Title of page

What is an HTML File? • HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language • An HTML file is a text file containing small markup tags • The markup tags tell the Web browser how to display the page • An HTML file must have an htm or html file extension • An HTML file can be created using a simple text editor Do You Want to Try It? If you are running Windows, start Notepad. If you are on a Mac start SimpleText. In OSX start Text Edit and change the following preferences: Select (in the preferences window) "Plain text" instead of "Rich text" and then select "Ignore rich text commands in HTML files". This is very important because if you don't do this HTML codes probably won't work. Type in the following text: Title of page This is my first homepage. This text is bold Save the file as "mypage.htm". Start your Internet browser. Select "Open" (or "Open Page") in the File menu of your browser. A dialog box will appear. Select "Browse" (or "Choose File") and locate the HTML file you just created - "mypage.htm" - select it and click "Open". Now you should see an address in the dialog box, for example "C:\MyDocuments\mypage.htm". Click OK, and the browser will display the page. Example Explained The first tag in your HTML document is . This tag tells your browser that this is the start of an HTML document. The last tag in your document is . This tag tells your browser that this is the end of the HTML document. The text between the tag and the tag is header information. Header information is not displayed in the browser window. The text between the tags is the title of your document. The title is displayed in your browser's caption. The text between the <body> tags is the text that will be displayed in your browser. The text between the <b> and </b> tags will be displayed in a bold font. HTM or HTML Extension? When you save an HTML file, you can use either the .htm or the .html extension. We have used .htm in our examples. It might be a bad habit inherited from the past when some of the commonly used software only allowed three letter extensions. With newer software we think it will be perfectly safe to use .html. Note on HTML Editors: You can easily edit HTML files using a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor like FrontPage, Claris Home Page, or Adobe PageMill instead of writing your markup tags in a plain text file. But if you want to be a skillful Web developer, we strongly recommend that you use a plain text editor to learn your primer HTML. Frequently Asked Questions Q: After I have edited an HTML file, I cannot view the result in my browser. Why? A: Make sure that you have saved the file with a proper name and extension like "c:\mypage.htm". Also make sure that you use the same name when you open the file in your browser. Q: I have tried to edit an HTML file but the changes don't show in the browser. Why? A: The browser caches your pages so it doesn't have to read the same page twice. When you have changed a page, the browser doesn't know that. Use the browser's refresh/reload button to force the browser to read the edited page. Q: What browser should I use? A: You can do all the training with all of the common browsers, like Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Netscape, or Opera. However, some of the examples in our advanced classes require the latest versions of the browsers. Q: Does my computer have to run Windows? What about a Mac? A: You can do all your training on a non-Windows computer like a Mac. However, some of the examples in our advanced classes require a newer version of Windows, like Windows 98 or Windows 2000. HTML documents are text files made up of HTML elements. HTML elements are defined using HTML tags. HTML Tags HTML tags are used to mark-up HTML elements HTML tags are surrounded by the two characters < and > The surrounding characters are called angle brackets HTML tags normally come in pairs like <b> and </b> The first tag in a pair is the start tag, the second tag is the end tag The text between the start and end tags is the element content HTML tags are not case sensitive, <b> means the same as <B> HTML Elements Remember the HTML example from the previous page: <html> <head> <title>Title of page This is my first homepage. This text is bold This is an HTML element: This text is bold The HTML element starts with a start tag: The content of the HTML element is: This text is bold The HTML element ends with an end tag: The purpose of the tag is to define an HTML element that should be displayed as bold. This is also an HTML element: This is my first homepage. This text is bold This HTML element starts with the start tag , and ends with the end tag . The purpose of the tag is to define the HTML element that contains the body of the HTML document. Why do We Use Lowercase Tags? We have just said that HTML tags are not case sensitive: means the same as . When you surf the Web, you will notice that most tutorials use uppercase HTML tags in their examples. We always use lowercase tags. Why? If you want to prepare yourself for the next generations of HTML, you should start using lowercase tags. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends lowercase tags in their HTML 4 recommendation, and XHTML (the next generation HTML) demands lowercase tags. Tag Attributes Tags can have attributes. Attributes can provide additional information about the HTML elements on your page. This tag defines the body element of your HTML page: . With an added bgcolor attribute, you can tell the browser that the background color of your page should be red, like this: . This tag defines an HTML table: . With an added border attribute, you can tell the browser that the table should have no borders:
Attributes always come in name/value pairs like this: name="value". Attributes are always added to the start tag of an HTML element. Quote Styles, "red" or 'red'? Attribute values should always be enclosed in quotes. Double style quotes are the most common, but single style quotes are also allowed. In some rare situations, like when the attribute value itself contains quotes, it is necessary to use single quotes: Name='John "Shotgun" Nelson' The most important tags in HTML are tags that define headings, paragraphs and line breaks. The best way to learn HTML is to work with examples. We have created a very nice HTML editor for you. With this editor, you can edit the HTML source code if you like, and click on a test button to view the result Headings Headings are defined with the
to
tags.
defines the largest heading.
defines the smallest heading.
This is a heading
This is a heading
This is a heading
This is a heading
This is a heading
This is a heading
HTML automatically adds an extra blank line before and after a heading. Paragraphs Paragraphs are defined with the
tag.
This is a paragraph
This is another paragraph
HTML automatically adds an extra blank line before and after a paragraph. Line Breaks The
tag is used when you want to end a line, but don't want to start a new paragraph. The
tag forces a line break wherever you place it.
This
is a para
graph with line breaks
The
tag is an empty tag. It has no closing tag. Comments in HTML The comment tag is used to insert a comment in the HTML source code. A comment will be ignored by the browser. You can use comments to explain your code, which can help you when you edit the source code at a later date. Note that you need an exclamation point after the opening bracket, but not before the closing bracket. Basic Notes - Useful Tips When you write HTML text, you can never be sure how the text is displayed in another browser. Some people have large computer displays, some have small. The text will be reformatted every time the user resizes his window. Never try to format the text in your editor by adding empty lines and spaces to the text. HTML will truncate the spaces in your text. Any numbers of spaces count as one. Some extra information: In HTML a new line counts as one space. Using empty paragraphs
to insert blank lines is a bad habit. Use the
tag instead. (But don't use the
tag to create lists. Wait until you have learned about HTML lists.) You might have noticed that paragraphs can be written without the closing tag
. Don't rely on it. The next version of HTML will not allow you to skip ANY closing tags. HTML automatically adds an extra blank line before and after some elements, like before and after a paragraph, and before and after a heading. We use a horizontal rule (the
tag), to separate the sections in our tutorials The Anchor Tag and the Href Attribute HTML uses the (anchor) tag to create a link to another document. An anchor can point to any resource on the Web: an HTML page, an image, a sound file, a movie, etc. The syntax of creating an anchor: Text to be displayed The tag is used to create an anchor to link from, the href attribute is used to address the document to link to, and the words between the open and close of the anchor tag will be displayed as a hyperlink. This anchor defines a link to Microsoft: Visit W3Schools! The Target Attribute With the target attribute, you can define where the linked document will be opened. The line below will open the document in a new browser window: Visit W3Schools! The Anchor Tag and the Name Attribute The name attribute is used to create a named anchor. When using named anchors we can create links that can jump directly into a specific section on a page, instead of letting the user scroll around to find what he/she is looking for. Below is the syntax of a named anchor: Text to be displayed The name attribute is used to create a named anchor. The name of the anchor can be any text you care to use. The line below defines a named anchor: Useful Tips Section You should notice that a named anchor is not displayed in a special way. Frames With frames, you can display more than one HTML document in the same browser window. Each HTML document is called a frame, and each frame is independent of the others. The disadvantages of using frames are: • The web developer must keep track of more HTML documents • It is difficult to print the entire page The Frameset Tag • The tag defines how to divide the window into frames • Each frameset defines a set of rows or columns • The values of the rows/columns indicate the amount of screen area each row/column will occupy The Frame Tag • The tag defines what HTML document to put into each frame In the example below we have a frameset with two columns. The first column is set to 25% of the width of the browser window. The second column is set to 75% of the width of the browser window. The HTML document "frame_a.htm" is put into the first column, and the HTML document "frame_b.htm" is put into the second column: Basic Notes - Useful Tips If a frame has visible borders, the user can resize it by dragging the border. To prevent a user from doing this, you can add no resize="no resize" to the tag. Add the tag for browsers that do not support frames. Important: You cannot use the tags together with the tags! However, if you add a tag containing some text for browsers that do not support frames, you will have to enclose the text in tags! See how it is done in the first example below. Tables Tables are defined with the

tag. A table is divided into rows (with the tag), and each row is divided into data cells (with the
tag). The letters td stands for "table data," which is the content of a data cell. A data cell can contain text, images, lists, paragraphs, forms, horizontal rules, tables, etc.

row 1, cell 1 row 1, cell 2

row 2, cell 1 row 2, cell 2

How it looks in a browser: row 1, cell 1 row 1, cell 2 row 2, cell 1 row 2, cell 2 Tables and the Border Attribute If you do not specify a border attribute the table will be displayed without any borders. Sometimes this can be useful, but most of the time, you want the borders to show. To display a table with borders, you will have to use the border attribute:

Row 1, cell 1 Row 1, cell 2

Headings in a Table Headings in a table are defined with the tag.

Heading Another Heading

row 1, cell 1 row 1, cell 2

row 2, cell 1 row 2, cell 2

How it looks in a browser: Heading Another Heading row 1, cell 1 row 1, cell 2 row 2, cell 1 row 2, cell 2 Empty Cells in a Table Table cells with no content are not displayed very well in most browsers.

row 1, cell 1 row 1, cell 2

row 2, cell 1

How it looks in a browser: row 1, cell 1 row 1, cell 2 row 2, cell 1 Note that the borders around the empty table cell are missing (NB! Mozilla Fire fox displays the border). To avoid this, add a non-breaking space ( ;) to empty data cells, to make the borders visible:

row 1, cell 1 row 1, cell 2

row 2, cell 1

How it looks in a browser: row 1, cell 1 row 1, cell 2 row 2, cell 1 Unordered Lists An unordered list is a list of items. The list items are marked with bullets (typically small black circles). An unordered list starts with the
tag. Each list item starts with the
tag.

Coffee

Milk

Here is how it looks in a browser: • Coffee • Milk Inside a list item you can put paragraphs, line breaks, images, links, other lists, etc. Ordered Lists An ordered list is also a list of items. The list items are marked with numbers. An ordered list starts with the
tag. Each list item starts with the
tag.

Coffee

Milk

Here is how it looks in a browser: 1. Coffee 2. Milk Inside a list item you can put paragraphs, line breaks, images, links, other lists, etc. Definition Lists A definition list is not a list of items. This is a list of terms and explanation of the terms. A definition list starts with the
tag. Each definition-list term starts with the
tag. Each definition-list definition starts with the
tag.

Coffee

Black hot drink

Milk

White cold drink

Here is how it looks in a browser: Coffee Black hot drink Milk White cold drink Inside a definition-list definition (the
tag) you can put paragraphs, line breaks, images, links, other lists, etc. Forms A form is an area that can contain form elements. Form elements are elements that allow the user to enter information (like text fields, textarea fields, drop-down menus, radio buttons, checkboxes, etc.) in a form. A form is defined with the
tag.
Input The most used form tag is the tag. The type of input is specified with the type attribute. The most commonly used input types are explained below. Text Fields Text fields are used when you want the user to type letters, numbers, etc. in a form.
First name:
Last name:
How it looks in a browser: First name: Last name: Note that the form itself is not visible. Also note that in most browsers, the width of the text field is 20 characters by default. Radio Buttons Radio Buttons are used when you want the user to select one of a limited number of choices.
Male
Female
How it looks in a browser: Male Female Note that only one option can be chosen. Checkboxes Checkboxes are used when you want the user to select one or more options of a limited number of choices.
I have a bike
I have a car
How it looks in a browser: I have a bike I have a car The Form's Action Attribute and the Submit Button When the user clicks on the "Submit" button, the content of the form is sent to another file. The form's action attribute defines the name of the file to send the content to. The file defined in the action attribute usually does something with the received input.
Username:
How it looks in a browser: Username: If you type some characters in the text field above, and click the "Submit" button, you will send your input to a page called "html_form_action.asp". That page will show you the received input. The Image Tag and the Src Attribute In HTML, images are defined with the tag. The tag is empty, which means that it contains attributes only and it has no closing tag. To display an image on a page, you need to use the src attribute. Src stands for "source". The value of the src attribute is the URL of the image you want to display on your page. The syntax of defining an image: The URL points to the location where the image is stored. An image named "boat.gif" located in the directory "images" on "www.Arunkutti.bravehost.com" has the URL: http://www. Arunkutti.bravehost.com/images/boat.gif. The browser puts the image where the image tag occurs in the document. If you put an image tag between two paragraphs, the browser shows the first paragraph, then the image, and then the second paragraph. The Alt Attribute The alt attribute is used to define an "alternate text" for an image. The value of the alt attribute is an author-defined text: The "alt" attribute tells the reader what he or she is missing on a page if the browser can't load images. The browser will then display the alternate text instead of the image. It is a good practice to include the "alt" attribute for each image on a page, to improve the display and usefulness of your document for people who have text-only browsers. Basic Notes - Useful Tips If an HTML file contains ten images - eleven files are required to display the page right. Loading images take time, so my best advice is: Use images carefully. Backgrounds The tag has two attributes where you can specify backgrounds. The background can be a color or an image. Bgcolor The bgcolor attribute specifies a background-color for an HTML page. The value of this attribute can be a hexadecimal number, an RGB value, or a color name: The lines above all set the background-color to black. Background The background attribute specifies a background-image for an HTML page. The value of this attribute is the URL of the image you want to use. If the image is smaller than the browser window, the image will repeat itself until it fills the entire browser window. The URL can be relative (as in the first line above) or absolute (as in the second line above). Note: If you want to use a background image, you should keep in mind: • Will the background image increase the loading time too much? • Will the background image look good with other images on the page? • Will the background image look good with the text colors on the page? • Will the background image look good when it is repeated on the page? • Will the background image take away the focus from the text? HTML Basic Document Document name goes here Visible text goes here Heading Elements
Largest Heading

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

Smallest Heading
Text Elements
This is a paragraph

(line break)
(horizontal rule)
This text is preformatted
Logical Styles This text is emphasized This text is strong This is some computer code Physical Styles This text is bold This text is italic Links, Anchors, and Image Elements This is a Link Send e-mail A named anchor: Useful Tips Section Jump to the Useful Tips Section Unordered list

First item

Next item

Ordered list

First item

Next item

Definition list

First term

Definition

Next term

Definition

Tables

someheader someheader

sometext sometext

Frames Forms

Entities < is the same as < > is the same as > © is the same as © Other Elements
Text quoted from some source.

Address 1
Address 2
City