At present you are probably viewing this document on the World Wide Web (Web for short). The Web is an Internet (Net for short, I don't like 'Information Superhighway', its sounds too anorak like) tool that allows users to move around and get information very easily.

A Web document, or page, is created using a plain text file that conforms to the 'Hyper Text Markup Language' or HTML. Pictures, sounds and video can be included into a Web page, by creating a Link. In this document I intend to demonstate the very basics of creating you own Web homepages. I have also included many links to get more information.

To create a HTML document you need an ASCII text editor, such as MS-DOS Edit, Windows Notepad, OS/2 System Editor or UNIX vi. This file is only intended to give you an intsy-bitsy taste of creating a Web page.

Good Luck!

The Simplest HTML Document

You can create a Mega-Simple HTML document consisting of only 5 lines. and here is the code for it:

<TITLE>The Documents Title</TITLE>
<H1>A Level 1 Heading</H1>
This is your first HTML Document.
This is the fourth line.<P>
And Here is the second paragraph.<P>

HTML uses what are known as markup tags to identify and format text. They are also used to give the Web viewer commands. All tags are surrounded by the two arrowish brackets (< And >).

A lot of the HTML tags come in pairs, for example the TITLE tag has occurs twice, the second time following a slash. This lets the Viewer know where a style starts and where it finishes. This will become clearer as we go on.

Note: HTML is not case sensitive so you can have tags in CAPITALS, lowercase, or a MiX oF bOTh.

Basic Markup Tags

Title

Every HTML document that you create should have a title. The title is usually displayed seperately from the document, in the case of Netscape it is in the programs Title bar. It is generally used as a means of indentifying the document.

Headings

HTML has six predefined levels of headings. The top or most prominent level of heading is level 1, and 6 is the lowest. The headings are usually seen as being larger or bolder then the rest of the document. The format for a heading is as follows:

<Hx>Title of the heading</Hx>

You replace the x with level of the heading, a number between 1 and 6 inclusive.

Paragraphs

In HTML carriage returns in a document are ignored. If you place a carriage return in your text editor you move on to the next line. But in HTML this line carries on. To specify the end of a paragraph you must place <P> at the end of it. For example:

This is the first line
And this the second.<P>

Would be displayed as:

This is the first line And this the second.


Important: You must seperate paragraphs using <P> as carriage returns and blank lines are ignored.

Italic And Bold Text

Setting text as italic or bold couldn't be easier. For italics use the following:

Normal text turns into <I>italic text</I>and back.

For bold use:

Normal text turns into <B>bold text</B>and back.

Inserting An Images, Flicks And Sounds

Images of various file formats can be included in a HTML document. Some of the carious file formats are listed below, not all of them work with all web viewers:

Plain text (.TXT)
GIF Image (.GIF)
TIFF Image (.TIF)
X Bitmap Image (.XBM)
JPEG Image (.JPG)
Postscript File (.PS)
QuickTime Movie (.MOV)
MPEG Movie (.MPG)
Wave File (.WAV)

Note: When using images in a document you must remember that they do take time to load up. So you should try avoid using too many of them!

To insert a picture into your document use the following line in your document: <IMG SRC="source_file"></IMG>

Replacing source_file with the name of the file you wish to insert. You should include the filename as follows:

<IMG SRC="file:///f:/pics/acme.gif"></IMG>

Creating Links To Other Documents

One of the big powers of HTML is its ability to link a piece of text to another HTML document, possibly one in on another server or in another country. A link is iften showed as coloured and/or underlined.

HTML's tag is <A>, which stands for anchor. To include an anchor in your document:

Start the anchor with <A. (There's a space after the A.)
Specify the document that's being pointed to by entering the parameter HREF="filename"
Followed by a closing right angle bracket: >
Enter the text that will serve as the hypertext link in the current document.
Enter the ending anchor tag: </A>.

Here is an sample hypertext reference:

<A HREF="HelloWorld.html">Hello World Page</A>

This link will jump to the 'Hello World Homepage'. To jump to other places replace HelloWorld.html with the address of the link.

And Thats A Rap!

And there you have the bare necceities of creating a HTML Document. I hope that some of that is usefull. Below is a list of very sites that have further more indepth information on creating HTML documents.

The Bare Bones Guide To HTML
Yahoo HTML Page
Beginner's Guides
HTML Guids
HTML Converters
HTML Editors
Icon And Picture Archives
Page Design and Layout
WWW Programming
Creating Tutorials
Please mail me with any views on this page or Click to find out about me
[email protected]
Last Updated: 22 May, 1995