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Turorials: Web: HTML Basics
HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. The main things you need to start programming HTML are access to a computer, an internet service provider, and a HTML editor such as Notepad. Then I would also advise that you have some kind of image program if it's as advanced as Paint Shop Pro ,or just a simple Paint utility. To start off any HTML document you have to tell the computer that it is HTML. To do this, you put the following tags in this order on your HTML editor:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
</BODY>
</HTML>
This tells the editor that you are using HTML, and you are going to have a head(<HEAD>), a body(<BODY>). Whenever you see tags like this:</some thing here>,that means that it is ending whatever it is that you started. For instance above , you started the tag<HEAD>, and right after that you see a </HEAD>. that says that you started the head , and you also end the head. You need to do this for every tag that you put into your HTML document, otherwise,it will overlap with other tags, and it will turn out completely different from what you wanted it to be. This was a major
problem for me when I first started HTML, because I always
forgot to end the things that I started, and I wondered why
they weren't coming out right. That is why this is a very
important thing to get in the habit of.
The second important thing you need for the basics is that
there are different browsers , and every one of those browsers
can see or not see certain things on the internet. For
instance, AOL4.0 cannot see scrolling in textarea's or text
fields. It cannot also see the things put into their status
bar. Another big example is that Netscape does not read frames
, and therfor does not support them , and the viewers that
have Netscape aren't going to see anything. This is why you
need to also get into the habit of making your site
multi-browser.
The last basic thing you need to know is how to get your
visitors to the site. A good way to do this is to go to
addme.com , and they can add you to 30+ search engines for
free. With this service, you only have to fill out a
application for only once. This eliminates a lot of struggle
on your part. Also remember that there are many , many different tags for HTML, and it is not for everyone, and
not everyone wants to learn to do it. If you want to back out
anytime, this is the time.
