HTML (English) 02
Choosing Your Tool: To WYSIWYG
There are two ways of creating an HTML document. You can use an editor such as the Microsoft Windows Notepad to type text and tags directly into a file. Or, you can use a special HTML editor that supports what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) editing. Among the popular HTML editors are Netscape Navigator Gold, which doubles as both an editor and a browser, and Microsoft Internet Assistant add-in for Microsoft Word. HTML editors are somewhat easier to use, but not all editors support the special applet tag used to include a Java applet in an HTML document.
In the examples that follow, you’ll learn how the build a page using Notepad. Working directly with the HTML tags has the benefit that you’ll more fully understand your document, not to mention HTML generally. However, by all means try HTML editor. If you find one that you like, use it. Once you understand tags, you’ll find it easy to use Notepad to revise files produced by your favorite HTML editor to include any special tags not supported by that particular editor.
Building an HTML Page
As with most skills, the best way to learn how to build a Web page is to actually create one. Let’s start with a simple example. Use Notepad to create a file containing the text shown in Listing 1-1. Save the file as firstPage.html in any directory you choose. The Notepad program likes to create files that have the file extension. txt. Be sure you haven’t erroneously saved the file as FirstPage.html.txt. To avoid this, you can put double quotes around the file name you type in the Save dialog box of Notepad.
While you are encouraged to personalize the pages you build, the examples in this book will feature a Web page for a fictional coffee shop-one that could only exist in the virtual word of the Work Wide Web. The proprietor of Jumbo’s Jungle Java Joint is, to put it baldly, an elephant. Once the star attraction at the circus, the “towering monarch of his mighty race” as the newspapers of the day called him, Jumbo retired after a little incident with a locomotive. Now the sole owner of his own little corner of Web space, Jumbo finds his new regime invigoration, and the air of cyberspace has worked wonders for his health.
Listing 1-1 firstPage.html
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Web Page Designing – Home Page</TITLE>
<HEAD.
<BODY>
Welcome to Aussie Lanka
</BODY>
</HTML>
Note that the keywords, such as HTML, HEAD, and TITLE, occurring inside the HTML tags are not case sensitive. You can type <HTML> or <html> as you prefer; the browser will not differentiate. Using all uppercase letters within tags does help them stand out from the nearby text, making the structure of the document more obvious. Also, white space is generally ignored within an HTML document. You can freely browser will use the information contained in the tags to determine the layout of your document and will ignore the white space.
Once you’ve saved your file, start your favorite browser and open the file you created. Use the browser menu item for opening a file, not a location, because your file is not yet actually on the Web (unless, of course, you’re working on a computer running a Web server program).
