... HTML & Webpages ...

... Recommend this series to a friend.

We'll continue as though you have already registered with a web space provider (I'm in GeoCities right now, using that a s a frame of reference), and are now in your File Manager; I'll be guiding you step by step in that window. If you are in a different web space provider, chances are that the options there are very similar. If you are using a processor and just want to know the html tags, be patient as we'll get to them soon:

What you initially see relevant to our work are some buttons (two rows, on top and bottom) with one file, "index.html" between them. Before we proceed, I'm going to ask you to make a quick change, ONLY if the extension of that file is htm instead of html. So let's change the name index.htm to index.html (some hands-on experience can never hurt anybody):

1. Place a check in the small box to the left of the file.
2. Click the Rename button.
3. Type into the New Name box "index.html" (index dot html, sans quotes).
4. Click Rename Files.

Well now, you just did some fancy editing there; good for you. My readings would indicate that html is more recognized by different browsers; you did a good thing. Htm is used if you are restricted to 8.3 filenames, which you probably are not. Now let's continue with the buttons; they are: New, Edit, Copy, Rename, Delete (all for checked files). In the center we have Move, and Copy (files to Subdirectory). And all the way on the right we have Upload Files. They function as follows (in the order in which I listed them). Note that these instructions will become clearer after we proceed with building our first page:

Someone asked why I'm discussing 8.3 filenames. I think I was just showing off; it's not really important for this subject. But it means that in the old computers, filenames were limited to 8 characters plus 3 for extensions (jpg, gif, txt, doc, etc). I'm sure this doesn't apply to you in today's modern age. So what do these buttons do?

• New … this opens a new editor to make another page on your website.

• Edit … this opens the editor for any page that you have checked, for example, index.html.

• Copy … this copies the contents of any page that you checked to become another page (that you would have to name) on your website. You might then want to use that page's format, change the content within the page, and then have a new page with the same look as the original page you copied from. As the expression goes, there are lots of tricks to the trade.

• Rename … often for various reasons you might want to rename a file (page). Click this button is the way you do it. Just make sure that the extension is copied also. If it is an html file, then .html (dot html) must follow the name. Same thing with jpg's and gif's (dot jpg or dot gif). Btw, you can name a page with a capital letter but any files you upload into this file manager must be in lower case (more of that later).

• Delete … does just that, deletes any file or files you have checked. We'll talk more about this later but it pays to say now that it's a good idea to backup all the work you do on some word processor. I don't mean the final look of any webpage; I mean the work in the editor (the html material). Why? Well, you never know. To paraphrase a cruder saying, "Unforeseen things happen."

• Move (to subdirectory) … this will move any checked file or files up to any subdirectory (think of a subdirectory as a folder you made, similar to the organization you have on your computer), or down to a lower level if you are already in a subdirectory (more of that later).

• Copy (to subdirectory) … same as "Copy" above but this one is to copy to another level directory.

• Upload Files … that opens a new window where you can browse to any folder in your computer (or to your desktop, which I'm sure you know is also a folder in your Windows directory, but which also, and happily, has it's own line in Save and Upload windows) and with that you can upload up to 20 files (within certain limits) into that particular file manager level. Just make sure any file uploaded is named in lower case letters with no spaces. The directions for this uploading are self-explanatory. By uploading, we are talking about bringing files, usually graphics, into this File Manager so they can be used on your webpage.