HTML Tutorial for Beginners 1 - What is HTML and how to use it HTML Tutorial for Beginners 1
What is HTML and how to use it



May 1st, 2009:

HTML Tutorial for Beginners 1

HTML stands for "Hyper Text Markup Language"

If you have never dealt with HTML before, just go ahead and open a simple text editor like Notepad (In Windows: Start - All Programs - Accessories - Notepad) and type "Hello Your-Name" (without the quotes) and replace "Your-Name" with your name. Save this file as "webpage.html" in a new directory and name this directory "mywebsite" (without the quotes). Now open your web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox or other), go to File - Open - Browse, find the directory "mywebsite", and open the file webpage.html (which you have just saved). You should see your name in your browser.

Is this all it takes to create a HTML page? Well, not exactly, but this basically shows you how it works.

If you already have a HTML editor like HomeSite, MS FrontPage or other, you can use your HTML editor instead of Notepad and your web browser. Most HTML editors conveniently let you switch back and forth between an "Edit Mode" where you see and write your HTML code, and a "Browse Mode" which basically acts as a web browser and displays your HTML code just like a web browser would.

An HTML document always starts with this tag indicating the beginning of an HTML document: (Always use lower case letter to write HTML - see XHTML to find out why) 
<html>
Every web page should have a Head: 
<html>
<head>

What is a Head and What is it Used For?

One of the main purposes of the head part of a web page is to contain Meta tags for your web page, these tags give your web page a title, a description, a list of keywords, and some other indications, which are very important aspects in regards to search engine optimization. Most search engines use the title tag (and your description tag) to list your web page in their search results, and use your keyword tag to help identify your page's content. Meta tags are located in the head of a web page.

What are Meta Tags and What is Their Function?

Although the information specified in the Meta tags is not visible to the visitor of the web page, it is rather important for future search engine optimization. Here is what the beginning part of your HTML document should look like: 
<html>
<head>
<title>Your Web Page's Title Here</title>
<meta name="description" content="Your description here">
<meta name="keywords" content="your, keywords, here">
</head>
<body>
Your keywords in the Keyword Tag should be separated by commas. Now add the <body> tag. This tag indicates the beginning of your "visible" web page, the body of your HTML document.

Now, start typing some text right below the BODY tag. When you're done, hit the Enter key on your keyboard a couple of times and close the HTML document like this: 

</body>
</html>
Now the code of your HTML page should look like this: 
<html>
<head>
<title>Your Web Page's Title Here</title>
<meta name="description" content="Your Description Here">
<meta name="keywords" content="Your, Keywords, Here">
</head>
<body>
text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text text text text text text text text text text text text 
text text text text text text text text text text text text text text 
text text text text text text text
</body>
</html>

View it again in your web browser (or use the browse view on your HTML editor) and you should see the text you entered into your HTML document between the BODY and END BODY tags. Now you have created your first HTML page. I know, it doesn't really look like a real web page yet, but here are a few more tips on how to make your web page's design a bit more appealing:



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