The Web Wizards Guide to HTML Chapter One World Wide Web Basics

Chapter Objectives Show how Web page authors and computers work together Look behind the scenes when a browser displays a Web page Explain what HTML is and how Web pages use HTML Demonstrate how to create Web pages with nothing more than a text editor and a browser Explore the role of HTML standards on the Web

To View the World Wide Web You Need An Internet-ready computer An Internet access account A Web browser

To Create a Web Site You Need An Internet-ready computer A text editor (or Web page construction kit) An Internet access account A password-protected account on a Web server

Uniform Resource Locator (URL) All Web pages are addressed with URLs The URL specifies – A server name – A directory path – A filename URLs are part of the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) communications protocol.

Web Page Displays All browsers are designed to display.html and.htm files Browsers have to rework their page displays whenever a browser window is resized Web pages can look a little different on different computers Web page authors cannot completely control their page displays

The Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) HTML formatting commands control Web page displays All HTML formatting is achieved with HTML elements All HTML elements are based on HTML tags and tag-pairs HTML files can be created with text editors

A HTML TagTemplate (insert text for the browsers title bar here) (insert visible Web page elements here)

HTML Editors Pros – Offer lots of useful features – Help you avoid tagging errors – Can save time Cons – Can interfere with HTML mastery – Can be intimidating for beginners

The Web Page Development Cycle 1. Save your HTML file 2. Load the file into your Web browser 3. Review the file with your Web browser 4. Revise your HTML file with a text editor Repeat this cycle as often as needed

Industry Standards Most HTML tags are in the official HTML standard All HTML-compliant browsers recognize the standard HTML tag set The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) sets the industry standard for HTML

Non-Standard HTML Some HTML tags are browser-specific extensions to HTML Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer do not always recognize each others HTML extensions Web pages that use non-standard HTML may not display well for all users Browser manufacturers create their own HTML extensions to influence the industry standard

HTML Validation Services A validation service on the Web can check an HTML file for you A validation service can be used to identify tagging errors and HTML extensions Some HTML tagging errors are difficult to locate by manual inspection If you dont use an HTML editor, a validation service can be very helpful