Creating HTML Pages
CIW Website Design Manager Course Section 1, Part B, Chapter 2
What is HTML?
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) was invented by Tim Berners-Lee, along with colleagues, from CERN. Hypertext was first conceived by Ted Nelson in 1965.
In HTML, one document links to another through pointers called hyperlinks. Hyperlinks are embedded instructions within one text file that call another file when the link is accessed, usually by a click of the mouse. The global set of linked documents across the Internet grew into what is now known as the World Wide Web.
HTML Standards
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the standards organisation that controls the evolution of HTML. When the W3C fully endorses a technology, it publishes a "Recommendation" to the Internet community.
The W3C establishes standards for additional technologies, including Extensible Markup Language (XML), the Document Object Model (DOM), and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
HTML Flavours
HTML 4.01 is the current version of HTML. There are three basic flavours of HTML 4.01:
- HTML 4.01 Transitional allows developers to use either CSS or traditional layout instructions for formatting.
- HTML 4.01 Strict requires the exclusive use of CSS when defining layout instructions
- HTML 4.01 Frameset is required for pages that use frames
You specify the flavour of HTML by using a Document
Type Declaration (DTD) tag.
For Example: <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC
"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<.p>
Markup Tags
HTML markup tags are element names enclosed by angle brackets. There are two types of tags: container tags and empty tags. Container tags come in pairs; empty tags stand alone.
The <TITLE> tag is a container tag: <TITLE>My Home Page</TITLE>
whereas the list item <LI> is an empty tag: <LI>This is an item in a list
NOTE: In my experience empty tags can have closing tags, if you view the source of this page you will see what I mean. From this I deduce that the closing tag is optional for empty tag items. However if you try and validate an HTML page with W3C it will insist IMG tags, which are supposedly empty tags, have a closing tag.
What Constitutes a Tag?
A tag can consist of the following three items inside the angle brackets, or wickets.
- An Element - provides the main instruction of the tag. Element include <TITLE>, <FONT>, <TABLE>, and many others.
- An Attribute - specifies a quality or describes a certain aspect of the element. For example, <DIV> has several attributes, including ALIGN.
- A Value - gives a value to the element and its attribute. For example, <DIV ALIGN="center"> has a value that allows you to centre text.
Block Level Elements
HTML elements that affect an entire paragraph or multiple paragraphs are referred to as block-level elements. HTML elements that can affect something as small as a single character or a word are referred to as text-level elements.