HTML Documents
Getting Your Files on a Server
Tags Explained
Markup Tags
Paragraphs
What an HTML Document Is
HTML documents are plain-text (also known as ASCII) files that can be created using any text editor (e.g., Emacs or vi on UNIX machines; SimpleText on a Macintosh; Notepad on a Windows machine). You can also use word-processing software if you remember to save your document as "text only with line breaks".
HTML Editors
Some WYSIWYG editors are also available (e.g., Claris Home Page or Adobe PageMill, both for Windows and Macintosh). You may wish to try one of them after you learn some of the basics of HTML tagging. WYSIWYG is an acronym for "what you see is what you get"; it means that you design your HTML document visually, as if you were using a word processor, instead of writing the markup tags in a plain-text file and imagining what the resulting page will look like. It is useful to know enough HTML to code a document before you determine the usefulness of a WYSIWYG editor, in case you want to add HTML features that your editor doesn't support.
Getting Your Files on a Server
If you have access to a Web server at school or work, contact your webmaster (the individual who maintains the server) to see how you can get your files on the Web. If you do not have access to a server at work or school, check to see if your community operates a FreeNet, a community-based network that provides free access to the Internet. Lacking a FreeNet, you may need to contact a local Internet provider that will post your files on a server for a fee. (Check your local newspaper for advertisements or with your Chamber of Commerce for the names of companies.) TOP
Tags Explained
An element is a fundamental component of the structure of a text document. Some examples of elements are heads, tables, paragraphs, and lists. Think of it this way: you use HTML tags to mark the elements of a file for your browser. Elements can contain plain text, other elements, or both.
To denote the various elements in an HTML document, you use tags. HTML tags consist of a left angle bracket , a tag name, and a right angle bracket. Tags are usually paired to start and end the tag instruction. The end tag looks just like the start tag except a slash precedes the text within the brackets. HTML tags are listed below.
Some elements may include an attribute, which is additional information that is included inside the start tag. For example, you can specify the alignment of images (top, middle, or bottom) by including the appropriate attribute with the image source HTML code. Tags that have optional attributes are noted below.
Not all tags are supported by all World Wide Web browsers. If a browser does not support a tag, it will simply ignore it. Any text placed between a pair of unknown tags will still be displayed, however. TOP
The Minimal HTML Document
Every HTML document should contain certain standard HTML tags. Each document consists of head and body text. The head contains the title, and the body contains the actual text that is made up of paragraphs, lists, and other elements. Browsers expect specific information because they are programmed according to HTML and SGML specifications.
Required elements are shown in this sample bare-bones document:
The required elements are the html, head, title, and body tags (and their corresponding end tags). Because you should include these tags in each file, you might want to create a template file with them. (Some browsers will format your HTML file correctly even if these tags are not included. But some browsers won't! So make sure to include them.)
Click to see the formatted version of the example. A longer example is also available but you should read through the rest of the guide before you take a look. This longer-example file contains tags explained in the next section.
A Teaching Tool
To see a copy of the file that your browser reads to generate the information in your current window, select View Source (or the equivalent) from the browser menu. (Most browsers have a "View" menu under which this command is listed.) The file contents, with all the HTML tags, are displayed in a new window.
This is an excellent way to see how HTML is used and to learn tips and constructs. Of course, the HTML might not be technically correct. Once you become familiar with HTML and check the many online and hard-copy references on the subject, you will learn to distinguish between "good" and "bad" HTML.
Remember that you can save a source file with the HTML codes and use it as a template for one of your Web pages or modify the format to suit your purposes.
Markup Tags
HTML
This element tells your browser that the file contains HTML-coded information. The file extension .html also indicates this an HTML document and must be used. (If you are restricted to 8.3 filenames (e.g., LeeHome.htm, use only .htm for your extension.)
HEAD
The head element identifies the first part of your HTML-coded document that contains the title. The title is shown as part of your browser's window (see below).
TITLE
The title element contains your document title and identifies its content in a global context. The title is typically displayed in the title bar at the top of the browser window, but not inside the window itself. The title is also what is displayed on someone's hotlist or bookmark list, so choose something descriptive, unique, and relatively short. A title is also used to identify your page for search engines (such as HotBot or Infoseek).
For example, you might include a shortened title of a book along with the chapter contents: NCSA Mosaic Guide (Windows): Installation. This tells the software name, the platform, and the chapter contents, which is more useful than simply calling the document Installation. Generally you should keep your titles to 64 characters or fewer.
BODY
The second--and largest--part of your HTML document is the body, which contains the content of your document (displayed within the text area of your browser window). The tags explained below are used within the body of your HTML document.
Headings
HTML has six levels of headings, numbered 1 through 6, with 1 being the largest. Headings are typically displayed in larger and/or bolder fonts than normal body text. The first heading in each document should be tagged H1.
Paragraphs
Unlike documents in most word processors, carriage returns in HTML files aren't significant. In fact, any amount of whitespace -- including spaces, linefeeds, and carriage returns -- are automatically compressed into a single space when your HTML document is displayed in a browser. So you don't have to worry about how long your lines of text are. Word wrapping can occur at any point in your source file without affecting how the page will be displayed.
In the bare-bones example shown in the Minimal HTML Document section, the first paragraph is coded as
Welcome to the world of HTML.
This is the first paragraph.
While short it is
still a paragraph!
In the source file there is a line break between the sentences. A Web browser ignores this line break and starts a new paragraph only when it encounters another P tag.
Important: You must indicate paragraphs with P elements. A browser ignores any indentations or blank lines in the source text. Without P elements, the document becomes one large paragraph. (One exception is text tagged as "preformatted," which is explained below.) For example, the following would produce identical output as the first bare-bones HTML example:
Level-one heading
Welcome to the world of HTML. This is the
first paragraph. While short it is still a
paragraph!
And this is the second paragraph.
To preserve readability in HTML files, put headings on separate lines, use a blank line or two where it helps identify the start of a new section, and separate paragraphs with blank lines (in addition to the P tags). These extra spaces will help you when you edit your files (but your browser will ignore the extra spaces because it has its own set of rules on spacing that do not depend on the spaces you put in your source file).
NOTE: The /P closing tag may be omitted. This is because browsers understand that when they encounter a P tag, it means that the previous paragraph has ended. However, since HTML now allows certain attributes to be assigned to the P tag, it's generally a good idea to include it.
TOP
This entire document is available at the NCSA web site.