Helper's HTML Handbook: Introduction


	So...you're sittn' around the house one day, and all of a sudden, you think, "Hey! I wanna build a web site...where do I start?" You then eagerly begin to search the Internet until you just so happen to stumble across my site, and say, "Hey! this looks like a good place to start!" And so, here we are now, getting ready to learn how to build a web site. But what is this HTML stuff exactly? What does it all mean? Is it hard, or am I gonna fall asleep doing this because it's way too easy.... These are all great questions, and ya know what? This page of my site is where I'm gonna answer 'em! :) So, go ahead and scroll on down, and see if any of the stuff down there makes sense to you...

Question/Answer ~~ Beginning/End of an HTML Document

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Question: First off, what in the world does HTML stand for? What's it supposed to mean?

Answer: HTML is an acronym for the words Hyper Text Mark-Up Language. HTML is the basic construction code for web sites. A web browser (for example: Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.) reads this code, and uses it to display a web site.
I wouldn't go as far as to say it's a programming language, 'cause it's really not. It's far simpler than even the easiest programming language that I've encountered. I would think of it more as a set of codes and commands, that a web browser reads in order to display your page.

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Question: Is there any specific program I've gotta have to do this HTML stuff? What do you use to make your web sites?

Answer: Actually, there's not really a specific program you just *have* to have to write HTML. Basically, you're gonna need a text editor that enables you to write code continuously (in other words, a word processor that doesn't use margins). I think the most common "offline" program to write HTML is good 'ole Notepad. This is in fact what I used to create this site, and many of my other sites as well.
If you're creating your web site on GeoCities, you can also use the Advanced HTML Editor that's located in the File Manager. It's not quite the same as Notepad, because the lines of code "wrap" to the next line, but if you open the page in Notepad itself, the lines aren't separated like they are in the Editor. *So*, you could use this too, and your page will look just the same.

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Question: All right...I decided to make my page in notepad, and I saved it etc. but it keeps showing up as a text document and not my page! What's the deal here? Did I do somethin' wrong?

Answer: In order for your web site to show up as your web site, you need to add .html to the end of your file name. Since Notepad is essentially a text editor, it's going to save your files as text documents by default. *So*, here's whacha do to fix this little problem:
Open Notepad, and then open your web site file.
Now click "File", then "Save As". Type in the name of your file, and add ".html" (without the quotation marks) to the end. Then press the Save button.

If you haven't created your HTML file yet, then just make sure that the first time you save it, to add .html to the end of the file name. That way you an avoid this problem all together!

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Question: Okay, now I have my page all build and everything, but how do I view it. I wanna see what it's really gonna look like on the web.

Answer: Sure thing! What you do is open up your web browser. There's no need to even connect to the internet for this, since your page is on your hard drive right now. So, all you do once your browser is opened, is click on File, then Open. You'll then want to find your page, and then just click open in that dialogue window that's on your screen. Your page should show up just like it would on the web!

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Beginning and Ending an HTML Document:

One of the most important things to learn in the beginning is the start and end of an HTML document. These things are required for a page to function properly. Take a look at the coding below, and I'll decipher it all for ya in a minute...

The Beginning:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Page Title Goes Here</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="Pick a color" TEXT="Color" LINK="Color" ALINK="Color" VLINK="Color">

The End:
</BODY>
</HTML>

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The Above in Plain English:

All righty then...let's break this down a bit, and I'll kinda explain what each of the tags above mean. Then maybe you'll be able to understand it all a bit more...

<HTML>: This kicks off the whole HTML document. It tells the browser, that the document is a web site document.

<HEAD>: The Head of the HTML document is the start of another sub part of the page. This is mainly the place where the Title of the page is listed.

<TITLE> </TITLE>: Pretty self explanatory. This is where the Title of the HTML document is written. This is what is displayed on the *very* top title bar of the browser. If you'll look up on that same colored line that the minimize, maximize, and close buttons are, you'll notice that to the left it displays the title of the page. What you type between the <TITLE> </TITLE> tags is what is displayed up there. Make sure not to forget the </TITLE> tag. It can cause some pretty weird things to happen to your page if you forget that one little thing.

</HEAD>: This ends the Head of the HTML document. Just like the </TITLE> tag, don't forget it!

<BODY>: The <BODY> tag starts off, well, the Body of the HTML document. This is where the majority of your code will be written. All your text, etc. will also be typed under this tag. The sub parts of this code is where you will define some colors. BGCOLOR is the Background color of the document, TEXT is the color of text, LINK is the color that your links will be, ALINK is the color of an active link (meaning it's being clicked), and finally VLINK is the color of a visited link. Any color can be put into these spots.

</BODY>: Ends the Body of the HTML document. All your codings and text should be typed *above* this tag.

</HTML>: Ends the entire HTML document. This should be the last line of code you type.

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And there ya have it! If you have questions about anything above, I'm available any time at abanc@brightok.net. Just give me a holler!

	Question/Answer ~~ Beginning/End of an HTML Document

	Question: First off, what in the world does HTML stand for? What's it supposed to mean?
	Answer: HTML is an acronym for the words Hyper Text Mark-Up Language. HTML is the basic construction code for web sites. A web browser (for example: Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.) reads this code, and uses it to display a web site. I wouldn't go as far as to say it's a programming language, 'cause it's really not. It's far simpler than even the easiest programming language that I've encountered. I would think of it more as a set of codes and commands, that a web browser reads in order to display your page.
	Back to Top

	Question: Is there any specific program I've gotta have to do this HTML stuff? What do you use to make your web sites?
	Answer: Actually, there's not really a specific program you just have to have to write HTML. Basically, you're gonna need a text editor that enables you to write code continuously (in other words, a word processor that doesn't use margins). I think the most common "offline" program to write HTML is good 'ole Notepad. This is in fact what I used to create this site, and many of my other sites as well. If you're creating your web site on GeoCities, you can also use the Advanced HTML Editor that's located in the File Manager. It's not quite the same as Notepad, because the lines of code "wrap" to the next line, but if you open the page in Notepad itself, the lines aren't separated like they are in the Editor. So, you could use this too, and your page will look just the same.
	Back to Top

	Question: All right...I decided to make my page in notepad, and I saved it etc. but it keeps showing up as a text document and not my page! What's the deal here? Did I do somethin' wrong?
	Answer: In order for your web site to show up as your web site, you need to add .html to the end of your file name. Since Notepad is essentially a text editor, it's going to save your files as text documents by default. So, here's whacha do to fix this little problem: Open Notepad, and then open your web site file. Now click "File", then "Save As". Type in the name of your file, and add ".html" (without the quotation marks) to the end. Then press the Save button. If you haven't created your HTML file yet, then just make sure that the first time you save it, to add .html to the end of the file name. That way you an avoid this problem all together!
	Back to Top

	Question: Okay, now I have my page all build and everything, but how do I view it. I wanna see what it's really gonna look like on the web.
	Answer: Sure thing! What you do is open up your web browser. There's no need to even connect to the internet for this, since your page is on your hard drive right now. So, all you do once your browser is opened, is click on File, then Open. You'll then want to find your page, and then just click open in that dialogue window that's on your screen. Your page should show up just like it would on the web!
	Back to Top

	Beginning and Ending an HTML Document:

	One of the most important things to learn in the beginning is the start and end of an HTML document. These things are required for a page to function properly. Take a look at the coding below, and I'll decipher it all for ya in a minute...
	The Beginning: <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Page Title Goes Here</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="Pick a color" TEXT="Color" LINK="Color" ALINK="Color" VLINK="Color"> The End: </BODY> </HTML>
	Back to Top

	The Above in Plain English:
	All righty then...let's break this down a bit, and I'll kinda explain what each of the tags above mean. Then maybe you'll be able to understand it all a bit more...
	<HTML>: This kicks off the whole HTML document. It tells the browser, that the document is a web site document.
	<HEAD>: The Head of the HTML document is the start of another sub part of the page. This is mainly the place where the Title of the page is listed.
	<TITLE> </TITLE>: Pretty self explanatory. This is where the Title of the HTML document is written. This is what is displayed on the very top title bar of the browser. If you'll look up on that same colored line that the minimize, maximize, and close buttons are, you'll notice that to the left it displays the title of the page. What you type between the <TITLE> </TITLE> tags is what is displayed up there. Make sure not to forget the </TITLE> tag. It can cause some pretty weird things to happen to your page if you forget that one little thing.
	</HEAD>: This ends the Head of the HTML document. Just like the </TITLE> tag, don't forget it!
	<BODY>: The <BODY> tag starts off, well, the Body of the HTML document. This is where the majority of your code will be written. All your text, etc. will also be typed under this tag. The sub parts of this code is where you will define some colors. BGCOLOR is the Background color of the document, TEXT is the color of text, LINK is the color that your links will be, ALINK is the color of an active link (meaning it's being clicked), and finally VLINK is the color of a visited link. Any color can be put into these spots.
	</BODY>: Ends the Body of the HTML document. All your codings and text should be typed above this tag.
	</HTML>: Ends the entire HTML document. This should be the last line of code you type.
	Back to Top

	And there ya have it! If you have questions about anything above, I'm available any time at abanc@brightok.net. Just give me a holler!