INTRODUCTION TO WRITING WEB PAGES
by Stella Guerrero

The computer language used to write a Web page is called Hyper Text Mark-Up Language(HTML).

The HTML commands are enclosed within brackets"<>" to set them apart from the text that will appear on the Web page and referred to as "tags". Almost all the HTML commands have a beginning and an end .

All HTML Web files start with the tag and end with the tag . Between these two tags information is divided into two parts: The "Head" and the "Body". Only a few tags are placed between the "Head" tags. One set that should always be included are the "Title" tags. The text between the "Title" tags is used as the document title. All the text and graphics you wish to display on the page go between the "Body" tags.

Basic Formatting

This is a list of common tags and their function:
<P> = paragraph tag
breaks paragraphs by adding two returns ( a line break and an empty line to separate paragraph). It goes at the point you wish the paragraph to break.

<Br> = break tag, call for a line break

1. Adding Headers


If you want to increase the size of a heading you will use tags like: <H1> <H2>, <H3>, etc.
These are the sizes of the fonts respectively

greater than

greater than

greater than

A recommended size is H3.
If you choose <H3> you need <H3> at the beginning and an </H3> at the end of your text.

2. Emphasizing Text

  • Boldface: <B> </B>
  • Italics: <I> </I>
  • Underline: <u> </u>

    3. Text Alignment

    <center> goes before and </center> goes after the text

    to center the text
    <P Align="right">

    aligns the text to the right

    <P Align="left">

    aligns the text to the left

    4.Margins

    Under <Body> write <Blockquote> and before </Body> write </Blockquote>

    Try entire process.

    5. Linking to other Web pages

    The Tag,<A>, to create a link stands for anchor.
    The anchor tag's basic format is as follows: <A + reference comment (HREF) + the URL (name of page)> + text that you want to have highlighted

    Example:

    <A HREF="http://netletter.com/dicko/welcome.html"> plus the word/s you want highlighted plus </A> will link you to where you want to link.

    When someone clicks on the higlighted words, they would see the Web page named Welcome.htm, which is located in the dicko folder on the Web server computer whose address is netletter.com
    http=hypertext transfer protocol
    URL=Web address

    6. Arranging text in lists

    1. Ordered (numbered) lists.

    Begins with <OL>
    in front of every item you write <LI>
    and ends with </OL>

    Example:


    1. apples
    2. bananas
    3. cherries

      2. Unordered (bulleted) lists.

      Begins with <UL>
      add <LI> in front of every item
      ends with </UL>

      Give it a try.

      7. Making tables

      Start with <table>
      <TR> creates a table row
      <TD> creates individual cells (columns)
      <TD> = table data
      <TH> identifies the cell as part of the heading of the table.

      Example:




      name height diameter
      oak 30 meters 2.5 meters
      pine 25 meters 1.80 meters

      If you want your table to have a border you will write:
      <table border="yes">

      Example:




      name height diameter
      oak 30 meters 2.5 meters
      pine 25 meters 1.80 meters

      If you want to change the background color:
      <table bgcolor="any color you want">

      Example:




      name height diameter
      oak 30 meters 2.5 meters
      pine 25 meters 1.80 meters



      6. Using Images in your webpage.

      src = source
      img = image
      <img src = "where">
      <img src = "plants.gif">
      <img src = "images/plants.gif">

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