What a Web Page Needs First...Basic HTML

I was going to start with doing some tutorials on CSS and things of that nature, but then I realized that in order to be able to understand and get to know the CSS and things, you need to know what HTML is and does. So I think that should be the first step of many tutorials I plan on sharing with you. Eventually we can get into making a web page. I learned how to do HTML on my own and using notepad on windows completely by hand. I had no system or software to automatically input things for me and to me that is the best way to learn.

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language this is what the internet browsers we use to read the websites we all view. Without it no web page would be visible. To get further into it, HTML is made up of a series of elements, also known as tags which are started with the lesser sign < and the element name and end with a / and then the greater sign >. Below are a few examples for you.

There key elements that all HTML pages need to display the web page correctly. The Doctype is short for Document Type, this tells the internet browser which type of HTML you are using. There is HTML4.01 and XHTML 1.0, pretty much the same, however XHTML is meant to be served by the server as XML which is (mime-type: application/xhtml+xml) where HTML is suppose to be served as text (mime-type: text/html. Although many servers do not serve XHTML as XML, beacause all but most of current versions of browsers can handle XML version, XHTML is often treated just like HTML. Your heads are probably spinning and not knowing what I am talking about and I do apologize sometimes I just get going. We will stick with HTML codes and information for now.

The doctype should look like this:

Along with the Doctype, there are other requirements every web page needs. Like the HTML element, that contains every thing else in your web page. Directly within that HTML element, there must always be a head element and a body element. The head element contains everything for your website that is never directly displayed in your internet browser. This most also contain your meta tag elements. These are important for SEO, meta tags tell the description of the page and gives the keywords for the page. The body element, shows everything that you will see in your internet browser. So your basic skeleton of a webpage is below, this is without any background color or things of that nature, but as we go, we will get into that more.

Those are the basics to start a webpage. I will keep posting tutorials and tidbits, even if you don't do it yourself, you know how it is done and can know more about it! Have a happy, loving, successful day rainers!

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