123 Web Design!

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HTML
Learn all about HTML, how to format text, add images, create tables, meta taga, and more!
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JavaScript
Get the low down on JavaScript. See how to create popular JavaScript applications like drop down menus, clocks, dynamic messages, popup boxes, and more.

CGI
Concise, easy to follow introdction to CGI and how to install CGI scripts.

Web Design
A miscellanous section that includes various web design tutorials

123 Web Design!

Basic HTML

HTML is a markup language used by all web browsers in determining how to display a web page. It consists of simple text (content), plus tags. Tags represents the essence of HTML; whenever you want to make your text bold, insert an image or table, add music to your page, you use tags. Tags are special codes that wrap around various content to affect the content. Lets see an example of a tag:

<b>

The above is the bold tag, and when wrapped around text, makes the text appear bold!

Notice that there is a </b> tag attached at the end of the content. This is the bold tag's closing tag, and it tells the browser- "Hay, I want bold text only up to that point!" Most tags have a complimentary closing tag, as you will see as we trottle along.

HTML is essentially a bunch of tags with even more text. Once you learn the syntax of these tags, you can call yourself a HTML expert!

-Creating your first web page

Now that you have a vague idea of what tags are, you're ready to learn about the basic tags that make up a basic web page. Are you ready to create your very first web page?

The below lists the complete syntax used in creating a very basic web page, with only the text "Welcome to my first homepage" on it:

<html>
<head>
<title>Welcome!</title>
</head>
<body>
Welcome to my first homepage!
</body>
</html>

Go ahead. Open up your text editor, type the above, and see what it looks like in your browser. You'll see a blank page with the title "Welcome!" on the title bar, and the simple line of text "Welcome to my first homepage" sitting in the main browser area. The parts in bold are the tags used in this page. Notice their structure and position in the document. Lets now describe their role in a document:

<html></html>	Specifies that this is an HTML document. All html documents begin and end with this tag.
<head></head>	Creates a container for meta information, such as the document's title, keywords and description info for search engine crawling, etc to be added to the document.
<title></title>	Creates a "title" for the document. Anything you add inside this tag, the browser displays it in the title bar.
<body></body>	Creates a container for the document's content (text, images etc). This is where all the "viewable" content will be inserted.

99% of web documents on the web, small or large, simple or complicated, all contain at least the above tags. They make up the framework of any document. Take another look at the definition of the <body> tag- most of the action in html will take place inside it, since the <body> tag contains all of the document's viewable content.