Start Web Publishing - Using HTML

Hypertext Mark -Up Language

Web pages are written in Hypertext Mark-up Language, or HTML. HTML documents are plain text (also known as ASCII) files that can be created using any text editor (such as Notepad for the PC or SimpleText for the Mac). HTML allows you to add tags to your Web page to indicate special characteristics. Some tags affect the look of a Web page; others affect how it functions.

Source Code

To see the source code (HTML) of a web page, select View Source from the browser menu. 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. 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.

Filenames

HTML documents use the .htm or. html file extensions, e.g. index.htm or index.html can be used to name your opening page. It also a good idea to use lowercase lettering when naming files. In short, a link specifying a file called History.htm will not work if the file is named history.htm, and a link specifying a file called history.html will not work if the file is named history.htm.

Tips:

• HTML tags should be in Upper Case letters to help differentiate from ordinary text.
• All HTML files in your project should be named with either a .htm or .htmlextension. Do not use both extension types in the same project.
• All HTML file names should be in lower case, with letters and numbers only. Do not use spaces or odd characters (%$£&*).
• Backup your Web Site regularly. If you have WinZip or another compression program, you can achieve this by right-clicking on the folder and choosing "Add to Zip". A few seconds later you have a disaster-management and contingency program.

Note: While there are many excellent HTML editors available, it is useful to know enough HTML to code a document before you begin such an editor. The web pages created by such editors may require some "tweaking" of the HTML code in order to work as you would like them to, and it is much easier to do this if you have a grounding in HTML basics.