HTML : Tutorial Part 1

Hello,

So lets start up... hmm.... What is the acronym of HTML any one.... Okay, no problem its                   "Hyper Text Markup Language"

HTML, which stands for HyperText Markup Language, is a markup language used to create web pages. The web developer uses "HTML tags" to format different parts of the document. For example, you use HTML tags to specify headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, images and much more.

HTML is a subset of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) and is specified by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

What do I need to create HTML?

You don't need any special equipment or software to create HTML. In fact, you probably already have everything you need. Here is what you need:

• Computer
• Text or HTML editor. Most computers already have a text editor and you can easily create HTML files using a text editor. Having said that, there are definite benefits to be gained in downloading an HTML editor.If you want the best HTML editor, and you don't mind paying money for it, you can't go past Adobe Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver is probably the best HTML editor available, and you can download a trial version for starters.
  If you don't have the cash to purchase an editor, you can always download a free one. Examples include SeaMonkey, Coffee Cup (Windows) and TextPad(Windows).
  If you don't have an HTML editor, and you don't want to download one just now, a text editor is fine. Most computers already have a text editor. Examples of text editors include Notepad (for Windows), Pico (for Linux), or Simpletext/Text Edit/Text Wrangler (Mac).
• Web Browser. For example, Internet Explorer or Firefox.

Do I need to be online?

No, you do not need to be online to create web pages. You can create web pages on your local machine. You only need to go online when you want to publish your web page to the web - this bit comes later.

The next lesson will show you how to create a web page in less than 5 minutes.

OK, lets get straight into it. Here, you will learn just how easy it is to create a web page. In fact, by the time you've finished with this web page, you will have createdyour own web page!

When you create a web page you will usually do something like this:

1. Create an HTML file
2. Type some HTML code
3. View the result in your browser
4. Repeat the last 2 steps (if necessary)

Creating a Webpage

OK, let's walk through the above steps in more detail.

1. Create an HTML file

   An HTML file is simply a text file saved with an .html or .htm extension (i.e. as opposed to a .txt extension).
1. Open up your computer's normal plain text editor (this will probably be Notepad if you're using Windows or TextEdit if you're using a Mac). You could use a specialized HTML editor such as CoffeeCup or Dreamweaver if you prefer (What is an HTML editor?).
2. Create a new file (if one wasn't already created)
3. Save the file as html_tutorial_example.html

1. Type the following code:
   

   Code

2. View the result in your browser

   Either...
   
   1. Navigate to your file then double click on it
   ...OR...
   
   1. Open up your computer's web browser (for example, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape etc).
   2. Select File > Open, then click "Browse". A dialogue box will appear prompting you to navigate to the file. Navigate to the file, then select "Open".

3. Repeat the last 2 steps until you're satisfied with the result

   It's unrealistic to expect that you will always get it right the first time around. Don't worry - that's OK! Just try again and again - until you get it right.

Explanation of code

OK, before we get too carried away, I'll explain what that code was all about.

We just coded a bunch of HTML tags. These tags tell the browser what to display and where. You may have noticed that for every "opening" tag there was also a "closing" tag, and that the content we wanted to display appeared in between. Most HTML tags have an opening and closing tag.

All HTML documents should at least contain all of the tags we've just coded and in that order.

The next lesson goes into a bit more detail about HTML tags.