| Understanding HTML | | | | Note: For proper formatting of this article I have |
| Anyone who is considering creating their own | | | | removed the angle brackets that surround all HTML |
| website will need to learn at least some basic HTML | | | | tags. Be sure to add the angle brackets when using |
| coding. There are many tools available that can help | | | | these tags.html and /html |
| you design and create your own website, but | | | | The html tag is used to tell the browser that |
| without a good understanding of at least some basic | | | | everything between the opening html tag and the |
| HTML, even a basic webpage can quickly get out of | | | | closing /html tag is an html document. Every web |
| hand. Understanding web page layout and the | | | | page should begin and end with these tags.head and |
| underlying HTML codes that make it work will greatly | | | | head |
| benefit you in modifying and maintaining your web | | | | HTML pages normally have a "head" and a "body." |
| pages. | | | | The head will typically contain descriptive information |
| So, What is HTML? | | | | about your web page, such as it's title and author.title |
| HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. | | | | and /title |
| Simply put, it is a grouping of codes, known as | | | | Every HTML file should have a title enclosed in title |
| Markup Tags, that are used to compose a web page. | | | | tags. This title will usually show up on the title bar of |
| These codes instruct your web browser (Internet | | | | your web browser when the page is displayed, and |
| Explorer, Mozilla, Safari, Firefox, etc.) how to display | | | | should include a short description of the page that is |
| the contents of your web page in the browser | | | | being displayed. The title tags should be included |
| window. HTML files must have a file extension of | | | | within the "head" of your HTML document.body and |
| .htm or .html to function properly, and can be created | | | | body |
| and edited with any standard text editor. Web design | | | | The body and /body tags are used to enclose the |
| tools make this task easier by letting you design your | | | | main content of your web page. This is where you |
| page in a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You | | | | will place the main content that will display in the web |
| Get) interface, while it creates and assembles the | | | | browser window, whether it is text, images, titles, |
| underlying HTML codes for you. | | | | tables, links, or whatever content you include. |
| Markup Tags and Document Structure | | | | HTML Elements |
| Markup tags are simply the HTML codes that instruct | | | | "HTML Elements" is another term you will hear |
| your web browser how to display the contents of | | | | frequently when people speak of web page design. |
| your web page. Tags usually come in pairs with an | | | | An HTML Element simply consists of an opening tag, |
| opening tag and a closing tag, and are enclosed with | | | | content, and a closing tag. For example, a body |
| the " " characters, called angle brackets. Closing tags | | | | element might look like this:body |
| also have a forward slash " / " preceding the tag to | | | | This is an example of a body element. |
| mark it as a closing tag. Now, let's look at some basic | | | | /body |
| tags that should be including in every web page. | | | | Now that you've got the basics you should seek out |
| Document Tags | | | | a more comprehensive tutorial or book on HTML |
| Document tags are used to define the structure of | | | | coding. The more you learn and understand about |
| your HTML document. There are four basic | | | | HTML, the easier it will be for you to create and |
| document tags described below, and they should | | | | maintain interesting and attractive web pages. |
| always be included in every web page you create. | | | | |