From A to <A>

Keywords of Markup

2010

Bradley Dilger and Jeff Rice, editors

Essays exploring the role of markup in contemporary discourse

From A to <A> investigates the relationship between media and culture by articulating questions regarding the role of markup. How do the codes of HTML, CSS, PHP, and other markup languages affect the Web’s everyday uses? How do these languages shape the Web’s communicative functions? This novel inquiry positions markup as the basis of our cultural, rhetorical, and communicative understanding of the Web.

From A to <A> is a marvelous conception—notably good, in essay after essay, at constructing and mining a developmental history of web technologies. Bradley Dilger and Jeff Rice have assembled a remarkably thoughtful community of thinkers.

Stuart Moulthrop, University of Baltimore

As it becomes impossible to imagine a world without a World Wide Web, information organization, delivery, and production have converged on the simple principle of marking up information for given audiences.

From A to <A> investigates the relationship between media and culture by articulating questions regarding the role of markup. How do the codes of HTML, CSS, PHP, and other markup languages affect the Web’s everyday uses? How do these languages shape the Web’s communicative functions? This novel inquiry positions markup as the basis of our cultural, rhetorical, and communicative understanding of the Web.

Contributors: Sarah J. Arroyo, CSU Long Beach; Jennifer L. Bay, Purdue U; Helen J. Burgess, U of Maryland, Baltimore County; Michelle Glaros, Centenary College of Louisiana; Matthew K. Gold, NYCC of Technology; Cynthia Haynes, Clemson U; Rudy McDaniel, U of Central Florida; Colleen A. Reilly, UNC, Wilmington; Thomas Rickert, Purdue U; Brendan Riley, Columbia College Chicago; Sae Lynne Schatz, U of Central Florida; Bob Whipple, Creighton U; Brian Willems, U of Split, Croatia.

Bradley Dilger is associate professor of English at Western Illinois University.

Jeff Rice is associate professor of English at University of Missouri–Columbia.

From A to <A> is a marvelous conception—notably good, in essay after essay, at constructing and mining a developmental history of web technologies. Bradley Dilger and Jeff Rice have assembled a remarkably thoughtful community of thinkers.

Stuart Moulthrop, University of Baltimore

This is an innovative and thought-provoking addition to digital cultural inquiry.

Media International Australia

Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Making a Vocabulary for <HTML>
Bradley Dilger and Jeff Rice

1. Tarrying with the <head>: The Emergence of Control through Protocol
Thomas Rickert
2. <b> </b>: Exploring Rhetorical Convergences in Transmedia Writing
Sarah J. Arroyo
3. alt: Accessible Web Design or Token Gesture?
Colleen A. Reilly
4. English <A>
Jeff Rice
5. A Style Guide to the Secrets of <style>
Brendan Riley
6. An Accidental Imperative: The Menacing Presence of &nbsp;
Brian Willems
7. The Evil Tags, <blink> and <marquee>: Two Icons of Early HTML, and Why Some People Love to Hate Them
Bob Whipple
8. <frame>ing Representations of the Web
Michelle Glaros
9. Breaking All the Rules: Using <hr> to Create Space in Online Writing Environments
Matthew K. Gold
10. Body on <body>: Coding Subjectivity
Jennifer L. Bay
11. <?php> : “Invisible” Code and the Mystique of Web Writing
Helen J. Burgess
12. From Cyberspaces to Cyberplaces: <img>, Narrative, and the Psychology of Place
Rudy McDaniel and Sae Lynne Schatz
13. <table>ing the Grid
Bradley Dilger

Afterword. <meta>: Casuistic Code
Cynthia Haynes

Contributors
Index