Lesson 2 : Basics of Coding


In this lesson you will learn the simple rules you must follow in constructing any web site.  Here is the basic layout for all HTML pages.

  1. <html>

  2. <head>

  3. <Title></Title>

  4. </head>

  5. <BODY>

  6. </BODY>

  7. </html>

You can easily remember this by the convenient acronym HHTHBBH, which makes absolutely no sense.  Note that HTML is not case-sensitive and any combination of upper and lowercase letters may be used in your code.

Most HTML consists of text surrounded by two pieces of code.  The title of a page, that which is seen on the browser's upper bar, is placed between the two title labels.  Most of the page lies within the body.  As in the example above, the latter of the two code snippets is preceded by a forward slash to signify an end to the current section.  Code may occupy any number of lines and is not affected by abrupt line changes.  HTML was made to be simple and is not complicated by too many extraneous rules.

In order to make a web page, you need only a simple text editor.  Just be sure to save your file with a .htm or .html ending, and it will appear as you intended it.  If you leave it as a .txt file, it will still appear on the web, but it will simply be the code as you typed it.

Try out this simple web page, don't worry if you don't recognize many of the commands, these will be taught in subsequent lessons.

  1. <html>

  2. <head>

  3. <Title>Welcome to this Page!</Title>

  4. </head>

  5. <BODY bgcolor = "F253642">

  6. <CENTER><H1>This Page Has no Purpose!</H1></CENTER>

  7. I hope you enjoy this thoroughly pointless page.

  8. <a href = "http://www.thumb.com"> For some classic films, go here </a>

  9. </BODY>

  10. </html>

You can see that the words "Welcome to this Page!" show up in your title bar, and the text within the body parameters is displayed within the main window, even the words with no code around them.  This is what your page should look like:

I hope you've gained some insight into the fascinating world of HTML, in the chapters that follow, you will learn how to construct a fully functional, and perhaps even useful web page for any conceivable application.  To learn about inserting high quality images, like the one above, click on the button below:

buttongray.gif - 4934 Bytes

Or if you're one of those people who enjoys taking tests just for the fun of it, click here to take a Quiz on Chapters I and II

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