How a newbie can build a website in two days ( part III)
When I took office, only high energy physicists had ever heard of what is called the Worldwide Web…. Now even my cat has its own page.
Bill Clinton, announcement of Next Generation Internet initiative, 1996
42nd president of the United States (1946 – )
“Evolution of the C programmer:
- 0 months to 1 month: complete beginner
- 1 month to 1 year: incomplete beginner
- 1 year to 2 years: acolyte
- 2 years to 3 years: adept
- 3 years to 8 years: expert
- at 8 years: discovers comp.lang.c
- 8 years+: buggrit, back to beginner again !”
-Richard Heathfield
Even his cat has its own page, says Bill Clinton. Who doesn’t?? My neighbor has a website about her favorite pet: a Madagascar hissing cockroach! My friend’s site is about his Tarantullas. So what’s new? Everyone is going gaga about putting a web page on anything under and above the sun.
Now, we are not going to do a geek’s language, even that simple C program, ok?
We’ve already checked our basic skills and tools (Part I); we’ve talked about planning and designing (Part II); and now we are going to B U I L D!
You’ve read it right! Nothing is wrong with your eyes, I guess, it’s my head acting weird again. It’s coaxing me to write something about HTML. Huh? my right ear raising its lobes while pinching my right cheek refusing to understand what my head is telling me.
Ok, I’ll do it but I’m not going to pretend I am an expert on this area, I am a newbie remember? Like every programmer, you should not stop learning.
Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards. ~Aldous Huxley
To be familiar with HTML is like knowing how to change your own oil or change a flat tire — it can save you a lot of time and money. It can give you a chance to tweak a pre made template for your website if you do not have enough time to make your own. It is fun, I assure you.
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It is the “hidden” code that helps us communicate with others on the World Wide Web (WWW).
The tools you need : For MACs, that would be SimpleText and for Windows, Notepad.
Fortunately, HTML is written in plain text so you don’t need fancy software programs to create your HTML files.
In order not to bore you, I asked my friend to pose for you.
Tags are enclosed in angle brackets, <like this> or try to imagine how
Tags come in two varieties: single tags and paired tags.
The difference is that a single tag works on its own, while a pair of tags must have an open and closing part. The closing part is just like the opening except that it is prefixed by a slash.
Single tags are used for separators or for inserting a single item. They do not have a matching closing tag.
EXAMPLES:
- <br> marks the end of a line. (stands for line break.)
- <hr> marks a horizontal rule. (A line across the page.)
- To insert an image, pls follow instruction below
Some common paired tags are:
- <p> and </p> to start and close a paragraph.
- <b> and </b> for bold.
- <i> and </i> for italics.
- <em> and </em> for emphasis (usually interpreted as italics by the browser).
- <strong> and </strong> for strong text (usually interpreted as bold by the browser).
- <h1> and </h1> for the biggest heading.
- <ol> and </ol> for an ordered (numbered) list.
- <ul> and </ul> for an unordered (bulleted) list
- <font> and </font> for text font changes.
- <sup> and </sup> for superscript text.
- <sub> and </sub> for subscript text.
It is important to make sure that pair tags are always closed properly (e.g., that the tag that comes last is closed first and vice versa). For instance, if you wanted to create a section of red, bold text, you should write the code like this:
Now, how are you going to set up your page? It’s easy like eating popcorn.To start a page on Notepad for Windows, go to start/programs/accessories/notepad. A window will pop up like this:
<head>
<title>Your page title goes here</title>
</head>
<body>—Everything that appears on your page will be entered here, text, images etc.—</body>
</html>
Then add your own stuff in between the <body> and </body> tags.
For color codes try http://www.webmonkey.com/reference/color_codes/
Example code of what to add to your <body>
</html>
When you’re finished, click on the “x” in the upper right hand corner of Notepad. A screen will come up asking you if you want to save the changes, choose yes.
After you choose yes, that you want to save the changes, this screen comes up. Name your file “index.html” because it will be the first page of your Web site, and then click “save”:
After creating your page/site test it with different browsers: Internet Explorer (IE) 7, 6, 5.5 and 5.0, Firefox 2.0 and 1.5, Opera 9 and 8, Netscape and so on. Then there are the different platforms: Windows, Macintosh (Mac), Linux, etc.
It is a good idea to test your site with multiple versions of multiple browsers particularly if you plan to do anything fancy on your site. When you are able to test your pages this way, you can at least reduce the number of problems your pages have with the different browsers.
I’ve learned about this lately after my friend BEA related her problems she encountered when viewing my other website.
As a newbie, I was perplexed about what she told me as I can view it without any problems on my end, even my other friends with different browsers …thus, I made my geeky searching…
Now, if the words “will” and “action” to create your own site or page are nowhere to find because you were not able to divide your gift of 24 hours into a well spent and balanced day, then I would suggest, to look out for this man, he’ll help you. I hope.
Filed under: BUILDING WEBSITE IN TWO DAYS, COMPUTER QUOTES by