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WEB DESIGN TRAINING
HTML
Let's begin by un-abbreviating HTML.
HTML stands for "Hypertext Markup Language". It is used to structure and format documents for presentation on the web.
HTML enhances ASCII files with markup tags that permit the display of a variety of fonts, images, and highlighting options. It
also designates structural elements such as headers, lists, and aragraphs, and provides hypertext links to other documents on
the Internet.
In plain English, for those of us who are not programming wizards, it is the language your web browser understands, so that it
can display what the author of the page wanted you to see....and you can do some really neat stuff with it.
The basics of HTML are fairly simple to learn. Just by knowing the basic tags, you can design an entire website. A "tag" is a
coded command used to indicate how part of a web page should be displayed. The "code" is HTML...it goes round and round.
You will no doubt hear people using lots of big words when they are talking about HTML and designing websites...don't be
intimidated. You will know those same big words, what they mean, and how to use them within two weeks time, if you are serious
about learning HTML...sooner if you are really serious about it!
An HTML Editor is a program that is used to help you design web pages. It makes shortcuts for you, and basically makes things
easier.
However, you can create HTML documents using Notepad or Wordpad just as well....and you will learn something in the process.
Since HTML Editors can be costly, and they prevent you from actually learning HTML, it is advised that you not use such
programs until after you know HTML.
If you want to use an HTML editor anyway, or if you think you might want to use one after you have learned HTML, choose your
software wisely. I prefer Macromedia Dreamweaver MX. If you have a low budget however there are several free versions of WYSIWYG editors which will allow you to lay out the page and it will write the HTML for you fairly accurately.
Don't get me wrong.. A strong understanding of HTML is still important for manually tweaking your site etc. Our next lesson will go into sample HTML coding and resources.
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