Writing HTML specifications: A HTML specification for a WWW document must be stored in a plain text file The text file must not contain any control characters Thus, it is best to use a plain text editor to write a HTML specification Save it in a file with either a.html or a.htm suffix Where to store your HTML files – –In your public_html directory

More on HTML Like every language, HTML can be used correctly and incorrectly You will frequently see badly written HTML specifications, because many web pages are written by self-taught enthusiasts Web browsers try to avoid crashing when they find badly-written pages But it is wrong to rely on this

Structure versus Rendering (contd.) If you look at web pages written by other people you will frequently rendering tags used This is BAD practice I will try to avoid doing so If you read books on HTML you will find rendering tags described Try to avoid using them

Consider the following:

Structure versus Rendering Some words are in boldface large letters How is this done? Actually, we should not wonder HOW it is done We should wonder WHY it is done

Structure versus Rendering Why was it done? Because the author wanted to have a heading for the text that follows

Structure versus Rendering It just happens that Explorer (and Netscape too) render headings in large bold-face lettering Other browsers might render headers differently EG, a speaking browser on a mobile phone might render a heading by speaking it in a louder voice

Structure versus Rendering There are HTML tags to specify letter size and to specify boldface but it is BAD PRACTICE to use them I hope that you will never catch me using them Or even introducing them to you If you find them in a book on HTML, ignore them

Tagging for structure Okay, then, how do we tag headings? Surprise, surprise, there are special tags Indeed, there are several kinds of heading tags because documents have several levels of headings

Tagging for structure Okay, then, how do we tag headings? Surprise, surprise, there are special tags Indeed, there are several kinds of heading tags because documents have several levels of headings

Heading Tags come in pairs Top-level headings are enclosed by and tags 2nd-level headings are enclosed by and tags 3rd-level headings are enclosed by and tags And so on...

Use lower- case tags –The picture on this slide is very old –It shows upper-case tags, which were allowed back then –Upper-case tags are not allowed any more –Do not use upper-case tags