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"HTML" Primer
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What is HTML?
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HTML is a platform independent language specifically designed for
use within the World Wide Web (WWW). Any machine with an HTML
browser can view documents created with HTML from anywhere on the
internet.
HTML document structure
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An HTML document consists of two parts. The "header" contains
general information about the document. The "body" contains the
code that determines the actual appearance of the document.
Hence - structure of an HTML document:
START OF HTML DOCUMENT
START OF HEADER
General info about document
END OF HEADER
START OF BODY
Description of document
END OF BODY
END OF HTML DOCUMENT
The start and end of an HTML document is delimited respectively by
the
codes and
The Header
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The header contains general information about the document. For
most uses, only the title of the document is defined here.
The start and end of the header is delimited by the codes respectively.
The start and end of the title is delimited by the codes and
respectively. The title contains the text which is placed
typically in the WWW browser window.
Hence, a typical header would be:
- Denotes start of HTML document
- Denotes start of header
- Denotes start of title
My Web Page - Denotes title text
- Denotes end of title text
- Denotes end of header
...
- Denotes end of HTML document
The Body
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The Body contains the bulk of the code. This is the code which
describes the actual appearance of the document.
The body is delimited by the codes and .
Hence, a typical body would be:
....
- Denotes start of body
Welcome to my web page
Here is a link to Lycos
- Denotes end of body
The important bits
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1 - To produce an effect over a large area of the document the HTML
codes generally come in pairs - one code to start the effect, and
one code to terminate the effect; for example and to
respectively start and terminate a string of bold text. The
terminating code always has a forward slash "/" before the
letter(s).
2 - To produce an isolated effect, generally only one code is
required; for example
to insert a horizontal rule into the
document.
2 - Under HTML-2, the formatting of the document is essentially the
task of the browser. The HTML code tells the browser only in what
order to do things. The browser will either ignore or make a hash
of any attempts to apply a rigid formatting to the document. For
example, linefeeds (strokes of the return key) are ingored; the
browser will automatically format the text so that it all appears
within the browser window.
3 - HTML is easy. Go through the TUTORIAL if you wish.