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One
of the first things you do as part of creating your Internet
presence is to design your web site content. Coming up
with content that is both informative and easy to use
is a challenge. This chapter explains how you can get
started, but it also includes references to a wealth of
resources that can help you in creating web sites that
people want to visit. See also the "Publishing
Web Content" section of Chapter
3.
This appendix contains
information about the following:
- Creating Web Pages
- HTML Books
- HTML Online References
and Style Guides
- HTML Editors and
Tools
Creating Web Pages
You can either create
web pages yourself or hire a consultant to do it for
you. This section describes how a web page works.
Web content is defined
by HyperText Markup Language or HTML. HTML uses instructions,
or tags, embedded within a document, to define how a
document is displayed. For example, if you want a specific
word or sentence in a document in boldface, place tags
around the word or sentence:
<bold>The quick
brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.</bold>
When a browser parses
your document, it looks for specific markup tags by
name. In the example above, the phrase "The quick
brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." is displayed
in boldface. The browser does not display the hypertext
markup tags. The markup tags are viewed only if someone
"views the source" of the document. Viewing
the source code of a document is an option available
in many browsers.
Note: Markup language
usage is not restricted in scope to web content. Every
electronic text-processing tool uses some kind of markup
language. One example is the popular word processor
WordPerfect TM. The Reveal Codes command
in WordPerfect enables you to see the actual markup
commands (non-printable characters that define the formatting
of a document).
However, it is important
to understand the limitations between the codes you
might encounter in a software package and the HyperText
Markup Language tags. The codes you find in software
packages are "What You See Is What You Get"
(WYSIWYG). HTML is not a WYSIWYG markup language. Instead,
you mark elements of a document as logical entities
such as titles, paragraphs, headings, lists, and quotations.
Each browser then interprets these entities and displays
the content, in its own unique way.
For example, a graphical
browser like Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet
Explorer interprets a page differently than a text-only
browser, such as lynx or a Braille browser. Even
though each browser presents the same information in
a different way, the logical elements are still conveyed
and preserved. In this way, HTML is a tremendously flexible
markup language.
HTML is extendable, meaning
that new features and tags are continually being added
to the language as it evolves.
The very first definition
of HTML was called Version 1, or HTML 1.0. This quickly
evolved into the next version of HTML, known as Version
2 or HTML 2.0. All browsers, at a minimum, support HTML
2.0. After HTML 2.0, proliferation of vendor-specific
tags (such as those specific to Netscape or Microsoft)
somewhat encumbered and confused the progression of
an HTML standard. However, some of the vendor-specific
tags as well as many other new tags were combined to
form a new HTML standard, known as HTML 3.2. As of this
writing, HTML 4.0 is the most recent version.
HTML Books
Before you start experimenting
with HTML, you should have at least one good book about
HTML on your bookshelf. Books are an immediately available
resource to consult when you encounter questions about,
or problems with, your HTML design. There are probably
several hundred books that discuss the HyperText Markup
Language, all of which present an overview of the HTML
tags. Two highly recommended books are listed below:The HTML Sourcebook,
Fourth Edition: A Complete Guide to HTML 4.0 and HTML
Extensions
Author: Ian S. Graham
Publisher: John Wiley
& Sons, Inc.
HTML: The Definitive
Guide, 3rd EditionAuthor: Chuck Musciano
& Bill Kennedy
Publisher: O'Reilly and
Associates, Inc.
As HTML has evolved,
so too has the complexity of the language and its accompanying
extensions ( e.g. style sheets and scripting languages).
Excellent books on style sheets and scripting languages
are included below:
Dynamic HTML: The
Definitive ReferenceAuthor: Danny Goodman
Publisher: O'Reilly and
Associates, Inc.
JavaScript: The Definitive
Guide, 3rd EditionAuthor: David Flanagan
Publisher: O'Reilly and
Associates, Inc.
The HTML Stylesheet
Sourcebook: A Complete Guide to Designing and Creating
HTML StylesheetsAuthor: Ian S. Graham
Publisher: John Wiley
& Sons, Inc.
HTML Online References
and Style Guides
Online HTML references
are superb resources for beginners as well as a convenient
reference for more experienced developers. The following
URLs comprise just a small sampling of HTML references
available on the Internet. However, many of these URLs
then refer to other sites that contain additional information.
Also, some of the sites listed below have corresponding
books, and the book URLs are included where available.
Inside
HTML - A Comprehensive online guide to the HTML
Tag Language covering topics from a Beginner level all
the way to advanced.
A Beginner's Guide
to HTMLAuthor: National Center
for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
Overview of site (quoted
from site):
"Many people use
the NCSA Beginner's Guide to HTML as a starting point
to understanding the hypertext markup language (HTML)
used on the World Wide Web. It is an introduction and
does not pretend to offer instructions on every aspect
of HTML. Links to additional Web-based resources about
HTML and other related aspects of preparing files are
provided at the end of the guide."
Introduction to HTML
and URLsAuthor: Ian S. Graham
Overview of site (quoted
from site):
"This HTML document
collection explains how to use the different HTML document
description elements, or tags and how to use these elements
to write good, well designed HTML documents."
Creating Killer Web
sitesAuthor: David SiegelURL:
Overview of site (quoted
from amazon.com):
"More of a style
guide than an HTML guide, Creating Killer Web sites
is concerned with the building of Third-Generation sites,
Web sites that are conceived by design and not by technological
ability. Siegel and his helpers at Studio Verso overview
a wide variety of topics, including a history of browsers,
how to use specific HTML tags, how to select software
tools, and advice on pure aesthetic design."
Web Pages That SuckAuthor: Vincent Flanders
& Michael Willis
Overview of site (quoted
from amazon.com):
"Unless you're abnormally
gifted, the best way to learn a craft thoroughly is
to learn not only its central tenets but also its pitfalls.
Web Pages That Suck teach you good Web design by pointing
out ugly, misguided, and confusing sites--any site that
fails to deliver good graphics and clear, well-focused
content. As the authors show you all sorts of corporate
and personal pages, they help you determine your target
audience, design your site and its navigational elements
and content, and solve problems concerning graphics
and text."
Yahoo! Directory
Viewing Source Code
One of the best ways
to learn HTML is by viewing the source of documents
created by someone else. When you are browsing the Internet
and encounter some type of design element or layout
format that catches your fancy, view the page (or frame)
source and see how it was done. Popular browsers such
as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer
include the option to of view document source code as
a menu item or a pop-up menu. Please be considerate
and honor any copyright notifications that you encounter.
HTML Editors and Tools
The software industry
has spent hundreds of millions of dollars designing
tools that help you to design your web site. The complexity
of these software packages varies widely. Some are completely
WYSIWYG based, while others are code based, revealing
HTML codes to you as you use graphical tool palettes
to define logical elements in your document. Some software
packages design a complete web site for you by just
having you fill out a few pieces of key information
with their content creation wizards. Of course, these
software packages must be purchased, and all of them
do nothing more than what you could do by hand with
free software like the text editor Notepad.
If you are considering
purchasing a software package to help you author and
design your web content, download trial versions of
the software where available. Your own personal preferences
and tastes will dictate which software packages and
tools you decide to purchase.
There are dozens of HTML
authoring tools available to help you construct your web
pages. Links to several HTML index sites and HTML editor
programs are provided below. This is only a small sampling
of the web authoring programs available. You can find
additional programs by typing "HTML editor"
into any good search engine.
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