Introduction to HTML

Here's the thing: HTML is much quicker and easier than many people believe. Those who have not had much experience with computer programming and the like tend to think that it's much too hard to learn. So, they go out and buy or download one of those webdesign programs. To be perfectly honest, many of those programs are very restricting and/or expensive. I've seen many that are actually quite a bit Harder than HTML as well. With HTML, one designs and creates the entire website. Virtually any desired appearance can be achieved by one who knows the language, without the hassle of webdesigner programs.

HTML is easy because it makes sense ( ! ). It's quite simple to figure out and has basic aspects which everyone can learn. The only difficulty comes in very advanced or complicated designs, which many people decide not to use, anyway.

Many people believe that anything to do with programming in computers is incredibly difficult. HTML is the easiest programming language I've ever come across. Some people who wish to have a quick, basic website don't want to bother with learning a new language. To learn HTML, one needs to gain experience with it, along with continuous trial and error. If one tag is misplaced or typoed, the whole page could be distorted. Editing is the most time-consuming aspect of HTML, and the most essential. After a few tries, however, anyone can learn it with a little bit of patience. If you wish to have a very complicated site design with tons of graphics or frames, using HTML to create it can get rather tricky, not to mention making it difficult for viewers to browse through it.

Divisions of HTML code are known as tags. They are enclosed with greater than and less than signs, as shown on the homepage. Again, i am using [brackets] to display codes ( heh, if i typed the codes as they really appear... you wouldn't see them ! ) A starting or beginner tag looks like this:

[HTML]

An ending or closer tag appears with a slash:

[/HTML]

When a command requires both the opening and closing tags, it is known as a paired tag, always used in pairs, with one beginner and one closer. Not all tags require closers, such as breaks [BR] or horizontal rules [HR]. Commands that do require closers need them because without the closing tag to mark the ending of the code, the command may affect the rest of the document. Eh... for example, if you wish to change the font appearance of a section of text ( the [B] tag stands for bold, ) it will look like this:

text [B]text text text[/B]

Without the closing [/B] tag, ALL the text in the rest of the document would appear in bold. Insert the opening and closing tags outside all parts of the page you wish to be affected.

The tags that need to be located at the very beginning and very end of all your HTML documents are the paired [HTML][/HTML] tags.

The order of the tags doesn't necessarily matter. As long as the beginning and the end of a command is marked, then the tags may be placed in any order. If you wish a section of text to be bold and italicized [EM], the same effect can be achieved in

[B][EM]blah blah[/EM][/B]
or
[EM][B]blah blah[/EM][/B]
or
[B][EM]blah blah[/B][/EM]

All three, as well as a few other combinations, will cause the same appearance. The only thing you need to worry about is marking the beginners and closers where you want them.

Nesting tags is the term used to describe tags placed between other tags. This is commonly used in paragraphs [P][/P]. The [P] paragraph tags separate a section of text or images from the rest of the document, just like hitting enter twice in a word processor. Within a paragraph, you may want to change a word or group or words in the text.

[P]text text more text [B]bold text[/B] text

The bold [B][/B] tags are nested in between the paragraph [P][/P] tags.

Everything in the document you wish to be seen within the browser window must be enclosed in [BODY][/BODY] tags ( nested, of course, within the [HTML][/HTML] tags. )

Some tags can be modified to include attributes. These attributes are usually colors, fonts, alignments, and sizes. The attributes codes are placed within the tag itself. If the attributes codes are used with paired tags, only place them in the beginner tag, they are not needed in the closer. If you wish to change the alignment of a paragraph to center, you put the alignment code inside the [P] tag. The added attributes are displayed in bold below:

[P] can be modified to include the center alignment attribute
[P ALIGNMENT="center"]

Attributes codes do not require separate tags. If you wanted to change the size of section of text to a size larger, you would place the size attribute within a [FONT] tag ( [FONT] tags are only included to change the attributes of a section of text, otherwise they are not needed. ) :

[FONT] can be modified to include a size attribute
[FONT SIZE=+1]

To change the attributes, such as the color of text, in the entire body of the document, add the attributes code in the beginner [BODY] tag.