites work beyond the trends of the latest
font or visual treatment. Usability will certainly be a major concern, but so will correct
construction. I’ll try to speak from the experience I gained from building hundreds of
sites over the years with my firm. Some of the projects worked well and others didn’t,
and I found that I learned not only from my successes, but also from the failures of
both my own projects and those I have observed or rescued. Experience is truly the
best teacher in an industry as young as Web design. I’ll try to make sure to teach the

xxiii
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Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, graduating as
Thomas a Bachelor of Arts, and being made a fellow of his
Vaughan
(“Eugenius
college. He appears also to have taken holy orders and
Philalethes”) to have had the living of St. Bridget’s (Brecknockshire)
(1622-1666.) conferred on him.[80] During the civil wars he bore
arms for the king, but his allegiance to the Royalist
cause led to his being accused of “drunkenness, swearing,
incontinency and bearing arms for the King”; and he appears to
have been deprived of his living. He retired to Oxford and gave
himself up to study and chemical research. He is to be regarded as
an alchemist of the transcendental order. His views as to the nature
of the true Philosopher’s Stone may be gathered from the following
quotation: “This, reader,” he says, speaking of the mystical
illumination, “is the Christian Philosopher’s Stone, a Stone so often
inculcated in Scripture. This is the Rock in the wildernesse, because
in great obscurity, and few there are that know the right way unto it.
This is the Stone of Fire in Ezekiel; this is the Stone with Seven Eyes
upon it in Zacharie, and this is the White Stone with the New Name
in the Revelation. But in the Gospel, where Christ himself speakes,
who was born to discover mysteries and communicate Heaven to
Earth, it is more clearly described.”[81] At the same time he appears
to have carried out experiments in physical Alchemy, and is said to
have met with his death in 1666 through accidentally inhaling the
fumes of some mercury with which he was experimenting.

[80] See Anthony à Wood: Athenæ Oxonienses, edited by Philip Bliss, vol.
iii. (1817), cols. 722-726.
[81] Thomas Vaughan (“Eugenius Philalethes”): Anima Magica Abscondita
(see The Magical Writings of Thomas Vaughan, edited by A. E. Waite,
1888, p. 71).

Thomas Vaughan was an ardent disciple of Cornelius Agrippa, the

sixteenth-century theosophist. He held the peripatetic philosophy in
very slight esteem. He was a man devoted to God, though probably
guilty of some youthful follies, full of love towards his wife, and with
an intense desire for the solution of the great problems of Nature.
Amongst his chief works, which are by no means wanting in flashes
of mystic wisdom, may be mentioned Anthroposophia Theomagica,
Anima Magica Abscondita (which were published together), and
Magia Adamica; or, the Antiquitie of Magic. With regard to his views
as expressed in the first two of these books, a controversy ensued
between Vaughan and Henry Moore, which was marked by
considerable acrimony.
§ 60. The use of the pseudonym “Philalethes” has not
“Eirenæus been confined to one alchemist. The cosmopolitan
Philalethes”
(1623?-?)
adept who wrote under the name of “Eirenæus
and George Philalethes,” has been confused, on the one hand,
Starkey (? with Thomas Vaughan, on the other hand with George
-1665). Starkey (?-1665). He has also been identified with Dr.
Robert Child (1613-1654); but his real identity remains
shrouded in mystery.[82] George Starkey (or Stirk), the son of
George Stirk, minister of the Church of England in Bermuda,
graduated at Harvard in 1646 and practised medicine in the United
States of America from 1647 to 1650. In 1651 he came to England
and practised medicine in London. He died of the plague in 1665. In
1654-5 he published The Marrow of Alchemy, by “Eirenæus
Philoponos Philalethes,” which some think he had stolen from his
Hermetic Master. Other works by “Eirenæus Philalethes” appeared
after Starkey’s death and became immensely popular. The Open
Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King (the most famous of
these) and the Three Treatises of the same author will be found in
The Hermetic Museum. Some of his views have already been noted
(see §§ 1 and 22). On certain points he differed from the majority of
the alchemists. He denied that fire was an element, and, also, that
bodies are formed by mixture of the elements. According to him
there is one principle in the metals, namely, mercury, which arises
from the aqueous element, and is termed “metalically differentiated
water, i.e., it is water passed into that stage of development, in
which it can no longer produce anything but mineral substances.”[83]
Philalethes’s views as to “metallic seed” are also of considerable
interest. Of the seed of gold, which he regarded as the seed, also, of
all other metals, he says: “The seed of animals and vegetables is
something separate, and may be cut out, or otherwise separately
exhibited; but metallic seed is diffused throughout the metal, and
contained in all its smallest parts; neither can it be discerned from its
body: its extraction is therefore a task which may well tax the
ingenuity of the most experienced philosopher. . . .”[84] Well might
this have been said of the electron of modern scientific theory.

[82] See Mr. A. E. Waite’s Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers, art.

“Eirenæus Philalethes,” and the Biographical Preface to his The Works of
Thomas Vaughan (1919); also the late Professor Ferguson’s “‘The Marrow
of Alchemy’,” The Journal of The Alchemical Society, vol. iii. (1915), pp.
106 et seq., and Professor G. L. Kittredge’s Doctor Robert Child, The
Remonstrant (Camb., Mass., 1919). The last mentioned writer strongly
urges the identification of “Eirenæus Philalethes” with George Starkey.
[83] “Eirenæus Philalethes”: The Metamorphosis of Metals (see The
Hermetic Museum, vol. ii. p. 236). Compare with van Helmont’s views, §
57.
[84] Ibid., p. 240.
 CHAPTER V
THE OUTCOME OF ALCHEMY

§ 61. The alchemists were untiring in their search for

Did the the Stone of the Philosophers, and we may well ask
Alchemists
achieve the
whether they ever succeeded in effecting a real
“Magnum transmutation. That many apparent transmutations
Opus”? occurred, the observers being either self-deceived by a
superficial examination—certain alloys resemble the
“noble metals”—or deliberately cheated by impostors, is of course
undoubted. But at the same time we must not assume that, because
we know not the method now, real transmutations have never taken
place. Modern research indicates that it may be possible to
transmute other metals, such as lead or bismuth, into gold, and
consequently we must admit the possibility that amongst the many
experiments carried out, a real transmutation was effected. On the
other hand, the method which is suggested by the recent researches
in question could not have been known to the alchemists or
accidentally employed by them; and, moreover, the quantity of gold
which is hoped for, should such a method prove successful, is far
below the smallest amount that would have been detected in the
days of Alchemy. But if there be one method whereby the metals
may be transmuted, there may be other methods. And it is not
altogether an easy task to explain away the testimony of eminent
men such as were van Helmont and Helvetius.
§ 62. John Baptist van Helmont (see § 57), who
The was celebrated alike for his skill as a physician and
Testimony of
van Helmont.
chemist and for his nobility of character, testified in
more than one place that he had himself carried out the
transmutation of mercury into gold. But, as we have mentioned
above, the composition of the Stone employed on these occasions
was unknown to him. He says: “. . . For truly, I have divers times
seen it [the Stone of the Philosophers], and handled it with my
hands: but it was of colour, such as is in Saffron in its Powder, yet
weighty, and shining like unto powdered Glass: There was once
given unto me one fourth part of one Grain: But I call a Grain the six
hundredth part of one Ounce: This quarter of one Grain therefore,
being rouled up in Paper, I projected upon eight Ounces of Quick-
silver made hot in a Crucible; and straightway all the Quick-silver,
with a certain degree of Noise, stood still from flowing, and being
congealed, setled like unto a yellow Lump: but after pouring it out,
the Bellows blowing, there were found eight Ounces, and a little less
than eleven Grains [eight Ounces less eleven Grains] of the purest
Gold: Therefore one only Grain of that Powder, had transchanged
19186 [19156] Parts of Quick-silver, equal to itself, into the best
Gold.”[85]

[85] J. B. van Helmont: Life Eternal (see Oriatrike, translated by J. C.,

1662; or van Helmont’s Workes, translated by J. C., 1664, which is merely
the former work with a new title-page and preliminary matter, pp. 751 and
752).

And again: “I am constrained to believe that there is the Stone

which makes Gold, and which makes Silver; because I have at
distinct turns, made projection with my hand, of one grain of the
Powder, upon some thousand grains of hot Quick-silver; and the
buisiness succeeded in the Fire, even as Books do promise; a Circle
of many People standing by, together with a tickling Admiration of us
all. . . . He who first gave me the Gold-making Powder, had likewise
also, at least as much of it, as might be sufficient for changing two
hundred thousand Pounds of Gold: . . . For he gave me perhaps half
a grain of that Powder, and nine ounces and three quarters of Quick-
silver were thereby transchanged: But that Gold, a strange man [a
stranger], being a Friend of one evenings acquaintance, gave
me.”[86]

[86] J. B. van Helmont: The Tree of Life (see Oriatrike or Van Helmont’s
Workes, p. 807).

PLATE 13.

To face page 84]

 § 63. John Frederick Helvetius (see plate 13), an
The eminent doctor of medicine, and physician to the
Testimony of
Helvetius.
Prince of Orange, published at the Hague in 1667 the
following remarkable account of a transmutation he
claimed to have effected. Certain points of resemblance between this
account and that of van Helmont (e.g., in each case the Stone is
described as a glassy substance of a pale yellow colour) are worth
noticing: “On the 27 December, 1666, in the forenoon, there came to
my house a certain man, who was a complete stranger to me, but of
an honest, grave countenance, and an authoritative mien, clothed in
a simple garb like that of a Memnonite. . . .
“After we had exchanged salutations, he asked me whether he might
have some conversation with me. He wished to say something to me
about the Pyrotechnic Art, as he had read one of my tracts (directed
against the sympathetic Powder of Dr. Digby), in which I hinted a
suspicion whether the Grand Arcanum of the Sages was not after all
a gigantic hoax. He, therefore, took that opportunity of asking me
whether I could not believe that such a grand mystery might exist in
the nature of things, by means of which a physician could restore
any patient whose vitals were not irreparably destroyed. I answered:
‘Such a Medicine would be a most desirable acquisition for any
physician; nor can any man tell how many secrets there may be
hidden in Nature; yet, though I have read much about the truth of
this Art, it has never been my good fortune to meet with a real
Master of the Alchemical Science.’ I also enquired whether he was a
medical man. . . . In reply, he . . . described himself as a
brassfounder. . . . After some further conversation, the Artist Elias
(for it was he) thus addressed me: ‘Since you have read so much in
the works of the Alchemists about this Stone, its substance, its
colour, and its wonderful effects, may I be allowed the question,
whether you have not yourself prepared it?’ On my answering his
question in the negative, he took out of his bag a cunningly-worked
ivory box, in which there were three large pieces of a substance
resembling glass, or pale sulphur, and informed me that here was
enough of the Tincture for the production of 20 tons of gold. When I
had held the precious treasure in my hand for a quarter of an hour
(during which time I listened to a recital of its wonderful curative
properties), I was compelled to restore it to its owner, which I could
not help doing with a certain degree of reluctance. After thanking
him for his kindness in shewing it to me, I then asked how it was
that his Stone did not display that ruby colour, which I had been
taught to regard as characteristic of the Philosopher’s Stone. He
replied that the colour made no difference, and that the substance
was sufficiently mature for all practical purposes. My request that he
would give me a piece of his Stone (though it were no larger than a
coriander seed), he somewhat brusquely refused, adding, in a milder
tone, that he could not give it me for all the wealth I possessed, and
that not on account of its great preciousness, but for some other
reason which it was not lawful for him to divulge; . . .
§ 64. “When my strange visitor had concluded his
Helvetius narrative, I besought him to give me a proof of his
obtains the
Philosopher’s
assertion, by performing the transmutatory operation
Stone. on some metals in my presence. He answered
evasively, that he could not do so then, but that he
would return in three weeks, and that, if he was then at liberty to do
so, he would shew me something that would make me open my
eyes. He appeared punctually to the promised day, and invited me to
take a walk with him, in the course of which we discoursed
profoundly on the secrets of Nature in fire, though I noticed that my
companion was very chary in imparting information about the Grand
Arcanum. . . . At last I asked him point-blank to show me the
transmutation of metals. I besought him to come and dine with me,
and to spend the night at my house; I entreated; I expostulated; but
in vain. He remained firm. I reminded him of his promise. He
retorted that his promise had been conditional upon his being
permitted to reveal the secret to me. At last, however, I prevailed
upon him to give me a piece of his precious Stone—a piece no larger
than a grain of rape seed. He delivered it to me as if it were the
most princely donation in the world. Upon my uttering a doubt
whether it would be sufficient to tinge more than four grains of lead,
he eagerly demanded it back. I complied, in the hope that he would
exchange it for a larger piece; instead of which he divided it in two
with his thumb, threw away one-half and gave me back the other,
saying: ‘Even now it is sufficient for you.’ Then I was still more
heavily disappointed, as I could not believe that anything could be
done with so small a particle of the Medicine. He, however, bade me
take two drachms, or half an ounce of lead, or even a little more,
and to melt it in the crucible; for the Medicine would certainly not
tinge more of the base metal than it was sufficient for. I answered
that I could not believe that so small a quantity of Tincture could
transform so large a mass of lead. But I had to be satisfied with
what he had given me, and my chief difficulty was about the
application of the Tincture. I confessed that when I held his ivory
box in my hand, I had managed to extract a few crumbs of his
Stone, but that they had changed my lead, not into gold, but only
into glass. He laughed, and said that I was more expert at theft than
at the application of the Tincture. ‘You should have protected your
spoil with “yellow wax,” then it would have been able to penetrate
the lead and to transmute it into gold.’ . . .
§ 65. “. . . With . . . a promise to return at nine
Helvetius o’clock the next morning, he left me. But at the stated
performs a
Transmutatio
hour on the following day he did not make his
n. appearance; in his stead, however, there came, a few
hours later, a stranger, who told me that his friend the
Artist was unavoidably detained, but that he would call at three
o’clock in the afternoon. The afternoon came; I waited for him till
half-past seven o’clock. He did not appear. Thereupon my wife came
and tempted me to try the transmutation myself. I determined,
however, to wait till the morrow, and in the meantime, ordered my
son to light the fire, as I was now almost sure that he was an
impostor. On the morrow, however, I thought that I might at least
make an experiment with the piece of ‘Tincture’ which I had
received; if it turned out a failure, in spite of my following his
directions closely, I might then be quite certain that my visitor had
been a mere pretender to a knowledge of this Art. So I asked my
wife to put the Tincture in wax, and I myself, in the meantime,
prepared six drachms of lead; I then cast the Tincture, enveloped as
it was in wax, on the lead; as soon as it was melted, there was a
hissing sound and a slight effervescence, and after a quarter of an
hour I found that the whole mass of lead had been turned into the
finest gold. Before this transmutation took place, the compound
became intensely green, but as soon as I had poured it into the
melting pot it assumed a hue like blood. When it cooled, it glittered
and shone like gold. We immediately took it to the goldsmith, who at
once declared it to be the finest gold he had ever seen, and offered
to pay fifty florins an ounce for it.
§ 66. “The rumour, of course, spread at once like
Helvetius’s wildfire through the whole city; and in the afternoon, I
Gold
Assayed.
had visits from many illustrious students of this Art; I
also received a call from the Master of the Mint and
some other gentlemen, who requested me to place at their disposal
a small piece of the gold, in order that they might subject it to the
usual tests. I consented, and we betook ourselves to the house of a
certain silversmith, named Brechtil, who submitted a small piece of
my gold to the test called ‘the fourth’: three or four parts of silver
are melted in the crucible with one part of gold, and then beaten out
into thin plates, upon which some strong aqua fortis [nitric acid] is
poured. The usual result of this experiment is that the silver is
dissolved, while the gold sinks to the bottom in the shape of a black
powder, and after the aqua fortis has been poured off, [the gold,]
melted once again in the crucible, resumes its former shape. . . .
When we now performed this experiment, we thought at first that
one-half of the gold had evaporated; but afterwards we found that
this was not the case, but that, on the contrary, two scruples of the
silver had undergone a change into gold.
§ 67. “Then we tried another test, viz., that which is
Helvetius’s performed by means of a septuple of Antimony; at
Gold Further
Tested.
first it seemed as if eight grains of the gold had been
lost, but afterwards, not only had two scruples of the
silver been converted into gold, but the silver itself was greatly
improved both in quality and malleability. Thrice I performed this
infallible test, discovering that every drachm of gold produced an
increase of a scruple of gold, but the silver is excellent and
extremely flexible. Thus I have unfolded to you the whole story from
beginning to end. The gold I still retain in my possession, but I
cannot tell you what has become of the Artist Elias. Before he left
me, on the last day of our friendly intercourse, he told me that he
was on the point of undertaking a journey to the Holy Land. May the
Holy Angels of God watch over him wherever he is, and long
preserve him as a source of blessing to Christendom! This is my
earnest prayer on his and our behalf.”[87]

[87] J. F. Helvetius: The Golden Calf, ch. iii. (see The Hermetic Museum,
vol. ii. pp. 283 et seq.).

Testimony such as this warns us not to be too sure that a real

transmutation has never taken place. On the whole, with regard to
this question, an agnostic position appears to be the more
philosophical.
§ 68. But even if the alchemists did not discover the
The Genesis Grand Arcanum of Nature, they did discover very
of Chemistry.
many scientifically important facts. Even if they did not
prepare the Philosopher’s Stone, they did prepare a very large
number of new and important chemical compounds. Their labours
were the seeds out of which modern Chemistry developed, and this
highly important science is rightfully included under the expression
“The Outcome of Alchemy.” As we have already pointed out (§ 48), it
was the iatro-chemists who first investigated chemical matters with
an object other than alchemistic, their especial end in view being the
preparation of useful medicines, though the medical-chemist and the
alchemist were very often united in the one person, as in the case of
Paracelsus himself and the not less famous van Helmont. It was not
until still later that Chemistry was recognised as a distinct science
separate from medicine.
 § 69. In another direction the Outcome of Alchemy
The was of a very distressing nature. Alchemy was in many
Degeneracy
of Alchemy.
respects eminently suitable as a cloak for fraud, and
those who became “alchemists” with the sole object of
accumulating much wealth in a short space of time, finding that the
legitimate pursuit of the Art did not enable them to realise their
expectations in this direction, availed themselves of this fact. There
is, indeed, some evidence that the degeneracy of Alchemy had
commenced as early as the fourteenth century, but the attainment of
the magnum opus was regarded as possible for some three or more
centuries.
The alchemistic promises of health, wealth and happiness and a
pseudo-mystical style of language were effectively employed by
these impostors. Some more or less ingenious tricks—such as the
use of hollow stirring-rods, in which the gold was concealed, &c.—
convinced a credulous public of the validity of their claims. Of these
pseudo-alchemists we have already made the acquaintance of
Edward Kelley, but chief of them all is generally accounted the
notorious “Count Cagliostro.” That “Cagliostro” is rightfully placed in
the category of pseudo-alchemists is certain, but it also appears
equally certain that, charlatan though he was, posterity has not
always done him that justice which is due to all men, however bad
they may be.
§ 70. Of the birth and early life of the personage
“Count calling himself “Count Cagliostro” nothing is known
Cagliostro”
(—?-1795).
with any degree of certainty, even his true name being
enveloped in mystery. It has, indeed, been usual to
identify him with the notorious Italian swindler, Giuseppe Balsamo,
who, born at Palermo in 1743 (or 1748), apparently disappeared
from mortal ken after some thirty years, of which the majority were
spent in committing various crimes. “Cagliostro’s” latest biographer,
[88] who appears to have gone into the matter very thoroughly,
however, throws very grave doubts on the truth of this theory.
[88] W. R. H. Trowbridge: Cagliostro: The Splendour and Misery of a
Master of Magic (1910). We must acknowledge our indebtedness for many
of the particulars which follow to this work. It is, however, unfortunately
marred by a ridiculous attempt to show a likeness between “Cagliostro”
and Swedenborg, for which, by the way, Mr. Trowbridge has already been
criticised by the Spectator. It may justly be said of Swedenborg that he
was scrupulously honest and sincere in his beliefs as well as in his actions;
and, as a philosopher, it is only now being discovered how really great he
was. He did, indeed, claim to have converse with spiritual beings; but the
results of modern psychical research have robbed such claims of any
inherent impossibility, and in Swedenborg’s case there is very considerable
evidence for their validity.

PLATE 14.
 To face page 92]

If the earlier part of “Cagliostro’s” life is unknown, the latter part is

so overlaid with legends and lies, that it is almost impossible to get
at the truth concerning it. In 1776 Cagliostro and his wife were in
London, where “Cagliostro” became a Freemason, joining a lodge
connected with “The Order of Strict Observance,” a secret society
incorporated with Freemasonry, and which (on the Continent, at
least) was concerned largely with occult subjects. “Cagliostro,”
however, was unsatisfied with its rituals and devised a new system
which he called Egyptian Masonry. Egyptian Masonry, he taught, was
to reform the whole world, and he set out, leaving England for the
Continent, to convert Masons and others to his views. We must look
for the motive power of his extraordinary career in vanity and a love
of mystery-mongering, without any true knowledge of the occult; it
is probable, indeed, that ultimately his unbounded vanity triumphed
over his reason and that he actually believed in his own pretensions.
That he did possess hypnotic and clairvoyant powers is, we think, at
least probable; but it is none the less certain that, when such failed
him, he had no scruples against employing other means of
convincing the credulous of the validity of his claims. This was the
case on his visit to Russia, which occurred not long afterwards. At
St. Petersburg a youthful medium he was employing, to put the
matter briefly, “gave the show away,” and at Warsaw, where he
found it necessary to turn alchemist, he was detected in the process
of introducing a piece of gold in the crucible containing the base
metal he was about to “transmute.” At Strasburg, which he reached
in 1780, however, he was more successful. Here he appeared as a
miraculous healer of all diseases, though whether his cures are to be
ascribed to some simple but efficacious medicine which he had
discovered, to hypnotism, to the power of the imagination on the
part of his patients, or to the power of imagination on the part of
those who have recorded the alleged cures, is a question into which
we do not propose to enter. At Strasburg “Cagliostro” came into
contact with the Cardinal de Rohan, and a fast friendship sprang up
between the two, which, in the end, proved “Cagliostro’s” ruin. The
“Count” next visited Bordeaux and Lyons, successfully founding
lodges of Egyptian Masonry. From the latter town he proceeded to
Paris, where he reached the height of his fame. He became
extraordinarily rich, although he is said to have asked, and to have
accepted, no fee for his services as a healer. On the other hand,
there was a substantial entrance-fee to the mysteries of Egyptian
Masonry, which, with its alchemistic promises of health and wealth,
prospered exceedingly. At the summit of his career, however, fortune
forsook him. As a friend of de Rohan, he was arrested in connection
with the Diamond Necklace affair, on the word of the infamous
Countess de Lamotte; although, of whatever else he may have been
guilty, he was perfectly innocent of this charge. After lying
imprisoned in the Bastille for several months, he was tried by the
French Parliament, pronounced innocent, and released. Immediately,
however, the king banished him, and he left Paris for London, where
he seems to have been persistently persecuted by agents of the
French king. He returned to the Continent, ultimately reaching Italy,
where he was arrested by the Inquisition and condemned to death
on the charge of being a Freemason (a dire offence in the eyes of
the Roman Catholic Church). The sentence, however, was modified
to one of perpetual imprisonment, and he was confined in the Castle
of San Leo, where he died in 1795, after four years of imprisonment,
in what manner is not known.
 CHAPTER VI
THE AGE OF MODERN CHEMISTRY

§ 71. Chemistry as distinct from Alchemy and Iatro-

The Birth of chemistry commenced with Robert Boyle (see plate
Modern
Chemistry.
15), who first clearly recognised that its aim is neither
the transmutation of the metals nor the preparation of
medicines, but the observation and generalisation of a certain class
of phenomena; who denied the validity of the alchemistic view of the
constitution of matter, and enunciated the definition of an element
which has since reigned supreme in Chemistry; and who enriched
the science with observations of the utmost importance. Boyle,
however, was a man whose ideas were in advance of his times, and
intervening between the iatro-chemical period and the Age of
Modern Chemistry proper came the period of the Phlogistic Theory—
a theory which had a certain affinity with the ideas of the alchemists.

PLATE 15.
 PORTRAIT OF ROBERT BOYLE.

To face page 94]

§ 72. The phlogiston theory was mainly due to Georg

The Ernst Stahl (1660-1734). Becher (1635-1682) had
Phlogiston
Theory.
attempted to revive the once universally accepted
sulphur-mercury-salt theory of the alchemists in a
somewhat modified form, by the assumption that all substances
consist of three earths—the combustible, mercurial, and vitreous;
and herein is to be found the germ of Stahl’s phlogistic theory.
According to Stahl, all combustible bodies (including those metals
that change on heating) contain phlogiston, the principle of
combustion, which escapes in the form of flame when such
substances are burned. According to this theory, therefore, the
metals are compounds, since they consist of a metallic calx (what
we now call the “oxide” of the metal) combined with phlogiston;
and, further, to obtain the metal from the calx it is only necessary to
act upon it with some substance rich in phlogiston. Now, coal and
charcoal are both almost completely combustible, leaving very little
residue; hence, according to this theory, they must consist very
largely of phlogiston; and, as a matter of fact, metals can be
obtained by heating their calces with either of these substances.
Many other facts of a like nature were explicable in terms of the
phlogiston theory, and it became exceedingly popular. Chemists at
this time did not pay much attention to the balance; it was observed,
however, that metals increased in weight on calcination, but this was
“explained” on the assumption that phlogiston possessed negative
weight. Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794), utilising Priestley’s discovery
of oxygen (called “dephlogisticated air” by its discoverer) and
studying the weight relations accompanying combustion,
demonstrated the non-validity of the phlogistic theory[89] and proved
combustion to be the combination of the substance burnt with a
certain constituent of the air, the oxygen. By this time Alchemy was
to all intents and purposes defunct, Boerhave (1668-1738) was the
last eminent chemist to give any support to its doctrines, and the
new chemistry of Lavoisier gave it a final death-blow. We now enter
upon the Age of Modern Chemistry, but we shall deal in this chapter
with the history of chemical theory only so far as is necessary in
pursuance of our primary object, and hence our account will be very
far from complete.
 [89] It should be noted, however, that if by the term “phlogiston” we were to understand energy and not some
form of matter, most of the statements of the phlogistics would be true so far as they go.

Boyle and the § 73. Robert Boyle (1626-1691) had defined an element as a substance which could not
Definition of be decomposed, but which could enter into combination with other elements giving
an Element. compounds capable of decomposition into these original elements. Hence, the metals
were classed among the elements, since they had defied all attempts to decompose them. Now, it must
be noted that this definition is of a negative character, and, although it is convenient to term “elements”
all substances which have so far defied decomposition, it is a matter of impossibility to decide what
substances are true elements with absolute certainty; and the possibility, however faint, that gold and
other metals are of a compound nature, and hence the possibility of preparing gold from the “base”
metals or other substances, must always remain. This uncertainty regarding the elements appears to
have generally been recognised by the new school of chemists, but this having been so, it is the more
surprising that their criticism of alchemistic art was not less severe.
§ 74. With the study of the relative weights in which substances combine, certain
The generalisations or “natural laws” of supreme importance were discovered. These
Stoichiometri
stoichiometric laws, as they are called, are as follows:—
c Laws.
1. “The Law of Constant Proportion”—The same chemical compound always contains the same
elements, and there is a constant ratio between the weights of the constituent elements present.
2. “The Law of Multiple Proportions”—If two substances combine chemically in more than one
proportion, the weights of the one which combine with a given weight of the other, stand in a simple
rational ratio to one another.
3. “The Law of Combining Weights”—Substances combine either in the ratio of their combining
numbers, or in simple rational multiples or submultiples of these numbers. (The weights of different
substances which combine with a given weight of some particular substance, which is taken as the unit,
are called the combining numbers of such substances with reference to this unit. The usual unit now
chosen is 8 grammes of Oxygen.)[90]

[90] In order that these laws may hold good, it is, of course, necessary that the substances are weighed under
precisely similar conditions. To state these laws in a more absolute form, we can replace the term “weight” by
“mass,” or in preference, “inertia”; for the inertias of bodies are proportional to their weights, providing that they
are weighed under precisely similar conditions. For a discussion of the exact significance of these terms “mass”
and “inertia,” the reader is referred to the present writer’s Matter, Spirit and the Cosmos (Rider, 1910), Chapter
I., “On the Doctrine of the Indestructibility of Matter.”

As examples of these laws we may take the few following simple facts:—
1. Pure water is found always to consist of oxygen and hydrogen combined in the ratio of 1·008 parts
by weight of the latter to 8 parts by weight of the former; and pure sulphur-dioxide, to take another
example, is found always to consist of sulphur and oxygen combined in the ratio of 8·02 parts by weight
of sulphur to 8 parts by weight of oxygen. (The Law of Constant Proportion.)
2. Another compound is known consisting only of oxygen and hydrogen, which, however, differs entirely
in its properties from water. It is found always to consist of oxygen and hydrogen combined in the ratio
of 1·008 parts by weight of the latter to 16 parts by weight of the former, i.e., in it a definite weight of
hydrogen is combined with an amount of oxygen exactly twice that which is combined with the same
weight of hydrogen in water. No definite compound has been discovered with a constitution
intermediate between these two. Other compounds consisting only of sulphur and oxygen are also
known. One of these (viz., sulphur-trioxide, or sulphuric anhydride) is found always to consist of sulphur
and oxygen combined in the ratio of 5·35 parts by weight of sulphur to 8 parts by weight of oxygen. We
see, therefore, that the weights of sulphur combined with a definite weight of oxygen in the two
compounds called respectively “sulphur-dioxide” and “sulphur-trioxide,” are in the proportion of 8·02 to
5·35, i.e., 3 : 2. Similar simple ratios are obtained in the case of all the other compounds. (The Law of
Multiple Proportions.)
3. From the data given in (1) above we can fix the combining number of hydrogen as 1·008, that of
sulphur as 8·02. Now, compounds are known containing sulphur and hydrogen, and, in each case, the
weight of sulphur combined with 1·008 grammes of hydrogen is found always to be either 8·02
grammes or some multiple or submultiple of this quantity. Thus, in the simplest compound of this sort,
containing only hydrogen and sulphur (viz., sulphuretted-hydrogen or hydrogen sulphide), 1·008
grammes of hydrogen is found always to be combined with 16·04 grammes of sulphur, i.e., exactly
twice the above quantity. (The Law of Combining Weights.)
Berthollet (1748-1822) denied the truth of the law of constant proportion, and a controversy ensued
between this chemist and Proust (1755-1826), who undertook a research to settle the question, the
results of which were in entire agreement with the law, and were regarded as completely substantiating
it.

PLATE 16.

[by Worthington, after Allen]

PORTRAIT OF JOHN DALTON.]

To face page 100]

§ 75. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, John Dalton (see plate 15) put forward
Dalton’s his Atomic Theory in explanation of these facts. This theory assumes (1) that all matter is
Atomic
made up of small indivisible and indestructible particles, called “atoms”; (2) that all atoms
Theory.
are not alike, there being as many different sorts of atoms as there are elements; (3) that
the atoms constituting any one element are exactly alike and are of definite weight; and (4) that
compounds are produced by the combination of different atoms. Now, it is at once evident that if matter
be so constituted, the stoichiometric laws must necessarily follow. For the smallest particle of any
definite compound (now called a “molecule”) must consist of a definite assemblage of different atoms,
and these atoms are of definite weight: whence the law of constant proportion. One atom of one
substance may combine with 1, 2, 3 . . . atoms of some other substance, but it cannot combine with
some fractional part of an atom, since the atoms are indivisible: whence the law of multiple proportions.
And these laws holding good, and the atoms being of definite weight, the law of combining weights
necessarily follows. Dalton’s Atomic Theory gave a simple and intelligible explanation of these
remarkable facts regarding the weights of substances entering into chemical combination, and,
therefore, gained universal acceptance. But throughout the history of Chemistry can be discerned a
spirit of revolt against it as an explanation of the absolute constitution of matter. The tendency of
scientific philosophy has always been towards Monism as opposed to Dualism, and here were not
merely two eternals, but several dozen; Dalton’s theory denied the unity of the Cosmos, it lacked the
unifying principle of the alchemists. It is only in recent times that it has been recognised that a scientific
hypothesis may be very useful without being altogether true. As to the usefulness of Dalton’s theory
there can be no question; it has accomplished that which no other hypothesis could have done; it
rendered the concepts of a chemical element, a chemical compound and a chemical reaction definite;
and has, in a sense, led to the majority of the discoveries in the domain of Chemistry that have been
made since its enunciation. But as an expression of absolute truth, Dalton’s theory, as is very generally
recognised nowadays, fails to be satisfactory. In the past, however, it has been the philosophers of the
materialistic school of thought, rather than the chemists quâ chemists, who have insisted on the
absolute truth of the Atomic Theory; Kekulé, who by developing Franklin’s theory of atomicity or
valency[91] made still more definite the atomic view of matter, himself expressed grave doubts as to the
absolute truth of Dalton’s theory; but he regarded it as chemically true, and thus voices what appears to
be the opinion of the majority of chemists nowadays, namely, there are such things as chemical atoms
and chemical elements, incapable of being decomposed by purely chemical means, but that such are
not absolute atoms or absolute elements, and consequently not impervious to all forms of action. But of
this more will be said later.

[91] The term “valency” is not altogether an easy one to define; we will, however, here do our best to make
plain its significance. In a definite chemical compound we must assume that the atoms constituting each
molecule are in some way bound together (though not, of course, rigidly), and we may speak of “bonds” or
“links of affinity,” taking care, however, not to interpret such terms too literally. Now, the number of “affinity
links” which one atom can exert is not unlimited; indeed, according to the valency theory as first formulated, it
is fixed and constant. It is this number which is called the “valency” of the element; but it is now known that the
“valency” in most cases can vary between certain limits. Hydrogen, however, appears to be invariably univalent,
and is therefore taken as the unit of valency. Thus, Carbon is quadrivalent in the methane-molecule, which
consists of one atom of carbon combined with four atoms of hydrogen; and Oxygen is divalent in the water-
molecule, which consists of one atom of oxygen combined with two atoms of hydrogen. Hence, we should
expect to find one atom of carbon combining with two of oxygen, which is the case in the carbon-dioxide—
(carbonic anhydride)—molecule. For a development of the thesis, so far as the compounds of carbon are
concerned, that each specific “affinity link” corresponds in general to a definite and constant amount of energy,
which is evolved as heat on disruption of the bond, the reader is referred to the present writer’s monograph On
the Calculation of Thermo-Chemical Constants (Arnold, 1909). The phenomena of valency find their explanation
in modern views concerning the constitution of atoms (see § 81).

The § 76. With the acceptance of Dalton’s Atomic Theory, it became necessary to determine
Determinatio the atomic weights of the various elements, i.e., not the absolute atomic weights, but the
n of the relative weights of the various atoms with reference to one of them as unit.[92] We cannot
Atomic
in this place enter upon a discussion of the various difficulties, both of an experimental
Weights of
the Elements. and theoretical nature, which were involved in this problem, save to remark that the
correct atomic weights could be arrived at only with the acceptance of Avogadro’s
Hypothesis. This hypothesis, which is to the effect that equal volumes of different gases measured at
the same temperature and pressure contain an equal number of gaseous molecules, was put forward in
explanation of a number of facts connected with the physical behaviour of gases; but its importance
was for some time unrecognised, owing to the fact that the distinction between atoms and molecules
was not yet clearly drawn. A list of those chemical substances at present recognised as “elements,”
together with their atomic weights, will be found on pp. 106, 107.
 [92] Since hydrogen is the lightest of all known substances, the unit, Hydrogen = 1, was at one time usually
employed. However, it was seen to be more convenient to express the atomic weights in terms of the weight of
the oxygen-atom, and the unit, Oxygen = 16 is now always employed. This value for the oxygen-atom was
chosen so that the approximate atomic weights would in most cases remain unaltered by the change.

Prout’s § 77. It was observed by a chemist of the name of Prout, that, the atomic weight of
Hypothesis. hydrogen being taken as the unit, the atomic weights of nearly all the elements
approximated to whole numbers; and in 1815 he suggested as the reason for this
regularity, that all the elements consist solely of hydrogen. Prout’s Hypothesis received on the whole a
very favourable reception; it harmonised Dalton’s Theory with the grand concept of the unity of matter
—all matter was hydrogen in essence; and Thomas Thomson undertook a research to demonstrate its
truth. On the other hand, however, the eminent Swedish chemist, Berzelius, who had carried out many
atomic weight determinations, criticised both Prout’s Hypothesis and Thomson’s research (which latter,
it is true, was worthless) in most severe terms; for the hypothesis amounted to this—that the decimals
in the atomic weights obtained experimentally by Berzelius, after so much labour, were to be regarded
as so many errors. In 1844, Marignac suggested half the hydrogen atom as the unit, for the element
chlorine, with an atomic weight of 35·5, would not fit in with Prout’s Hypothesis as originally
formulated; and later, Dumas suggested one-quarter. With this theoretical division of the hydrogen-
atom, the hypothesis lost its simplicity and charm, and was doomed to downfall. Recent and most
accurate atomic weight determinations show clearly that the atomic weights are not exactly whole
numbers, but that, nevertheless, the majority of them (if expressed in terms of O = 16 as the unit) do
approximate very closely to such. The Hon. R. J. Strutt has recently calculated that the probability of
this occurring, in the case of certain of the commoner elements, by mere chance is exceedingly small
(about 1 in 1,000),[93] and several attempts to explain this remarkable fact have been put forward.
Modern scientific speculations concerning the constitution of atoms tend towards a modified form of
Prout’s hypothesis, or to the view that the atoms of other elements are, in a manner, polymerides of
hydrogen and helium atoms. As has been pointed out, it is possible, according to modern views, for
elements of different atomic weight to have identical chemical properties, since these latter depend only
upon the number of free electrons in the atom and not at all upon the massive central nucleus. By a
method somewhat similar to that used for determining the mass of kathode particles (see § 79), but
applied to positively charged particles, Sir Joseph Thomson and Dr. F. W. Aston discovered that the
element neon was a mixture of two isotopic elements in unequal proportions, one having an atomic
mass of 20, the other (present only to a slight extent) having an atomic mass of 22. Dr. Aston has
perfected this method of analysing mixtures of isotopes and determining their atomic masses.[94] The
results are of great interest. The atomic weight of hydrogen, 1·008, is confirmed. The elements helium,
carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, phosphorus, sulphur, arsenic, iodine and sodium are found to be
simple bodies with whole-number atomic weights. On the other hand, boron, neon, silicon, chlorine,
bromine, krypton, xenon, mercury, lithium, potassium and rubidium are found to be mixtures. What is
specially of interest is that the indicated atomic mass of each of the constituents is a whole number.
Thus chlorine, whose atomic weight is 35·46, is found to be a mixture of two chemically-identical
elements whose atomic weights are 35 and 37. Some of the elements, e.g., xenon, are mixtures of
more than two isotopes.

[93] Hon. R. J. Strutt: “On the Tendency of the Atomic Weights to approximate to Whole Numbers,”
Philosophical Magazine, [6], vol. i. (1901), pp. 311 et seq.
[94] F. W. Aston: “Mass-spectra and Atomic Weights,” Journal of the Chemical Society, vol. cix. (1921), pp. 677
et seq.

It is highly probable that what is true of the elements investigated by Dr. Aston is true of the remainder.
It appears, therefore, that the irregularities presented by the atomic weights of the ordinary elements,
which have so much puzzled men of science in the past, are due to the fact that these elements are, in
many cases, mixtures. As concerns hydrogen, it is only reasonable to suppose that the close packing of
electrically charged particles should give rise to a slight decrease in their total mass, so that the atomic
weights of other elements referred to H = 1 should be slightly less than whole numbers, or, what is the
same thing, that the atomic weight of hydrogen referred to O = 16 should be slightly more than unity.
§ 78. A remarkable property of the atomic weights was discovered, in the sixties,
The “Periodic independently by Lothar Meyer and Mendeléeff. They found that the elements could be
Law.”
arranged in rows in the order of their atomic weights so that similar elements would be
found in the same columns. A modernised form of the Periodic Table will be found on pp. 106, 107. It
will be noticed, for example, that the “alkali” metals, Lithium, Sodium, Rubidium and Cæsium, which
resemble one another very closely, fall in Column 1; the “alkaline earth” metals occur together in
Column 2; though in each case these are accompanied by certain elements with somewhat different
properties. Much the same holds good in the case of the other columns of this Table; there is
manifested a remarkable regularity, with certain still more remarkable divergences (see notes appended
to Table on pp. 106, 107). This regularity exhibited by the “elements” is of considerable importance,
since it shows that, in general, the properties of the “elements” are periodic functions of their atomic
weights; and, together with certain other remarkable properties of the “elements,” distinguishes them
sharply from the “compounds.” It may be concluded with tolerable certainty, therefore, that if the
“elements” are in reality of a compound nature, they are all, in general, compounds of a like nature
distinct from that of other compounds.
THE PERIODIC TABLE OF THE CHEMICAL ELEMENTS.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Hydrogen Hydrogen
[a]
H = 1·008 H = 1·008

Helium Lithium Glucinum Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine

He = 4·00 Li = 6·94 Gl = 9·1 B = 10·9 C = 12·005 N = 14·008 O = 16·00 F = 19·0

Neon Sodium Magnesium Aluminium Silicon Phosphorus Sulphur Chlorine

Ne = 20·2 Na = 23·00 Mg = 24·32 Al = 27·1 Si = 28·3 P = 31·04 S = 32·06 Cl = 35·46

Argon Potassium[b] Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese

A = 39·9 K = 39·10 Ca = 40·07 Sc = 45·1 Ti = 48·1 V = 51·0 Cr = 52·0 Mn = 54·93

Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine

Cu = 63·57 Zn = 65·37 Ga = 70·1 Ge = 72·5 As = 74·96 Se = 79·2 Br = 79·92

Krypton Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Columbium Molybdenum

?
Kr = 82·92 Rb = 85·45 Sr = 87·63 Y = 89·33 Zr = 90·6 Cb = 93·1 Mo = 96·0

Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine[d]

Ag = 107·88 Cd = 112·40 In = 114·8 Sn = 118·7 Sb = 120·2 Te = 127·5 I (or J) = 126·92

Xenon Cæsium Barium Lanthanum Cerium[e]

? ? ?
Xe = 130·2 Cs = 132·81 Ba = 137·37 La = 139·0 Ce = 140·25

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Tantalum Tungsten
? ? ? ? ? ?
Ta = 181·5 W = 184·0
 Gold Mercury Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium
?
Au = 197·2 Hg = 200·6 Tl = 204·0 Pb = 207·20 Bi = 208·0 (210)

Emanation Radium Actinium Thorium Ekatantalum Uranium

? ?
(Niton) 222·0 Ra = 226·0 ? Th = 232·15 ? U = 238·2

NOTES.
There are several somewhat different forms of this Periodic Table. This is one of the simplest, but it lacks certain
advantages of some of the more complicated forms. The atomic weights given are those of the International
Atomic Weights Committee for 1920-1. They are calculated on the basis, Oxygen = 16. The number of decimal
places given in each case indicates the degree of accuracy with which each atomic weight has been determined.
The letter or letters underneath the name of each element is the symbol by which it is invariably designated by
chemists.
The number above each column indicates the valency which the elements of each group exhibit towards oxygen.
Many of the elements are exceptional in this respect.
a: The exact position of Hydrogen is in dispute.
b: The positions of Argon and Potassium have been inverted in order that these elements may fall in the right
columns with the elements they resemble; d: so also have the positions of Tellurium and Iodine.
c: The whole of “Group 8” forms an exception to the Table.
e: There are a number of ill-defined rare earth metals with atomic weights lying between those of Cerium and
Tantalum. They all appear to resemble the elements of “Group 3,” so that their positions in the Table cannot be
decided with accuracy.

It is now some years since the late Sir William Crookes attempted to explain the periodicity of the
properties of the elements on the theory that they have all been evolved by a conglomerating process
from some primal stuff—the protyle—consisting of very small particles. He represented the action of this
generative cause by means of a “figure of eight” spiral, along which the elements are placed at regular
intervals, so that similar elements come underneath one another, as in Mendeléeff’s table, though the
grouping differs in some respects. The slope of the curve is supposed to represent the decline of some
factor (e.g., temperature) conditioning the process, which process is assumed to be of a recurrent
nature, like the swing of a pendulum. After the completion of one swing (to keep to the illustration of a
pendulum) whereby one series of elements is produced, owing to the decline of the above-mentioned
factor, the same series of elements is not again the result as would otherwise be the case, but a
somewhat different series is produced, each member of which resembles the corresponding member of
the former series. Thus, if the first series contains, for example, helium, lithium, carbon, &c., the second
series will contain instead, argon, potassium, titanium, &c. The whole theory, though highly interesting,
is, however, by no means free from defects.
§ 79. We must now turn our attention to those recent views of the constitution of matter
The which originated to a great extent in the investigations of the passage of electricity
Corpuscular
Theory of
through gases at very low pressures. It will be possible, however, on the present
Matter. occasion, to give only the very briefest account of the subject; but a fuller treatment is
rendered unnecessary by the fact that these and allied investigations and the theories to
which they have given rise have been fully treated in several well-known works, by various authorities
on the subject, which have appeared during the last few years.[95]

[95] We have found Prof. Harry Jones’ The Electrical Nature of Matter and Radioactivity (1906), Mr. Soddy’s
Radioactivity (1904), and Mr. Whetham’s The Recent Development of Physical Science (1909) particularly
interesting. Mention, of course, should also be made of the standard works of Prof. Sir J. J. Thomson and Prof.
Rutherford.

When an electrical discharge is passed through a high-vacuum tube, invisible rays are emitted from the
kathode, generally with the production of a greenish-yellow fluorescence where they strike the glass
walls of the tube. These rays are called “kathode rays.” At one time they were regarded as waves in the
ether, but it was shown by Sir William Crookes that they consist of small electrically charged particles,
moving with a very high velocity. Sir J. J. Thomson was able to determine the ratio of the charge carried
by these particles to their mass or inertia; he found that this ratio was constant whatever gas was
contained in the vacuum tube, and much greater than the corresponding ratio for the hydrogen ion
(electrically charged hydrogen atom) in electrolysis. By a skilful method, based on the fact discovered by
Mr. C. T. R. Wilson, that charged particles can serve as nuclei for the condensation of water-vapour, he
was further able to determine the value of the electrical charge carried by these particles, which was
found to be constant also, and equal to the charge carried by univalent ions, e.g., hydrogen, in
electrolysis. Hence, it follows that the mass of these kathode particles must be much smaller than the
hydrogen ion, the actual ratio being about 1 : 1700. The first theory put forward by Sir J. J. Thomson in
explanation of these facts, was that these kathode particles (“corpuscles” as he termed them) were
electrically charged portions of matter, much smaller than the smallest atom; and since the same sort of
corpuscle is obtained whatever gas is contained in the vacuum tube, it is reasonable to conclude that
the corpuscle is the common unit of all matter.
§ 80. This eminent physicist, however, had shown mathematically that a charged particle
Proof that moving with a very high velocity (approaching that of light) would exhibit an appreciable
the Electrons
increase in mass or inertia due to the charge, the magnitude of such inertia depending on
are not
Matter. the velocity of the particle. This was experimentally verified by Kaufmann, who
determined the velocities, and the ratios between the electrical charge and the inertia, of
various kathode particles and similar particles which are emitted by compounds of radium (see §§ 89
and 90). Sir J. J. Thomson calculated these values on the assumption that the inertia of such particles is
entirely of electrical origin, and thereby obtained values in remarkable agreement with the
experimental. There is, therefore, no reason for supposing the corpuscle to be matter at all; indeed, if it
were, the above agreement would not be obtained. As Professor Jones says: “Since we know things
only by their properties, and since all the properties of the corpuscle are accounted for by the electrical
charge associated with it, why assume that the corpuscle contains anything but the electrical charge? It
is obvious that there is no reason for doing so.
“The corpuscle is, then, nothing but a disembodied electrical charge, containing nothing material, as we
have been accustomed to use that term. It is electricity, and nothing but electricity. With this new
conception a new term was introduced, and, now, instead of speaking of the corpuscle we speak of the
electron.”[96] Applying this modification to the above view of the constitution of matter, we have what is
called “the electronic theory,” namely, that the material atoms consist of electrons, or units of electricity
in rapid motion; which amounts to this—that matter is simply an electrical phenomenon.

[96] H. C. Jones: The Electrical Nature of Matter and Radioactivity (1906), p. 21.

The § 81. Sir J. J. Thomson has elaborated this theory of the nature and constitution of
Electronic matter; he has shown what systems of electrons would be stable, and has attempted to
Theory of find therein the significance of Mendeléeff’s generalisation and the explanation of valency.
Matter.
There can be no doubt that there is a considerable element of truth in the electronic
theory of matter; the one characteristic property of matter, i.e., inertia, can be accounted for electrically.
The fundamental difficulty is that the electrons are units of negative electricity, whereas matter is
electrically neutral. Several theories have been put forward to surmount this difficulty. Certainly the
electron is a constituent of matter; but is it the sole constituent? Recent research indicates that, as
already pointed out, all atoms consist of two distinct portions, a massive central nucleus, whose net
charge is positive, surrounded by a number of electrons, just sufficient to neutralize this charge. The
point of greatest interest is that the indicated number of free electrons is exactly the number which
expresses the position of the element in the Periodic Table, reckoning helium as 2, lithium as 3, and so
on; and it would seem that the chemical properties of the elements are determined entirely by these
electrons, and are, therefore, not, strictly speaking, periodic functions of their atomic weights, as was
formerly thought (§ 78), but of their atomic numbers. The exact nature of the nuclei of the various
atoms has yet to be determined: in the case of the atoms heavier than helium they would appear to be
made up of the nuclei of hydrogen and (or) helium atoms together with—in many cases—electrons
insufficient in number to neutralize the positive charges associated with these.
§ 82. The analysis of matter has been carried a step further. A philosophical view of the
The Etheric Cosmos involves the assumption of an absolutely continuous and homogeneous medium
Theory of
filling all space, for an absolute vacuum is unthinkable, and if it were supposed that the
Matter.
stuff filling all space is of an atomic structure, the question arises, What occupies the
interstices between its atoms? This ubiquitous medium is termed by the scientists of to-day “the Ether
of Space.” Moreover, such a medium as the Ether is demanded by the phenomena of light. It appears,
however, that the ether of space has another and a still more important function than the transmission
of light: the idea that matter has its explanation therein has been developed by Sir Oliver Lodge. The
evidence certainly points to the conclusion that matter is some sort of singularity in the ether, probably
a stress centre. We have been too much accustomed to think of the ether as something excessively
light and quite the reverse of massive or dense, in which it appears we have been wrong. Sir Oliver
Lodge calculates that the density of the ether is far greater than that of the most dense forms of
matter; not that matter is to be thought of as a rarefaction of the ether, for the ether within matter is as
dense as that without. What we call matter, however, is not a continuous substance; it consists, rather,
of a number of widely separated particles, whence its comparatively small density compared with the
perfectly continuous ether. Further, if there is a difficulty in conceiving how a perfect fluid like the ether
can give rise to a solid body possessed of such properties as rigidity, impenetrability and elasticity, we
must remember that all these properties can be produced by means of motion. A jet of water moving
with a sufficient velocity behaves like a rigid and impenetrable solid, whilst a revolving disc of paper
exhibits elasticity and can act as a circular saw.[97] It appears, therefore, that the ancient doctrine of the
alchemistic essence is fundamentally true after all, that out of the “One Thing” all material things have
been produced by adaptation or modification; and, as we have already noticed (§ 60), there also
appears to be some resemblance between the concept of the electron and that of the seed of gold,
which seed, it should be borne in mind, was regarded by the alchemists as the common seed of all
metals.

[97] See Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S.: The Ether of Space (1909).

Further § 83. There are also certain other facts which appear to demand such a modification of
Evidence of Dalton’s Atomic Theory as is found in the Electronic Theory. One of the characteristics of
the the chemical elements is that each one gives a spectrum peculiar to itself. The spectrum
Complexity of
of an element must, therefore, be due to its atoms, which in some way are able, at a
the Atoms.
sufficiently high temperature, to act upon the ether so as to produce vibrations of definite
and characteristic wave-length. Now, in many cases the number of lines of definite wave-length
observed in such a spectrum is considerable, for example, hundreds of different lines have been
observed in the arc-spectrum of iron. But it is incredible that an atom, if it were a simple unit, would
give rise to such a number of different and definite vibrations, and the only reasonable conclusion is
that the atoms must be complex in structure. We may here mention that spectroscopic examination of
various heavenly bodies leads to the conclusion that there is some process of evolution at work building
up complex elements from simpler ones, since the hottest nebulæ appear to consist of but a few simple
elements, whilst cooler bodies exhibit a greater complexity.
§ 84. Such modifications of the atomic theory as those we have briefly discussed above,
Views of although profoundly modifying, and, indeed, controverting the philosophical significance
Wald and
of Dalton’s theory as originally formulated, leave its chemical significance practically
Ostwald.
unchanged. The atoms can be regarded no longer as the eternal, indissoluble gods of
Nature that they were once supposed to be; thus, Materialism is deprived of what was thought to be its
scientific basis.[98] But the science of Chemistry is unaffected thereby; the atoms are not the ultimate
units out of which material things are built, but the atoms cannot be decomposed by purely chemical
means; the “elements” are not truly elemental, but they are chemical elements. However, the atomic
theory has been subjected to a far more searching criticism. Wald argues that substances obey the law
of definite proportions because of the way in which they are prepared; chemists refuse, he says, to
admit any substance as a definite chemical compound unless it does obey this law. Wald’s opinions have
been supported by Professor Ostwald, who has attempted to deduce the other stoichiometric laws on
these grounds without assuming any atomic hypothesis[99]; but these new ideas do not appear to have
gained the approval of chemists in general. It is not to be supposed that chemists will give up without a
struggle a mental tool of such great utility as Dalton’s theory, in spite of its defects, has proved itself to
be. There does seem, however, to be logic in the arguments of Wald and Ostwald, but the trend of
recent scientific theory and research does not appear to be in the direction of Wald’s views. Certainly,
however, it appears that, on the one hand, the atomic theory is not necessitated by the so-called
“stoichiometric laws”; but, on the other hand, a molecular constitution of matter seems to be demanded
by the phenomenon known as the “Brownian Movement,” i.e., the spontaneous, irregular and
apparently perpetual movement of microscopic portions of solid matter when immersed in a liquid
medium; such movement appearing to be explicable only as the result of the motion of the molecules of
which the liquid in question is built up.[100]

[98] For a critical examination of Materialism, the reader is referred to the present writer’s Matter, Spirit and the
Cosmos (Rider, 1910), especially Chapters I. and IV.
[99] W. Ostwald: “Faraday Lecture,” Journal of the Chemical Society, vol. lxxxv. (1904), pp. 506 et seq. See also
W. Ostwald: The Fundamental Principles of Chemistry (translated by H. W. Morse, 1909), especially Chapters VI.,
VII. and VIII.
[100] For an account of this singular phenomenon, see Prof. Jean Perrin: Brownian Movement and Molecular
Reality (translated from the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, 8me Séries, September, 1909, by F. Soddy, M.A.,
F.R.S., 1910).
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