World Wide Web is built of Web pages, and those pages are themselves
created with HyperText Markup Language, or HTML. Without HTML, there would
be no Web pages, and without Web pages, there would be no World Wide Web.
by Mark Brown
You can't build a monument without bricks, and you can't make bricks without straw-everyone who has seen the film The Ten Commandments knows that.
The World Wide Web is built of Web pages, and those pages are themselves
created with HyperText Markup Language, or HTML. Without HTML, there would
be no Web pages, and without Web pages, there would be no World Wide Web.
If you plan to establish your own monumental presence on the World Wide Web, you have to start with the straw, and that's HTML.
Though many people speak of "HTML Programming" with a capital
P, HTML is really not a programming language at all. HTML is exactly what
it claims to be: a markup language. You use HTML to mark up a text document,
just as you would if you were an editor using a red pencil. The marks you
use indicate which format (or presentation style) should be used when displaying
the marked text.
If you have ever used an old word processing program, you already know how a markup language works. In these old programs, if you wanted text to appear in italics, you surrounded it with control characters like this:
/Ithis is in italics/i
When you printed the document, the first /I kicked your line printer into italics mode, the following text was printed in italics, and the /i then turned off italics. The printer didn't actually print the /I or /i. They were just codes to tell it what to do. But the "marked up" text in between appeared in italics.
HTML works exactly the same way. If you want text to appear on a Web
page in italics, you mark it like this:
<I>this is in italics</I>
The <I> turns on italics; the </I> turns it off. The <I> and </I> tags don't appear on-screen, but the text in between is displayed in italics.
Everything you create in HTML relies on marks, or tags, like these. To be a whiz-bang HTML programmer, all you need to learn is which tags do what. Fortunately, that's what this entire book is about.
A few other topics are covered along the way: page design techniques,
the extensions to HTML supported by browsers such as Netscape Navigator
and Internet Explorer, graphics creation, and even multimedia content for
your Web site. You take a look at HTML and graphics editing tools, HTML
code verification, and how to promote your site on the Web. You even take
short side trips into Java applets, CGI programming, and Virtual Reality
Modeling Language (VRML).
But you explore these topics only as they relate to the main theme:
creating your own Web pages using HTML. The major goal of this book is
to help you learn as much as possible about HTML itself.
Special Edition Using HTMl, Second Edition, is intended for anyone and everyone who wants to create his or her own presence on the World Wide Web.
Novices will find information on what other people are doing on the Web, what is appropriate to put on the Web, and how to use basic HTML tags to begin to create their own Web pages.
Intermediate users will discover tips, tricks, and techniques for creating
Web pages that exploit the full potential of HTML.
And advanced users will learn how to use powerful extensions to HTML
and additional elements such as CGI-bin programs and Java applets to make
their World Wide Web pages truly world class.
Special Edition Using HTML, Second Edition, is organized into six logical sections.
Part I, "Overview of the World Wide Web," gives a short history
of the Internet and how the Web came to be. This part explores the relationships
between the Web and earlier Internet services such as e-mail, FTP, Gopher,
and UseNet news. A glossary of terms necessary for discussing Web-related
topics is included, as is a chapter that explains how Web server computers
and Web browser programs work together.
Part II, "Basic HTML Presentation," jumps into the basics
of HTML page creation. First, you find out what kinds of information do
and don't belong on the Web; in other words, you learn how to make sure
that your Web pages present you as a good netizen (Net citizen).
Then you learn about the HEAD and BODY
sections of an HTML document, how to mark up text so that it appears on
the screen in various styles, and how to link your pages gracefully to
other Internet services such as Gopher, FTP, UseNet news, and e-mail. You
find information on standard HTML page design practices such as signing
and dating pages, and how to provide text-only pages for non-graphic browsers.
An entire chapter is devoted to the topic of making HTML lists, and three
chapters describe how to create and implement Web page graphics, including
tricky topics such as transparent GIF images and progressive JPEGs.
Part III, "Advanced HTML Presentation," delves into tougher
material like designing clickable image maps for easier Web site navigation
and the subtleties of HTML tables. Chapter 14 provides a break by stepping
you through the creation of two real home pages, one personal and one for
business. Two chapters cover the extensions to HTML that are supported
by Netscape and other Web browser programs. You also get a peek at the
proposed HTML 3.0 standard. This part progresses to discuss VRML and multimedia,
including MPEG, AVI, and MOV movies. The last two chapters in this part
tell you how to verify your HTML code and how to promote your site on the
Web.
Part IV, "Forms and CGI," tackles two of the most versatile and most challenging Web page-creation tools. Forms are HTML elements that allow your site to obtain information from your viewers. CGI programs (or scripts) let you use that information to create customized responses "on the fly."
Part V, "Developing Interactive Web Pages," goes beyond what you learned in Part IV with a chapter that explains how you can use forms to implement live chat pages. This part then moves on to discuss Java applets and what they can do for your pages, as well as how to use Netscape's new LiveWire product to implement Java on your site.
Part VI, "HTML Authoring Tools," fills you in on the latest
HTML accessories for Web page creation, including Netscape Gold, Microsoft
Internet Assistant for Word, and Quarterdeck WebAuthor. Stand-alone HTML
editors such as HotDog, WebEdit, and Arachnid are also discussed.
Part VII, "Sample HTML Applications," gives you an insider's view of two fictitious Web sites where you can observe the process that two entities go through in developing their Web pages.
Finally, the appendixes include a full reference to HTML elements, an
HTML quick reference guide, and a World Wide Web bibliography.
This book uses various stylistic and typographic conventions to make it easier to use.
Shortcut key combinations are joined by + (plus) signs; for example, Ctrl+X means to hold down the Ctrl key, press the X key, and then release both.
Menu items and dialog box selections often have a mnemonic key associated
with them. This key is indicated by an underline on the item on-screen.
To use these mnemonic keys, you press the Alt key and then the shortcut
key. In this book, mnemonic keys are set in bold, like this: File.
This book uses the following typeface conventions:
| Typeface | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Italic | Variables in commands or addresses, or terms used for the first time |
| Bold | Text you type in, as well as addresses of Internet sites, newsgroups, mailing lists, and Web sites |
Computer type |
Commands |
Notes provide additional information related to the topic at hand.
Tips provide quick and helpful information to assist you along the way.
Cautions alert you to potential pitfalls or dangers in the operations discussed.
What are Troubleshooting notes?
Troubleshooting notes answer questions that might arise while following the procedures in this book.
In this electronic edition of Special Edition Using HTML, Second
Edition, hypertext links are used to point you to other places in the book
with additional information relevant to the topic.
See chapter 1
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