48
How the Web Works, Part I: Introduction to HTML
HTML Tutorial
2
Before You Begin
· Look over the "Hypertext Markup Procedure" and "30-Odd Safe HTML Elements" quick
reference sheets. Re-examine the handouts on "Anatomy of a Web Page" and the
"Container Model."
· Read the following information about filename extensions.
About Filename Extensions
Some operating systems use filename extensions to identify different types of files. For example,
a file named document.htm or document.html is marked as a Web page. A file named
document.gif is marked as a particular type of image file, while document.jpg indicates an image
file of another format. A Microsoft Word document might be named document.doc, whereas a
plain text file would most likely be named something like document.txt.
Web servers, which may run on a number of different operating systems, use filename extensions
to identify file types.
The Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) uses filename extensions. Windows uses them
too, since it is built "on top of" MS-DOS. Windows is often configured to hide filename
extensions, so that you may not be aware of them. (But see below for the remedy.)
The Mac OS doesn't use filename extensions. A very different system is employed to identify
different file types, so that a file named document could be almost anything -- text, graphics,
audio, video, whatever. Mac users who want to publish on the Web or share files with Windows
users need to be aware of filename extensions and start using them correctly.
Examples of Common Filename Extension Problems
v
You find a file named document.html.txt. Which is it — plain text or hypertext?
v
You create a web page that is supposed to display an image. The image file is named
picture.jpg but you mistakenly set the SRC attribute of the IMG tag to point to picture.gif.
The image does not appear.
v
You're a Windows user. A Mac user sends you e-mail with a Word document attached. It
is named Final Report. You can't open it. Because Final Report has no filename
extension, the Windows operating system can't identify it as a Word file. If the Mac user
had named the file Final Report.doc, this would not have occurred. Also note that it's
good practice to avoid spaces and case variations in filenames if you plan to share them
over the Web, so an even better name would be final_report.doc , final-report.doc or
finalreport.doc.
Windows Only: Configure Your System
Follow these instructions to make Windows display filename extensions at all times. This is
highly recommended for aspiring Web authors, because it reduces opportunities for confusion.
· WinXP: From the Start menu, choose Control Panel, then double-click on Folder
Options. (In older versions of Windows, Open any folder or drive. From the View menu,
choose Options or Folder Options.)
· A dialog box should appear. Click the View tab.
· Look for an option that says "Hide file extensions for known file types" or "Hide MS-DOS
file extensions for file types that are registered." Make sure this item is not checked.
· Click the button marked OK.
152
How the Web Works, Part I: Introduction to HTML
HTML Tutorial
3
1. Retrieve Materials
First you must create a folder to hold your files.
· Create a new folder on the desktop and name it tutorial.
Windows users:
You can do this quite simply by clicking on the desktop with your right
mouse button and choosing New > Folder from the pop-up menu. Then, without
pausing to draw breath, type the word tutorial. Press the Enter key and you're done.
Mac users:
You can do this quite simply by clicking on the desktop while pressing the
Control key; choose New Folder from the pop-up menu. Then, without pausing to
think, type the word tutorial. Press the Return key and you're done.
Next, you must retrieve the necessary materials from the Web.
·
Start Netscape, and point the browser to this URL:
h
tt
p
://
ca
t.
xu
l
a
.
e
du
/t
u
t
o
ri
a
ls/
h
t
m
l/
· Find the section of the page under the heading Tutorial Materials.
· Follow the link to All_About_Mustard.doc which is a Microsoft Word Document.
· Save this file in the tutorial folder you created earlier. (You'll be prompted by Netscape.)
· Follow the link to template.txt which is a plain text file.
The contents of the file will be displayed in the browser window. It should look like this:
<
!
DOCTYPE
HT
M
L
PUBL
I
C
"-//W
3C
//
DTD
HT
M
L
4
.
01
T
ra
n
siti
on
a
l//
EN
"
"
h
tt
p
://
www
.
w3
.
o
r
g
/
TR
/
1999
/
REC
-
h
t
m
l
401
-
19991224
/l
oo
se
.
d
t
d
"
>
<HT
M
L>
<HEAD>
<T
I
TLE>Un
titl
e
d<
/
T
I
TLE>
<
/
HEAD>
<BODY>
<
/
BODY>
<
/
HT
M
L>
This should look familiar to you. You'll use this raw code as a template for your first Web page.
The best way to save this file to disk is simply to copy and paste:
· Choose Edit > Select All to select all the text.
· Choose Edit > Copy to copy the selected text.
· Launch a text editor.
Windows users:
Use Notepad. From the Windows Start menu, choose Run… and
enter notepad.
Mac users:
Use SimpleText. This application can usually be found on the hard drive, in
the Applications folder.
· In your text editor, select Edit > Paste. The text you copied from your browser should
appear in the window of the text editor.
· Save this file. Name it template.txt and make sure that you are saving it in your tutorial
folder.
· Close your text editor and return to Netscape.
You should now have a Word document and a plain text file in your tutorial folder — all the
materials you need to complete this tutorial.
26
How the Web Works, Part I: Introduction to HTML
HTML Tutorial
4
2. From Word Processor to Web Page
Often your Web pages will begin their digital life as word processing documents. In order to
"mark up" such a document with HTML, you must first get it into a plain text format.
One way to do this is by saving the document as a "text only" file. A simpler way is to copy the
text from the word processing program and paste it into a text editor, much as you did with the
template.txt file. Here's how:
· Open the file named All_About_Mustard.doc which you saved to your tutorial folder.
(Double-clicking the file's icon should launch Microsoft Word. If not, you will have to
start Word yourself and open the file from Word.)
· Take a moment to look over the document and familiarize yourself with its contents and
general structure. A copy of this document is attached to the end of this tutorial; you may
find it more convenient to refer to the printed copy as you proceed.
· Choose Edit > Select All to select all the text.
· Choose Edit > Copy to copy the selected text.
· Open the template.txt file which you saved in your tutorial folder. (Double-clicking the
file's icon should launch your text editor. If not, you will have to start your text editor
yourself and open the file within that application.)
· Click between the opening and closing BODY tags.
· Choose Edit > Paste. The text you copied from Word should appear in the window of the
text editor. Note that all the special formatting has been stripped away. All that remains
is plain text and line breaks (carriage returns).
o Windows users:
You may need to choose Edit > Word Wrap to see all the text.
1367
How the Web Works, Part I: Introduction to HTML
HTML Tutorial
5
Your document should now look something like this:
<
!
DOCTYPE
HT
M
L
PUBL
I
C
"-//W
3C
//
DTD
HT
M
L
4
.
01
T
ra
n
siti
on
a
l//
EN
"
"
h
tt
p
://
www
.
w3
.
o
r
g
/
TR
/
1999
/
REC
-
h
t
m
l
401
-
19991224
/l
oo
se
.
d
t
d
"
>
<HT
M
L>
<HEAD>
<T
I
TLE>Un
titl
e
d<
/
T
I
TLE>
<
/
HEAD>
<BODY>
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ll
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t
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st
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d
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ist
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49
How the Web Works, Part I: Introduction to HTML
HTML Tutorial
6
Now you need to save a copy of this file, without overwriting our original template. You also need
to designate the new copy as a hypertext file, rather than a plain text file.
· Choose File > Save As…
· Name the file mustard.html and click the Save button, making sure to save the file in
your tutorial folder.
Congratulations! You've just created a Web page. It's incomplete, to be sure, but take a moment
to see how it looks in your Web browser:
· Return to Netscape.
· Choose File > Open Page. (Mac users should choose File > Open > Page in Navigator.)
· A dialog box should appear. Navigate to your tutorial folder. (Windows users will need
to click the Choose File button.)
· Choose the mustard.html file, and click the Open button.
Your Web page should now be displayed in the browser. Note how all the text is run together. All
the extra whitespace and line breaks are ignored by the browser.
Here's what you've accomplished so far: by using the template file, you saved yourself the chore of
typing out the basic "shell" of the Web page. The template establishes the global structure of the
document, including version information and the HEAD and BODY.
You've pasted raw text into the BODY of the document. However, you have not yet marked up any
of the text, and so the text has no logical structure.
2.1 Titling Your Document
Before marking up your text, you need to give the HTML document a title.
· Return to your text editor. The mustard.html file should still be open. (If not, you will
need to open it within your text editor.)
· Find the T
I
TLE tags, in the HEAD of the document.
· Delete the word Untitled from between the T
I
TLE tags.
· Type a new title, such as Sample Web Page About Mustard .
The title element should now look something like this:
<T
I
TLE>You
r
T
itl
e
H
ere
<
/
T
I
TLE>
· Save your file.
76
How the Web Works, Part I: Introduction to HTML
HTML Tutorial
7
3. Marking Block Elements
Now you will designate the basic structure of the text. Each chunk of text must be designated as
belonging to a block element such as a heading or a paragraph.
In order to designate an element, you must surround the chunk of text with the appropriate tags.
An opening tag, such as <P>, marks the beginning of the element. A closing tag, such as <
/
P>
(note the forward slash) marks the end of the element.
· Mark the first heading. That's the line which reads "All About Mustard." Since it's the
heading for the whole page, mark it as a first-level heading, like so:
<H1>A
ll
Abou
t
M
u
st
ar
d<
/
H1>
Note:
That's a number one (1) after the H, not a lowercase letter L !
· Choose File > Save to save your work.
That's all there is to it. This is what's meant by marking an element.
Now check your work:
· Return to Netscape.
· The mustard.html page should still be displayed, but the browser is showing the old
version. To display the changes you just made, click the Reload button.
The browser should reload the page. It is, in essence, re-reading the file from the disk and getting
the new version you just saved. You should observe a very noticeable change in the page's
appearance.
Now you must continue to mark up the rest of the text. This procedure requires you to exercise
some judgment. The following instructions do not tell you exactly what to type. Rather, you will
be instructed to "mark all the paragraphs," for example. It is up to you to decide what constitutes
a paragraph, and to figure out which tag to use. Refer to the printed Word document and other
materials as you need them. You should save your work often, and check your work in the
browser often.
Hint:
For cleaner, easier-to-read markup, insert carriage returns liberally, whenever you
need them. Remember that they will not be visible in the browser.
· Return to your text editor. The mustard.html file should still be open. (If not, you will
need to open it within your text editor.)
· Mark all the headings. Remember that headings range from H1 (most important) to H6
(least important). You've already marked a first-level heading, so mark up some second-
and third-level ones.
Hint:
There are three second-level headings and two third-level headings in the
document.
For example, the second heading should be marked to look like this:
<H2>An
Abb
re
v
i
a
t
e
d
H
ist
o
r
y
o
f
M
u
st
ar
d<
/
H2>
603
How the Web Works, Part I: Introduction to HTML
HTML Tutorial
8
· Mark all the paragraphs with P tags.
Hint:
There are six paragraphs total, and they're all in the first section of the document.
The extended quotation is a paragraph.
For example, a marked paragraph should look like this:
<P>
It is
re
pu
t
e
d
t
h
a
t
a
t
a
festi
v
a
l i
n
1336
a
tt
e
nd
e
d
by
t
h
e
Duk
e
o
f
Bu
r
gundy
a
nd
h
is
c
ou
si
n
K
i
ng
Ph
ili
p
t
h
e
F
a
ir,
no
l
ess
t
h
a
n
70
g
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ll
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st
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t
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e
po
rts
do
no
t
sa
y
how
p
i
c
k
l
e
d
t
h
e
gu
ests
w
ere
.
<
/
P>
· Mark the extended quotation with BLOCKQUOTE tags.
Hint:
The BLOCKQUOTE tags should surround the P tags.
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>
[
Th
e
K
i
ngdo
m
o
f
H
ea
v
e
n
] is
li
k
e
a
m
u
st
ar
d
see
d
. It is
t
h
e
sma
ll
est
o
f
a
ll
see
d
s;
bu
t
wh
e
n
it fa
lls
on
till
e
d
s
o
il, it
p
r
odu
ces
a
g
rea
t
p
l
a
n
t
a
nd
b
ec
o
mes
a
s
h
e
lt
er f
o
r
b
ir
d
s
o
f t
h
e
a
ir.
<
/
P>
<
/
BLOCKQUOTE>
· Mark the ordered list (the one that is numbered) with OL tags.
Hint:
You are marking the whole list here, not the individual items in the list.
<OL>
1
.
W
h
is
k
t
og
e
t
h
er
d
r
y
m
u
st
ar
d
,
v
i
n
e
g
ar
a
nd
b
eer.
2
.
U
se
a
g
arli
c
p
ress
o
r l
ar
g
e
p
a
ir
p
li
ers
t
o
s
qu
eeze
t
h
e
j
u
i
ce
fr
o
m
t
h
e
c
l
ov
e
o
f
g
arli
c
i
n
t
o
t
h
e
m
i
x
t
u
re
.
3
.
S
tir i
n
s
ug
ar,
sa
lt
a
nd
t
u
r
meri
c
.
4
.
To
ma
k
e
m
u
st
ar
d
sm
oo
t
h
er
a
nd
l
ess
ho
t,
a
dd
o
li
v
e
o
il t
o
t
ast
e
.
<
/
OL>
· Mark the unordered list (the bulleted list of links) with UL tags.
<UL>
*
Eu
r
op
ée
nn
e
d
e
Cond
i
me
n
ts
h
tt
p
://
www
.
m
ou
t
ar
d
e
.
c
o
m
/
A
m
u
st
ar
d
c
o
m
p
a
ny
'
s
w
e
b
sit
e
*
M
u
st
ar
d
G
as
h
tt
p
://
www
.
s
p
art
ac
u
s
.
sc
hoo
l
n
e
t.
c
o
.
uk
/
F
WWm
u
st
ar
d
.
h
t
m
A
d
escri
p
ti
on
o
f
m
u
st
ar
d
g
as
*
M
oun
t
Ho
re
b
M
u
st
ar
d
M
u
se
u
m
h
tt
p
://
www
.
m
u
st
ar
dw
e
b
.
c
o
m
/
Th
e
wo
rl
d
'
s
l
ar
g
est
c
o
ll
ec
ti
on
o
f
p
re
p
are
d
m
u
st
ar
d
s
<
/
UL>
· Mark the individual list items in both lists with L
I
tags. Don't forget to mark up both the
Preparation list and the Mustard Links list.
Hint:
There are only three items (not nine) in the list of links.
<L
I
>
Eu
r
op
ée
nn
e
d
e
Cond
i
me
n
ts
http://www.moutarde.com/
A
m
u
st
ar
d
c
o
m
p
a
ny
'
s
w
e
b
sit
e
<
/
L
I
>
· Add a horizontal rule at the end of the page with the HR tag.
Hint:
The tag still needs to be in the BODY of the document. Also, remember that this is
an empty content tag, so there is no closing tag.
50
How the Web Works, Part I: Introduction to HTML
HTML Tutorial
9
· Add some information about how to contact the author of the page after the HR tag. Type
something like: This page is maintained by Bart Everson [bpeverso@xula.edu].
Substitute your own name and e-mail address for mine.
· Mark the line you just typed with ADDRESS tags.
Every chunk of text should now be enclosed in one HTML tag or another.
· Choose File > Save to save your work.
· Return to Netscape and reload the page to check your work.
You should notice some problems. The ordered list may have duplicate numbers, and the list of
links may have a § or * symbol after each bullet. These are artifacts of the conversion from Word
to HTML. Also, the list of ingredients is still a jumbled mess. The list of links is also messy.
Fix these problems as follows:
· Return to your text editor.
· Delete the numbers in the ordered list. They don't need to be explicitly stated.
· Delete the § or * symbols from the list of links. They are also redundant.
What about the list of ingredients? You could mark it as an unordered list, but then it would be
bulleted. Besides, you already have one unordered list on the page. Therefore you will mark this
as preformatted text.
· Mark the list of ingredients with the PRE tag.
· Choose File > Save to save your work.
· Return to Netscape and reload the page to check your work.
The problems should be fixed, except for the list of links. You will fix that problem in section 4
below.
3.1 Setting the Background Color
It would be nice to make the background of the page yellow — sort of a visual joke. You will do
this by customizing the BODY tag with an attribute.
· Return to your text editor. The mustard.html file should still be open.
· Expand the opening BODY tag to include the BGCOLOR (background color) attribute, and
set the value to yellow .
Hint:
This would be a good time to review attribute syntax.
The opening BODY tag should look exactly like this:
<BODY
BGCOLOR=
"
y
e
ll
ow
"
>
· Choose File > Save to save your work.
· Return to Netscape and reload the page to check your work.
If you find the results too garish for your tastes, you can change the BGCOLOR value to lightyellow
instead.
3.2 Validating Your Work
Before you proceed, it's a good idea to validate your HTML and make sure you're on track so far.
· Point your browser to this URL:
32
How the Web Works, Part I: Introduction to HTML
HTML Tutorial
10
h
tt
p
://
v
a
li
d
a
t
o
r.
w3
.
o
r
g
/
This is the W3C's HTML validation service. It allows you to enter a URL for any page that's on the
Web and check the validity of its HTML.
· Since your Web page is not on the Web (yet), follow the "upload files" link toward the
bottom of the page.
This will take you to a page which allows you to check the validity of files from your hard drive.
· Click the Browse button.
· Navigate to your tutorial folder, select the mustard.html file, and click the Open button.
· Click the Validate this document button.
If you're lucky, you'll get a "No errors found!" message. If not, examine the results to see if you
can pinpoint your mistake. Once you've corrected your errors, try to validate your document
again. Don't move on to the next section until you succeed.
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