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Writing Web Pages
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If
you want to write your own pages, you'll want to
read some of my tutorials.
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Lesson
1
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HTML.
The first thing anyone needs to do when learning a
new skill is to learn the terminology. HTML is
Hyper Text Markup Language. This simple language is
used to write web pages and it can be read by all
browsers. There are many programs that allow you to
write HTML but you need to be careful that you're
not getting too much nonsense in your script. If
you don't have an editor check out
http://www.tucows.com for some ideas.
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Tags
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When
you start writing your page you need to put all the
information you're going to use in tags. Tags are
special codes that appear inside brackets<>
on either side of each bit of information or
content in your page. If you can use inverted
commas or speech marks, you can use tags! These
tags describe how your information will be
displayed. Everything on your page depends on the
tags! Most tags have a start and an end code. The
end code always has a slash in it.
The most commonly used and most indespensible tags
are:
- <html></html>
- this identifys the information as hypertext
markup language.
- <title></title>
- this is the title of your document. It is
displayed in the menu bar of your browser. It is
not the name of your file.
- <head></head>
- this is where you can put your fancy scripts
for java.(more on that later.)
- <body></body>
- this is the main part of your page.
In
my experience these are not case sensitive but you
might want to choose either capitals or lowercase
and use it consistently throughout your code to
keep it tidy. This will give you the bare bones of
a page. It's certainly not all of them but they'll
get you started.
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Browsers
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The
most common Browsers these days are Netscape and
Internet Explorer. I use Netscape and make no
apologies for it! Browsers translate information
for you and display it. Take a look at what you see
in your menu bar at the top of your screen. All
those features, yummy! But do you have any idea how
to use any of them? If not, you really should take
the time to explore what your Browser will do and
how to keep it under control. You could start at
the site of your Browser's company. (Clicking on
the icon in the top right hand corner gets you
there in Netscape) Your Browser can remember your
favourite sites (Bookmark/Favourites) and you can
specify how it displays information for you. You
can get reqular updates of Browsers from the
internet and magazines.(on CD)
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Editors
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O.K.
you need to start trying a few things out. First
you need to find yourself an editor. For Mac and
IBM I recommend Claris HomePage because it is a
nice basic bit of software that will enable you to
do everything beginners require. I have heard
numerous complaints about Microsoft FrontPage and
nobody I know uses it. If you're really clever, use
BBEdit. This will check your HTML for you but you
have to type most of the code - there are short
cuts that insert code but you really need to be
familiar with HTML or you'll never get a page done.
Most companies will allow you to download trial
versions of software so you could do that, try a
few out and then decide which one you want.
Dreamweaver might be worth a look! Check out
magazines with CDs, they often have examples of
these and include reviews to help you choose the
best software for you and your machine.
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Previewing
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Next
time!
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