This is my Virtual Notebook for "Web Page Design For Beginners" to practice tags and take notes about the lessons.
html must be exact for browsers to understand and display it correctly. Extra spaces or missed symbols will cause browsers to do strange things.
As I progress through this class, I will continue to update and add to this page.
Basic Terminology
HTML means hyper text markup language.
ANGLE BRACKETS, < >go around all HTML tags to tell computer browsers that instructions are inside the brackets.
HTML tags change letters, symbols or text to instructions by putting the ANGLE BRACKETS around the letter or text.
ATTRIBUTES are more instructions within the tag that further define the specific tag.
VALUES follow the ATTRIBUTES. VALUES are numbers or letters that modify (or measure) the ATTRIBUTE. All VALUES are inside quotation marks.
WEB SERVER is the server on which a web page resides, or host of that page.
WEB BROWSER is the software that allows your computer to read web pages. Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox are examples.
HARDWARE refers to the actual parts of the computer.
SOFTWARE refers to the instructions, drivers and programs that make it work.
FTP is file transfer protocol. This a means of transferring files to another computer using the internet. FTP is used to move your pages to your host web server.
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator and is you web address.
HYPERLINK is a link that will take you to another web address or location or to another part of the page. It is usually a different color from other text. It may also be underlined.
HOMEPAGE is the front page of a web site.
TEXT EDITOR is a very basic text editing program. It does not contain a lot of pre-programmed instructions.
HTML EDITOR is software designed to assist with HTML and is some cases even do the coding for you. They do control what you can do as compared with a TEXT EDITOR.
WEB PAGE DIRECTORY is the folder created to keep work for this class.
DOWNLOAD the process for receiving files from the web or another computer.
UPLOAD is sending files to your host server or another computer.
GRAPHICS EDITOR refers to a program to prepare graphic images to appear online.
TEMPLATE is a pattern. For the purpose of this class, it is the pattern your web pages will follow.
OPENING TAGS are before the area they will affect.
CLOSING TAGS are after that area.
There are 4 basic tags to a web page. They are used in the following order:
Angle Brackets
All tags are inclosed within angle brackets.
Attributes
Attributes are additional instructions that effect how the tag is read by browsers. They go inside the brackets of the opening tag.
An attribute must have a value. The value must be inside quotation marks.
The opening html tag tells the browser that the document is written in html.
The closing html tag tells the browser that it has reach the end of the page.
The closing html tag must always be at the very end of the page.
The head tag gives specific instructions.
The title goes inside the head tag set.
The title tag set identifies your page for browsers. It does not show as part of the web page. It only shows on the very top line in your browser.
Use all lower case letters and numbers in your title.
Do not leave spaces in the title.
The title can not be changed by using other tags.
the body tag contains everything that is to show on the page and the format and special tags that tell the browser how to show it.
TIPS:
Always be consistent.
Always type html tags in lower case. At one time html was written in all upper case, later versions use lower case.
Each of the 4 main tags is used only once per page.
To be seen correctly on the web, the page must start with the opening html tag and end with the closing tag.
The title tag is used without any other tags to modify it.
Repeating to make it stick in my head: The body tag is used only once per page.
Don’t overlap tags. The last tag used should be the first one closed. Ex: 1 2 3 3 2 1.
Filenames should be all the same case, either all upper case or all lower case. Do not capitalize the first letter of a filename.
Each of the four main tags and any formatting tags should be on a separate line.
When using images, always use an alternate attribute and give the size (h & w) of the image. The alt attribute can be read by speech recognition software.
The size allows for proper spacing and faster loading.
Attributes require a space between them but no space within them. Always put quotation marks around all attributes.
Close all style attributes at the end of the paragraph. If you want the style to continue, put them in the new paragraph.
Use VIEW SORCE to see the coding on any web page. This is useful to identify errors.
Be aware of and abide by cobywrite laws.
Other common tags:
b will bold the text.
i will make it italics.
bgcolor is the tag for background color. It must be used with an attribute.
p is the tag for paragraph
br is the tag for line break. No closing tag is needed with the br tag.
center will center the text or image.
h1 will create a larger font as for a heading. It goes inside the opening body tag.
The attribute align=”center” can also be use to center text or an image.
Start a new paragraph after you center text or an image.