Working with the Web:
HTML Basics

Lesson Objectives

• Know what HTML is

• Know the advantages/disadvantages of a text editor & a WYSIWYG editor

• Know basic HTML tags: body, heading, paragraph, numbered list, list with bullets, link, image, table, table row, table cell, horizontal line, and break

• Write a simple HTML document

• Edit an existing document in Notepad

• Understand the interface for FrontPage or FPX

• Use basic tags to create a document in your editor

• Edit existing HTML code

• Create text and image links

• Insert and align images

• Format text and page

• Create a table

• Save and print a page and the HTML code for the page

• Convert an existing document to HTML

Web pages are written in HTML (HyperTextMarkupLanguage) and are stored on a web server for people to view over the Internet. These kinds of pages can also be viewed directly from a CD or a hard disk. In fact, many new programs come with interactive tutorials that are written with HTML. For convenience, documents that are written in HTML are all called web pages even when they will never be on the Internet at all.

The name HTML is somewhat misleading. HTML is not a programming "language". It is just a way to mark the logical divisions in a document and to give the browser suggestions for how to display it.

Purpose of HTML

HTML was created to make two things easier.

1. Sharing documents:
   If you have ever wanted to share a computer file with someone, you have run into the question "Do they have a program that can read my file?" HTML was created to help with this problem for Internet documents. Any browser can read a basic HTML document. This is different from word processors. A document written in one word processor cannot always be opened by a different one. Even when it can be opened, the document may not look the same.
    
2. Linking to other documents:
   Originally Internet documents were mostly scientific papers. Such papers often refer to related research papers that the reader might find helpful. To actually find and view these related materials on your own could be quite difficult. A hyperlink to the document makes it easy by including the Internet address for the related document in the HTML code for the page. All the reader has to do is click on the hyperlink to download and view the related materials.

What You Need

• FrontPage 2000/2002 or FrontPage Express (FPX)- Both use Internet Explorer as their internal browser. 

  Where to find FrontPage Express:

  • Full install of Internet Explorer 5 (but not 5.5 or 6)
     
  • Typical install of Win98 (but not Win98 Second Edition)
     
  • Extract from a CD: On a CD that installs IE5.0, find the file Fpesetup.cab  (Many free installation CDs for AOL, MSN, and such include an installation of IE.) Copy this cab file to your hard disk and extract all the files in it to a folder on your hard disk, using WinZip or similar compression program. Find the file fpxpress.exe in Explorer and double click it. This will install FPX.
     
    The Help may not work, but it is not worth much anyway. The File | New command may not work. Use Notepad to create a blank htm file (as described in these lessons later) and save it. Use File | Open to open this existing, blank document and edit away.
     
  • Download: In Google or another search engine, search on the keywords FrontPage Express and download (or FPX and download). There are several sites that offer installation copies of FPX. I cannot vouch for their safety or effectiveness.
     
    FPX is not available for Windows 2000 or XP due to software conflicts, according to Microsoft.  But others have reported no problems with using FPX on those systems when installed separately.
     
• Anti-virus software - Should be up and running every time you connect to the Internet!
   
• (Optional) Microsoft's Personal Web Server: If your site is on a web server on your own computer, you can test your pages to make sure all the features work, including the ones that only work on a server. Link: How to set up a personal web server (Windows 9x/NT platforms but not WinXP)

Step-by-Step directions are written for both FrontPage and FrontPage Express.

~~  1 Cor. 10:31 ...whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  ~~

Last updated: 22 Jan 2008