Welcome to the Cary Academy Chemistry Program
web page tutorial. This page is for students and teachers who are interested in creating
their own web pages. The key to producing your own web page(s) is learning HTML. HTML is
an acronym for hypertext markup language which is the programming code of the World Wide
Web (WWW). HTML relies on a series of "tags" and special codes to indicate both
the content and format of the page. Web browsers (e.g. Netscape and Internet Explorer) are
designed to read this language and convert it into the pages you see when you explore the
WWW. By learning this language, you too can become a web page author and
"publish" on the web. Information on the web has a world wide audience. All you
have to do is create a site that is interesting enough to visit.
There are now a number of web page editors on the
market that will add the tags and codes for you. These are called WYSIWYG or "what
you see is what you get". In other words, the way the page appears as you type it in
the editor is the way it will appear on the web. However, I would strongly recommend
learning the raw code. The basic tags and codes are easy to learn. I have used editors and
they definitely save time, but there have been many times where the editor was not
creating what I wanted. By knowing HTML, I could easily go in and make the necessary
changes. Learn how to write raw code first because editors can be "buggy" and
may not be up to date with the latest HTML tags. I use a combination of my own knowledge
of HTML, a good reference book, and editors.
Book that I highly recommend:
I started learning HTML in the Summer of 1996 by
using on-line tutorials. I will not try to teach you all the tags here because there are
already extensive on-line tutorials and textbooks available on HTML. The Wake County
Public Library has some nice books on HTML as well as any bookstore or computer outlet. I
completed two on-line tutorials that offer self-quizzes to test your progress. Both
tutorials are short (completed in 1-2 hr) and stick to the basics for the most part.
Remember that you can print out hard copies of any section you feel you might need to
reference off-line.
Andy Carvin's "HTML Crash Course for Educators"
Eric Meyers' "Introduction to HTML"
Also check out the Web Developer's Virtual Library
Keep in mind that HTML is still young so additions are being made all the time. You will
come across references to HTML 3.0, 4.0 etc. New tags are being developed all the time.
Some of these new tags are practical and some are fancy tricks. What you need to know has
already been established. Don't worry about the latest and greatest javascripting until
you learn how to do things like getting your title to appear correctly on a web page.
After you start working your way through the tutorials, you will want to start creating
your trial page. You must type it in "text only" format. I recommend using
NotePad which comes with all the Windows operating systems (look under Programs -->
Accessories). When you save your trial page, add the extension .htm before you save it as
text. For example, you have typed up your trial page in Notepad. When you save the file,
name it "trialpage.htm" and save it as "text only". Open the folder to
which you saved the file. You should see that it has the little icon of your browser (IE
or Netscape). This means that your system is recognizing this file as a web page.
Double-click on the your file to "browse" it and see how it looks. If you want
to edit your page, go back to Notepad and make your changes. When you are just working on
your pages, you do not have to be connected to the Internet. For your first page, I
would try to incorporate the following list of basic elements:
I have created a small template that shows an html-programmed page which would include a title, a page break (or horizontal rule), two paragraphs of text, a numbered list with three items, a potential link to another webpage, and a potential graphic or picture. The <br> tag that you see is used for line breaks just like the return key. When you can see the tags you are looking at the "document source". If you want to see what this source would look like when read by a browser click here.