About HTML
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is a formatting “language” that World Wide Web browsers (such as Netscape, Internet Explorer and FireFox) read in order to correctly display home pages. Text files are embedded with “tags” that cause the browsers to display text in certain ways.
An HTML document is created by placing tags within a text document. The tags tell a Web browser how to display a given home page. Tags are always found within angle brackets, < >, and are generally used in pairs— “containers”—<open tag>…some text…</close tag>. Tags are closed by placing a forward slash (/) in front of the second tag.
For example,
<B>some text written here</B>
would cause the following display:
some text written here
or
<I>some more text written here</I>
would cause the following display:
some more text written here
You may type a file using your favorite word processor (any one will do, even Simple Text or Notepad) and apply the tags as you go (either manually or with an editor’s assistance), or you may open an existing text or word processed file within a word processing program or HTML editor and apply the tags manually or with the assistance of the editor.
You may occasionally find HTML documentation where some tags are opened but not closed. While this generally does not effect the page display, as browsers and the HTML “language” itself become more sophisticated, it may not remain true. For best results throughout the lifespan of your document, use both opening and closing tags.
HTML documents always follow this pattern:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>some title text here</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>lots of stuff here
</BODY>
</HTML>
The <HTML> tag indicates the document type and all the pieces of the given HTML document are found within the <HTML>…</HTML> container tags.
The <HEAD>…</HEAD> container tags incorporate background information, such as editor-specific information, the title information, and other pieces of information used by search engines, documentation, and background information useful to the developers or users of the presentation.
The <TITLE>…</TITLE> container tags contain information that will appear in the colored ribbon at the very top of the browser window. It should contain a short, concise descriptor of your page.
The <BODY>…</BODY> container tags contain all the information you wish to present to your audience.
