::introduction to HTML::

 What is HTML?
HTML is short for Hypertext Markup Language, and simply put, it is a language. But unlike normal languages such as English, Japanese, French, Chinese etc. it is used to make webpages and not for everyday conversation. HTML is one of the many languages that are used to make webpages, but it is the most basic and in my opinion the first one you should learn.

 The basics
HTML is really a simple and logical language that can be self taught (I taught myself, and I am sure many other web designers did too). There are many commands that are very simple which make them hard to forget, such as "<b>" makes text bold - how hard is that? But of course, there are a few rules here and there, but again, they are quite simple and as long as you understand why, and not just remember them because you saw them on a website you should be fine.

HTML is a tag based language - the commands are enclosed in tags "<" and ">". Most tags have an opening tag, and a closing tag, for example <b> is the opening tag, and </b> is the closing tag. Anything between those two tags will be bold. Although most tags have closing tags, some do not - these include <img src=" ">, <br> and many more.

 Is this site made from HTML?
Yes and no. The most basic basic basic things of this site is HTML, well technically XHTML (I'll explain later), and the majority of the layout is from CSS (Casacding Style Sheets). The reasons I chose XHTML instead of HTML was because I was looking for a challenge and I also wanted to 'force' myself to code correctly. XHTML is pretty much the same as HTML except for a few exceptions here and there. The main differences between them is you have to close all your tags, your nesting has to be correct and you rely quite a lot on CSS.

 The 6 most important tags
Ok, firstly for those who do know HTML you maybe saying 6? didn't you mean 4? but no, there was no type, I did mean 6 (six). Well, there are really only 4 tags that are essential to making a webpage, but I feel that they are not enough.

Here are the 6 tags (in order of importance):
  1. <html> </html> These tags tells the browser that you are starting a webpage. Though your webpage may still work without them, you should always include them.
  2. <head> </head> These tags are where you keep things like the 'title tags', javascript and css (and probaly others that I do not know yet)
  3. <title> </title> These tags are what tells the computer what the titles is - the name that is displayed on the top left hand corner of your browser. It is also the name that is displayed when your page is printed.
  4. <body> </body> These tags are the body tags (suprised?). Everything that you want displayed on your webpage should be placed between these two tags.
  5. <br> This is known as the break trag and unlike the first four which you MUST have - this is an optional tag. This tag puts a break (single enter) in a chunk of text. I've included it into the 6 most important tags as who can put in a chunk of text without breaks?
  6. <p> </p> Again, this is an optional tag. The paragraph tag (<p>) does not have to be closed, but it is better that you do close it. This tag puts two enter spaces into your paragarph - again, I feel that even the simplest (and useful) website needs this tag.
Note:The first four tags are a MUST! ALWAYS include them (put them first) when you are making a webpage. Below is the order they should be put in:

<html>
<head>
<title> TITLE HERE </title>
</head>
<body>
THE MAIN BODY OF YOUR WEBPAGE IS PLACED HERE
</body>
</html>

As I said above, these are the tags you MUST have. If you only want to learn the least of HTML, this is all you need. (Your webpage may still work without these tags, but you really should include them). As for the <br> and <p> tags, they are really just formatting tags - put breaks between your paragraphs.

Well, this is the end of my introduction to HTML - hope you understood all the things I've said!

 

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