HYPERTEXT MARKUP LANGUAGE
What is it and what does it do?
I was sitting here today, trying to think of the best way to teach those
of you who want to build
websites
what "html" is, how to understand it, how to fix it, and how
to write it. Wow, that would be a huge job. Then I remembered someone,
BaddLittleBoo, sent me a link
HTML Clinic
that explains
just about everything you ever want to know about html in an easy to understand
format. So, I'll let them do the hard part. Just go there and read and
in a week you'll be an html expert.
Note: For more information on how the Internet and Websites work
please visit websites.htm
There is one thing I want to teach you about html today that's pretty
simple and easy to understand. The purpose of html.
HTML is the
fundamental building block of almost everything we do on the net. It's
one of the primary languages that computers use to communicate with each
other in regards to websites and email. A computer language is basically
a set of instructions that say "Do this, Don't do that!" And
that's all html does. When your computer visits a website, html tells
your computer what to do, and what not to do. For instance, the html for
this email contains instructions for the sentence I just wrote. The html
tells your computer to display my words in black, using the Arial font,
in size 11. It really is that simple. If there is a picture in the email,
the html tells your computer what size the picture is, where to display
it on the page, and of course, the name of the picture to display. For
example, the html in this email tells your computer to put a picture (baddteddy.jpg)
at the top of the page, to make it 4 inches tall, and that it goes in
the center of the page. Wow, that was really tough. Do you need me to
explain that again? I didn't think so.
Note: For more information on picture and file types please go to
filetypes.htm
If you understand that html is simply a set of instructions from one computer
to another, it becomes rather easier to understand. Memorizing every detail
about html might take a few years, but understanding it's purpose (to
communicate what needs to be done from one computer to another) took you
less than five minutes.
If you want to learn how to use html I have two suggestions. The first
is to go to the
HTML Clinic
website.
The second is to try something so simple you wouldn't even believe it.
Do you see something really cool on a website and wish you could learn
how they made it and how to write similar html for your website (Be original
not a copycat). Go to any website of your choice (www.
baddteddy .com), let
the site open up and then put your cursor somewhere on the site (NOT ON
A PICTURE). RIGHT CLICK YOUR MOUSE BUTTON and select VIEW SOURCE. Your
computer will show you the html (computer instructions) that the sites'
creator used to build that site. Do this at several different websites
and you will start to recognize patterns and this will teach you more
about html than I could in a hundred page book
Did you learn anything?
Hopefully, you learned that the purpose of html is to communicate the
creator of a website's idea into computer terms where it can be copied
(viewed) by any computer anywhere. You should have learned how to look
at the html from websites around the world to see how they constructed
their websites. You should have learned that the website below is an excellent
source of "how - to" information regarding html.
Html
Clinic
(And yes, I hate
their stupid pop ad's too)
Oh... and one last thing I want to teach you. YOU DON'T HAVE TO LEARN
HTML. There are hundreds of programs, that will do the html for you. You
simply tell the program what you want to build and it writes the source
code (html) for you.
If you think it's impossible to change the world,
You obviously haven't visited
www.knightsofkindness.com
