Saturday, March 26, 2011

Lesson 3: Elements and tags

You are now ready to learn the essence of HTML: elements.

Elements give structure to a HTML document and tells the browser how you want your website to be presented. Generally elements consists of a start tag, some content, and an end tag.

"Tags"?

Tags are labels you use to mark up the begining and end of an element.

All tags have the same format: they begin with a less-than sign "<" and end with a greater-than sign ">".

Generally speaking, there are two kinds of tags - opening tags: <html> and closing tags: </html>. The only difference between an opening tag and a closing tag is the forward slash "/". You label content by putting it between an opening tag and a closing tag.

HTML is all about elements. To learn HTML is to learn and use different tags.

Can you show me some examples?

Okay, the element em emphasis text. All text between the opening tag <em> and the closing tag</em> is emphasised in the browser. ("em" is short for "emphasis".)

Example 1:

        <em>Emphasised text.</em>

Will look like this in the browser:

Emphasised text.

The elements h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 and h6 is used to make headings (h stands for "heading"), whereh1 is the first level and normally the largest text, h2 is the second level and normally slightly smaller text, and h6 is the sixth and last in the hierarchy of headings and normally the smallest text.

Example 2:

        <h1>This is a heading</h1>

        <h2>This is a subheading</h2>

Will look like this in the browser:

This is a heading

This is a subheading

So, I always need an opening tag and a closing tag?

As they say, there's an exception to every rule and in HTML the exception is that there are a few elements which both open and close in the same tag. These so-called empty elements are not connected to a specific passage in the text but rather are isolated labels, for example, a line break which looks like this: <br/>.

Should tags be typed in uppercase or lowercase?

Most browsers might not care if you type your tags in upper, lower or mixed cases. <HTML>, <html> or <HtMl> will normally give the same result. However, the correct way is to type tags in lowercase. So get into the habit of writing your tags in lowercase.

Where do I put all these tags?

You type your tags in an HTML document. A website contains one or more HTML documents. When you surf the Web, you merely open different HTML documents.

If you continue to the next lesson in 10 minutes you will have made your first website.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Lesson 2: How does CSS work?

In this lesson you will learn how to make your first style sheet. You will get to know about the basic CSS model and which codes are necessary to use CSS in an HTML document.

Many of the properties used in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are similar to those of HTML. Thus, if you are used to use HTML for layout, you will most likely recognize many of the codes. Let us look at a concrete example.

The basic CSS syntax

Let's say we want a nice red color as the background of a webpage:

Using HTML we could have done it like this:

        <body bgcolor="#FF0000">

With CSS the same result can be achieved like this:

        body {background-color: #FF0000;}

As you will note, the codes are more or less identical for HTML and CSS. The above example also shows you the fundamental CSS model:

But where do you put the CSS code? This is exactly what we will go over now.

Applying CSS to an HTML document

There are three ways you can apply CSS to an HTML document. These methods are all outlined below. We recommend that you focus on the third method i.e. external.

Method 1: In-line (the attribute style)

One way to apply CSS to HTML is by using the HTML attribute style. Building on the above example with the red background color, it can be applied like this:

        <html>

          <head>

               <title>Example</title>

          </head>

          <body style="background-color: #FF0000;">

               <p>This is a red page</p>

          </body>

        </html>

Method 2: Internal (the tag style)

Another way is to include the CSS codes using the HTML tag <style>. For example like this:

        <html>

          <head>

               <title>Example</title>

               <style type="text/css">

                 body {background-color: #FF0000;}

               </style>

          </head>

          <body>

               <p>This is a red page</p>

          </body>

        </html>

Method 3: External (link to a style sheet)

The recommended method is to link to a so-called external style sheet. Throughout this tutorial we will use this method in all our examples.

An external style sheet is simply a text file with the extension .css. Like any other file, you can place the style sheet on your web server or hard disk.

For example, let's say that your style sheet is named style.css and is located in a folder namedstyle. The situation can be illustrated like this:

The trick is to create a link from the HTML document (default.htm) to the style sheet (style.css). Such link can be created with one line of HTML code:

        <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style/style.css" />

Notice how the path to our style sheet is indicated using the attribute href.

The line of code must be inserted in the header section of the HTML code i.e. between the <head>and </head> tags. Like this:

        <html>

          <head>

               <title>My document</title>

               <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style/style.css" />

          </head>

          <body>

...

This link tells the browser that it should use the layout from the CSS file when displaying the HTML file.
The really smart thing is that several HTML documents can be linked to the same style sheet. In other words, one CSS file can be used to control the layout of many HTML documents.

This technique can save you a lot of work. If you, for example, would like to change the background color of a website with 100 pages, a style sheet can save you from having to manually change all 100 HTML documents. Using CSS, the change can be made in a few seconds just by changing one code in the central style sheet.

Let's put what we just learned into practice.

Try it yourself

Open Notepad (or whatever text editor you use) and create two files - an HTML file and a CSS file - with the following contents:

default.htm

        <html>

          <head>

               <title>My document</title>

               <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css" />

          </head>

          <body>

               <h1>My first stylesheet</h1>

          </body>

        </html>

style.css

        body {

          background-color: #FF0000;

Now place the two files in the same folder. Remember to save the files with the right extensions (respectively ".htm" and ".css")

Open default.htm with your browser and see how the page has a red background. Congratulations! You have made your first style sheet!

Hurry on to the next lesson where we will take a look at some of the properties in CSS.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Lesson 1: What is CSS?

Maybe you already heard about CSS without really knowing what it is. In this lesson you will learn more about what CSS is and what it can do for you.

CSS is an acronym for Cascading Style Sheets.

What can I do with CSS?

CSS is a style language that defines layout of HTML documents. For example, CSS covers fonts, colours, margins, lines, height, width, background images, advanced positions and many other things. Just wait and see!

HTML can be (mis-)used to add layout to websites. But CSS offers more options and is more accurate and sophisticated. CSS is supported by all browsers today.

After only a few lessons of this tutorial you will be able to make your own style sheets using CSS to give your website a new great look.

What is the difference between CSS and HTML?

HTML is used to structure content. CSS is used for formatting structured content.

Okay, it sounds a bit technical and confusing. But please continue reading. It will all make sense to you soon.

Back in the good old days when Madonna was a virgin and a guy called Tim Berners Lee invented the World Wide Web, the language HTML was only used to add structure to text. An author could mark his text by stating "this is a headline" or "this is a paragraph" using HTML tags such as <h1>and <p>.

As the Web gained popularity, designers started looking for possibilities to add layout to online documents. To meet this demand, the browser producers (at that time Netscape and Microsoft) invented new HTML tags such as for example <font> which differed from the original HTML tags by defining layout - and not structure.

This also led to a situation where original structure tags such as <table> were increasingly being misused to layout pages instead of adding structure to text. Many new layout tags such as <blink> were only supported by one type of browser. "You need browser X to view this page" became a common disclaimer on web sites.

CSS was invented to remedy this situation by providing web designers with sophisticated layout opportunities supported by all browsers. At the same time, separation of the presentation style of documents from the content of documents, makes site maintenance a lot easier.

Which benefits will CSS give me?

CSS was a revolution in the world of web design. The concrete benefits of CSS include:

control layout of many documents from one single style sheet;
more precise control of layout;
apply different layout to different media-types (screen, print, etc.);
numerous advanced and sophisticated techniques.

In the next lesson we take a closer look at how CSS actually works and how you get started.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Lesson 2: What is HTML?

This lesson will give you a brief presentation of your new friend, HTML.

What is HTML?

HTML is the “mother tongue” of your browser.

To make a long story short, HTML was invented in 1990 by a scientist called Tim Berners-Lee. The purpose was to make it easier for scientists at different universities to gain access to each other’s research documents. The project became a bigger success than Tim Berners-Lee had ever imagined. By inventing HTML he laid the foundation for the web as we know it today.

HTML is a language, which makes it possible to present information (e.g. scientific research) on the Internet. What you see when you view a page on the Internet is your browser’s interpretation of HTML. To see the HTML code of a page on the Internet, simply click “View” in the top menu of your browser and choose “Source”.

For the untrained eye, HTML code looks complicated but this tutorial will help you make sense of it all.

What can I use HTML for?

If you want to make websites, there is no way around HTML. Even if you’re using a program to create websites, such as Dreamweaver, a basic knowledge of HTML can make life a lot simpler and your website a lot better. The good news is that HTML is easy to learn and use. In just two lessons from now you will have learned how to make your first website.

HTML is used to make websites. It is as simple as that!

Okay, but what does H-T-M-L stand for?

HTML is an abbreviation of “HyperText Mark-up Language” – which is already more than you need to know at this stage. However, for the sake of good order, let us explain in greater detail.

Hyper is the opposite of linear. In the good old days – when a mouse was something the cat chased – computer programs ran linearly: when the program had executed one action it went to the next line and after that, the next line and so on. But HTML is different – you can go wherever you want and whenever you want. For example, it is not necessary to visit MSN.com before you visit HTML.net.
Text is self-explanatory.
Mark-up is what you do with the text. You are marking up the text the same way you do in a text editing program with headings, bullets and bold text and so on.
Language is what HTML is. It uses many English words.

In this tutorial you will learn so-called XHTML (Extensible HyperText Mark-up Language) which, in short, is a new and more well-structured way of writing HTML.

Now you know what HTML (and XHTML) stands for let’s get started with what it is all about: making websites.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Introduction

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a fantastic tool to add layout to your websites. It can save you a lot of time and it enables you to design websites in a completely new way. CSS is a must for anyone working with web design.

This tutorial will get you started with CSS in just a few hours. It is easy to understand and it will teach you all the sophisticated techniques.

Learning CSS is fun. As you go along through the tutorial, remember to take enough time to properly experiment with what you learn in each lesson.

Using CSS requires basic experience with HTML. If you are not familiar with HTML, please start with our HTML tutorial before moving on to CSS.

Which software do I need?

Please avoid using software such as FrontPage, DreamWeaver or Word with this tutorial. Advanced software will not help you learn CSS. Instead, it will limit you and slow down your learning curve significantly.

All you need is a free and simple text editor.

For example, Microsoft Windows comes with a program called Notepad. It is usually located in Accessories in the start menu under Programs. Alternatively, you can use a similar text editor e.g. Pico for Linux or Simple Text for Macintosh.

A simple text editor is ideal for learning HTML and CSS because it doesn't affect or change the codes you type. That way, your successes and errors can only be attributed to yourself - not the software.

You can use any browser with this tutorial. We encourage you to always keep your browser updated and use the latest version.

A browser and a simple text editor is all you need.

Let's get started!

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