HTML Tutorial |
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What is HTML? HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the authoring language used to create documents on the World Wide Web. Through coding commands (called tags), HTML designs your page and formats the text’s style, size, font, color, etc. as well as telling it when and where to include graphics, lists, tables, etc. It is possible to see this coding on any webpage by selecting “reveal formatting” under View in the toolbar in Netscape or “Source” under View in the toolbar in Internet Explorer. Is HTML difficult to learn?HTML is an incredibly simple language. Anyone, with little or no training can see pages on the Web, look at the HTML source, and start making their own web pages within a matter of hours. Remember that an HTML file is just a set of instructions for creating a page on a computer screen. Isn't there a way to create websites in a design program?Some WYSIWYG editors are also available (e.g., MS Frontpage and Dreamweaverl, both for Windows and Macintosh) that allow you to design webpages in the same way that you might design any other document with text and graphics. You may wish to try one of them after you learn some of the basics of HTML tagging. What is WYSIWYG?WYSIWYG is an acronym for "what you see is what you get"; it means that you design your HTML document visually, as if you were using a word processor or graphics design program, instead of writing the markup tags in a plain-text file and imagining what the resulting page will look like. This method is not unlike using a program similar to Pagemaker, Freehand, Illustrator, or Quark Express, in that they use many similar tools. Is either method preferable?Most individuals (especially those familiar with design programs) use Dreamweaver or some other WYSIWYG program. However, it is useful to know enough HTML to code a document before you determine the usefulness of a WYSIWYG editor, in case you want to add HTML features that your editor doesn't support. These "easy to use" programs may be tempting, but many designers tend to scorn the use them, prior to learning HTML, for several reasons. These "automated" tools often generate code that is not very good HTML, or that has a lot of bizarre proprietary fragments mixed in with it. FrontPage, in particular, isknown for creating large files and complicated directory structures. Also, once you've created a page with one of these WYSIWYG tools, it may be difficult or impossible to edit them with anything else, because of nonstandard HTML tags and extraneous code. So, do I really need to learn HTML, or can I get by on the design programs?The best argument against using a WYSIWYG editor is that it's kind of a cop-out. The Web is built on HTML, and the more you know about it, the more you'll understand how to design beautiful, functional pages. "Helpful" editors like FrontPage may be fine for creating a few quick pages, but if you intend to get even somewhat serious about Web design, you'll be glad you have a solid grounding in basic HTML. What program do I need to write HTML?HTML documents are plain-text (also known as ASCII) files that can be created using any text editor (e.g., Notepad on a Windows machine; SimpleText on a Macintosh; or Emacs or vi on UNIX machines). Technically, it is possible to even use word-processing software. However, it is not suggested, as that would be extremely tiresome and unnecessary. There are many good HTML editors out there that give you a lot of handy tools to make creating HTML go much more quickly. What is an HTML editor?An HTML editor is just a word processor that uses a number of shortcuts and macros for common HTML editing tasks. For example, instead of typing in all of your tags by hand, you have a button for each of the most common tags. A good HTML editor also includes a good search and replace feature, and lets you save often-used snippets of HTML code. Once you learn the ins and outs of the editor of your choice, you'll be able to create pages quite rapidly. Where can I download free text editors? BB Edit, HomeSite, Nachos, HotDog, FlexEd and Agile are some of the more commonly used editors. Some are more expensive than others, but many are free. I like BB Edit, as it is free and is available for both IBM and Macintosh. You can do a search for any of these programs or other HTML editors. Where can I post and store my web page?If you have access to a Web server at school or work you may find that you have free storage privileges. You can check with your ISP (Internet Service Provider) to see if they offer free webpage storage. There are also a number of sites that offer free storage, such as geocities.com and angelfire.com. The downfall to these servers is that there is generally limited space and there are frequent pop-up advertisements on your page. However, these free hosting sites are certainly acceptable for your beginning pages.
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