Welcome to the new HTML course!
This course is designed to teach how to build basic webpages from scratch using the latest standards. It is based on a series of lessons at HTML.Help.Gnubee, which is a newsgroup accessible by MSNTV subscribers only, but it will teach anyone how to write web pages. It is a work in progress.
This introducton lays out our goals and the direction we want to take. This class should be an open forum rather than a lecture series. Once we open a topic, ask questions and add your own insights.
We are currently learning to write basic webpages in XHTML 1.0 Transitional. As we progress, we will cover:
- CSS
- Converting old pages to XHTML
- Converting Transitional pages to Strict
- Simple JavaScript
- DHTML
Goals
- To cover tags needed to build a basic webpage that should render
well on all browsers and to write signature files (sigs) for email.
- To develop habits for solid coding. This will include tips or
pointers on how to avoid common problems. I will rely on your input to
round this part out.
- To clear up the confusion that has been caused by bad advice and
tutorials that mix and match different versions of HTML. We'll mostly
discuss the transitional versions of HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 as defined
by the W3C, which is the official body that makes the rules.
Basic Web Pages
Our pages will rely only on coding that you can enter on your keyboard in a text editor at any webspace provider. It does not require any other software, HTML coding programs or any other technologies.
To write web pages, all you need is
- access to the internet
- your own web space
HTML vs XHTML
Whats the difference? HTML is for web pages only. XHTML is the XML version of HTML It. allows your pages to also work with web enabled devises, such as a cell phone or a "smart" refrigerator. The difference between them is very slight, so we
will show both ways side by side where there is a difference.
CSS
The "strict" versions of HTML & XHTML
require CSS, so we will discuss
how to transition your pages to CSS once we cover the basics. CSS simply allows you to define tags and formatting to your personal preferences. We will take a fresh approach to CSS to keep it simple.
JavaScript
JavaScript is a scripting language that allows us add some interactivity to web pages. We will learn how to write to a document and how to write simple functions such as timing loops.
JavaScripts also allows us to access proprietary browser functions by replacing HTML code that does not validate for HTML 4.1 and XHTML 1.0, such as background music.
DHTML
DHTML is Dynamic HTML. It combines CSS and scripting. CSS provides precision positioning of objects. JavaScript provides timing loops to move objects around on our web pages.
Next: Basic Web Page Form
Happy coding!
Gnubee
- Links
-
Tips
Tools
References
Rules
HTML Help Gnubee - Newsgroup
