HTML Tutorial 1

Introducing HTML

  

HTML?

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the language used to define the layout of web pages. It is a 'mark-up' language in that it simply defines the structure and appearance of web pages. It is not used to create programs which process data such as Java or C++.

 HTML Format

A web page written in HTML is held as plain text. No special compilers are required. For that reason, it can be created using any word processor which can save a file as plain text, including Notepad and Wordpad. To view a web page you need to use a browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. The bottom line is that the browsers are free and the editor is free (if you use a basic text editor), so anyone can create web pages for free.

 HTML v Web Authoring Tools

Authoring tools such as Dreamweaver and Frontpage are excellent packages, but it needs to be emphasised that they are a fast means of creating HTML code. If you know what HTML you need to write, you will use these packages more effectively and efficiently. The HTML will be better structured and will give more stable and predictable results.

 Creating HTML

When writing or 'hand coding' HTML you can use an authoring tool and enter the code directly, or you can use a basic text editor.In these tutorials, we will beshowing how HTML can be developed using Wordpad. The process is quite simple. Open Wordpad and your browser. You can toggle between these two programs by clicking on the links in the status bar at the bottom of your screen.

Enter the HTML code (to be revealed in the following tutorials) in Wordpad. When saving the file there are two important things to remember:

  • the file should be given a name such as 'filename.htm'. It is important to include the 'htm' extension or the file will be given a 'txt' extension.
  • the file type should be specified as being 'text'. If you save it in any other format eg Word or RTF, the browser will not recognise it as a web page.
  • do not include any spaces in the file name

When you have saved the web page, view it in the browser by using the menu options File, Open, Browse then locate the web page on your PC. When prompted, accept that file as the one you want to open, and your page should appear in the browser. If you want to edit the page, change the code in Wordpad, click on the browser link on the status bar and refresh the browser using the 'Refresh' button (two green arrows) at the top of the browser. By this method you can develop your code in Wordpad and view the results in the browser by toggling between the two packages.

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