|
 |
  |
|
 General discussion of site Learning HTML Required TagsBasic layout andformatting tagsHypertext linksImagesTablesFontsPlanning and building Going live HTML editors Web development resources Ongoing skills development Web databases      |
|
Learning HTML This section offers a basic introduction to HTML. The first page contains a brief overview of the basics, with links to pages with more detailed information. If you can't find the specific information you are looking for, visit the Yenza! site index. The following topics are outlined:
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the "language" used for writing Web pages. HTML documents are plain text documents which are "marked up" with tags containing formatting instructions. Opening tags consist of a left angle bracket (<), a tag name, and a right angle bracket (>). Closing tags consist of a left angle bracket (<), a forward slash (/) a tag name, and a right angle bracket (>). For example:
The coding above is used to indicate the title of this page. Almost all tags are used in pairs - i.e. with an opening and a closing tag; exceptions will be noted where they occur. Some opening tags may contain additional attributes which specify, for example, how text should be aligned or how wide a table should be. For example, the <P> tag is used to indicate the beginning of a paragraph. By adding the "CENTER" attribute the alignment of text within a paragraph can be specified.
Note that the additional attribute appears in quotation marks, and is used only in the opening tag. For a comprehensive list of HTML tags, visit Tag Reference.com: http://www.tagreference.com/ Any text editor (for example Notepad in Windows 3.1 or Wordpad in Windows 95 or 98) can be used to create HTML documents. HTML documents can also be created in any word processing package, as long as they are saved as plain text files with the suffix ".htm" or ".html". There are also a number of WYSIWYG HTML editors available, such as Microsoft FrontPage and Netscape Composer. Information about some of them is available in the Yenza! section on HTML editors. There are four tags which must be used in every HTML document, with their corresponding closing tags: <HTML>, <HEAD>, <TITLE> and <BODY>. Apart from the required
tags which tell the browser that it is reading an HTML document, HTML tags also determine
the layout of the page. The basic layout/formatting tags are used to specify headings,
paragraphs, horizontal rules, lists and bold and italic text.
The ability to
"link" one Web page with another and to jump from page to page and topic to
topic is one of the key features of the World Wide Web. These "hypertext links"
are created using the "anchor" tag: <A>.
Images can be inserted into
Web pages using the <IMG> tag. The most commonly used image
formats are GIF and JPEG. Images may be an
essential part of the information you are conveying, or they may be used to add interest
to you page. Bear in mind, though, that each image included in a page takes additional
time to download. Many users turn off the display of images to speed up the loading of Web
pages.
The <TABLE> tag is used not only to create
spreadsheet-like tables, but also to control the layout of the text on the page. For
example, the navigation bar down the left-hand side if this page is created through the
use of tables.
Formatting the
appearance of fonts The face, size and colour
of fonts can be specified using the <FONT> tag. Font (and background) colours
can be specified using six digit hexadecimal values.
If something on your Web
page isn't working, double-check your HTML coding. Have you always used both opening and -
when necessary - closing tags? Have you closed your angle brackets? Have you made any
mistakes in typing in your HTML tags? Did you save the page before you tried to load or
reload it in your browser? The material covered in
this Yenza! section on learning HTML - and more - is available in the NCSA's
"Beginner's Guide to HTML" from: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/
HTMLPrimerAll.html HTML is an evolving language. Over the years some tags (more accurately called "elements") have become obsolete, while new ones have been added. Other tags are "deprecated," which means that they may become obsolete in future versions of HTML, and that other ways of achieving the same effect are recommended. If you are serious about web design you should take the time to find out more about developments in HTML. The full
HTML 4 specification is available from the World Wide Web Consortium
at
|
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||