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HTML TUTORIAL

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HTML
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Learning HTML

In this tutorial we do not teach you HTML - instead we present you with the best resources and the fastest ways to eliminate the most common time-wasting development issues.

When I first began learning HTML I used the book HTML Goodies (link to Amazon.com). I recommend buying the book if you are new to the subject - it's just much easier than reading the HTML Goodies website. This book is actually quite good (I just opened it for the first time this year). It teaches with a FAQ style, which I think is a very interactive and easy way to learn almost anything. Another excellent, best-selling, FAQ-style HTML book is HTML 4 for the World Wide Web: Visual Quickstart Guide.

If you are serious about building your website, however, you will quickly need another, more comprehensive, reference book. The reference book that I keep on hand is the hardcover version of HTML 4 Unleashed Professional Reference Edition (I couldn't find the hardcover link). I especially like the reference table in the appendix that lays out which HTML tags are recognized by which browsers.

In addition to the books mentioned above I use the HTML Code Tutorial website for HTML reference.

HTML Editors

I have been using Microsoft Frontpage 2000 for 2 years now. It cost me only $50 since I upgraded from Frontpage 98. New, it costs $128 bucks at Amazon. I like it because it is one of the most powerful and cheapest WYSIWIG editors on the market. If you've got more money to spend on editors I hear that the best one available is Macromedia Dreamweaver 4. It is available from Amazon for $280.

If you don't want to spend any money on an editor, the best freeware is 1st Page 2000 from evrsoft. Search CNET downloads for "HTML editors" to see this for yourself. Arachnophilia is another good freeware editor.

HTML Inconsistencies and Tips to Overcome Them

When I first began coding HTML, there were a couple of formatting problems that I ran into and caused me a tremendous amount of frustration and wasted time. I'll share the six annoyances that I had the most difficulty with, so you don't have to go through the same thing I did.

1 <BR> Tags
The first one was a simple lack of knowledge when I began using Frontpage. When I pressed the enter button to get a carriage return, the WYSIWIG editor skipped a line. This was because it used the <P> tag instead of <BR>. I recommend always using <BR> and never <P>. You will have more control over your web pages. The easiest way to get a <BR> instead of <P> with Frontpage is to use Ctrl+Enter instead of Enter alone.

2 Image Source
Another newbie problem I detected was that the images I inserted into my web page had a source that was on my C drive. The code for the first image is:

<img border="0" src="file:///C:/My%20Documents/My%20Webs/build%20your%20own%20web%
20site/images/clipart_construction_030.gif" width="108" height="100">

Don't fall into this trap with WYSIWIG editors. Make sure the src property of the <IMG> tag references a relative address like "images/clipart.gif" or an absolute web address like "http://www.mysite.com/images/clipart.gif".

3 <P> Tags
Another problem I had was <P> tags that were not paired. If these tags are not paired correctly Netscape will mangle the results.

4 Form Formatting
The next two difficulties are potentially huge time wasters. Always place the <FORM> tags between <TR> and <TD>. The following code, which has the <FORM> tags inside of the <TD> tags, should not be used because it limits your control over page formatting and displays differently within Netscape 6 than within IE.

<TABLE border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
   <TR>
      <TD>
      Above Form
      <FORM method="POST" action="cgi-bin/script.cgi">
         <INPUT type="submit" value="Submit" name="B1">
      </FORM>
      Below Form
      </TD>
   </TR>
</TABLE>

This code inserts unwanted line breaks between the lines within the table:

Above Form Below Form

Use the following instead:

<TABLE border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%">
   <TR>
      <FORM method="POST" action="cgi-bin/script.cgi">
      <TD>
         Above Form<BR>
         <INPUT type="submit" value="Submit" name="B1"><BR>
         Below Form
      </TD>
      </FORM>
   </TR>
</TABLE>

which shows

Above Form

Below Form

This second version gives you much more control over line breaks.

5 Table Formatting
To overcome problems with formatting tables in Netscape 4.X, use a cleardot.gif with the <IMG> tag and its width property to definitively set the width of a table cell. For example, to produce a column of a particular width (135 pixels in this case) on the right side of the screen, use the following code.

<TABLE border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
   <TR>
      <TD width="100%"></TD>
      <TD><IMG border="0" src="cleardot.gif" width="135" height="1"></TD>
   </TR>
</TABLE>

6 <DL> Tags
To improve your control over the way browsers format lists (i.e. <OL> or <UL>), immediately follow the <TD> tag in which your list is shown by the <DL> tag. This will remove the extra line breaks that the browser inserts before and after your list. Don't forget to add the </DL> at the end.

Oh, before I forget, if you want a blank line at the end of a table cell, remember to add a non-breaking space (  in HTML code) after a <BR> so that Netscape 6 actually adds a blank line.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

For the most part I don't recommend using style sheets. They are just too cumbersome if you can easily change fonts with a WYSIWIG editor. I do, however, recommend that you use them in some instances. For example, use them when you want to change the formatting of a particular set of links. They are very useful in this instance. If you're wondering where to put the CSS coding, place it in a file called header.html, then include this file as the first thing in each of your other pages with SSI (discussed below). Don't bother with separate files for CSS - again, they're just too cumbersome.

A web page on the University of Wisconsin site is a good reference for CSS tags. Another good reference page is Project Cool. This page lists the browser support for each tag.

SSI (Server Side Includes)

I highly recommend utilizing SSI, especially to include a header and footer for each page on your site, which you can then change by editing one file. Using this method your CSS code will be the same for each page, and you will be able to easily add and change advertisements or promotional material.

Check out Use Foresite for an SSI tutorial. For specifics on including dynamic pages created with a CGI program see BigNoseBird.

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