Ok I have a website and well it stinks. I tried to learn more about html ( I've boughten books, checked out help sites) but i still cant really do much. I just want to learn something that i actually understand. I've tried all the "easy" tutorials and no luck. I would just like some help in getting the main part of a site started ( nice background, good topic, ect) If You can help me post here or send me an e-mail @ <!-- e --><a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a><!-- e --> Please Please Please Thank you.
<!--content-->By background I assume you are talking about background images. Avoid them if you have text directly over top of the background image. You would put the background image in the <body> tag and then specify a background color for the table cell or <div> that contains text.<br />
<br />
<body background="url/to/image.jpg"><br />
.<br />
.<br />
.<br />
<td bgcolor="COLOR"><br />
This is regular body text. This table cell would also be the main content area of your page.<br />
Basically, use a background color for any table cell that will contain text.<br />
For an example of what I'm talking about, visit:<br />
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://users.tm.net/gburghardt/">http://users.tm.net/gburghardt/</a><!-- m --><br />
</td><br />
<br />
<br />
Deciding on a topic<br />
<br />
Can't really help you there too much. It all depends on what the site is for (business, personal, information, etc...). If it's just your personal site, make it about you. I've got lots of random rantings on my site (link above) and other tidbits about me. I have a whole section on web design and have written some HTML and CSS tutorials that you may find helpfull.<br />
<br />
The World Wide Web Consortium (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.w3.org/">http://www.w3.org/</a><!-- m -->) has set up a number of standards for HTML, JavaScript, and Cascading Style Sheets that most browsers released after 2000 comply to under certain circumstances. My web design tutorials aren't fully standards compliant, but they do work in most any browser.<!--content--><body background="url/to/image.jpg"> <br />
<br />
uhhhh thanks for the help but well: What the heck did what you told me mean????
<!--content-->url/to/image means the file path to the image on your web server. URL means Uniform Resource Locator, which is just short for a web address.<br />
<br />
An example file path to an image would be:<br />
<br />
background="images/backgrounds/forrest.jpg"<br />
<br />
This tells the browser to request the forrest.jpg image from a folder called "images" located in the same folder it got the HTML file from. Once the browser finds the "images" folder, it will look for a folder called "backgrounds" and then find forrest.jpg inside the "backgrounds" folder.<br />
<br />
The above example is called a relative URL. The web address to a picture or other file is relative to the HTML document that requests. You may find absolute URLs easier to understand if you're just starting out.<br />
<br />
Absolute URLs<br />
<br />
Simply put, the exact, full web address to a file on the Internet, be it an image, HTML page, executable file (.exe), etc.<br />
<br />
Using the above background example:<br />
<br />
background="http://www.somedomain.com/images/backgrounds/forrest.jpg"<br />
<br />
To understand absolute and relative URLs, check out the web design tutorial on the <img> tag on my site:<br />
<br />
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://users.tm.net/gburghardt/webDesign/html/5-images/">http://users.tm.net/gburghardt/webDesign/html/5-images/</a><!-- m --><!--content-->If you are really stuck and it goes against the grain to suggest it!! But why not use a WYSYWG editor like FrontPage.<br />
<br />
I recently had to write a site in FrontPage and was surprised at just how easy it is to use. Here is a forum link<br />
<br />
<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.frontpagetalk.com">www.frontpagetalk.com</a><!-- w --><br />
<br />
Even if you do use an editor, they have limitations and it's still worthwhile having a reasonable grasp of HTML. The W3C site (mentioned previously) is my favourite!<!--content-->Front Page how mean!!!
Try something like dreamweaver easy to use and does not mess up the code like front page.<!--content-->You might go to Macromedia.com and try a free Download <!--more--> of their trial software CONTRIBUTE. It's a wysywig easy to use web building software program from what I understand. It's also mildly more affordable then DreamWeaver. <br />
<br />
Everyone starts out easy (geocities, freeservers) and works up. I know a lot of people get into arguments about, 'well I learned html in two days --oh yeah I learned it in 8 hours --oh yeah I was born knowing it!! That's all huey. <br />
<br />
Begin with projects and software you are comfortable with, spend the extra time in the planning stage and don't listen to people who try to tell you if it isn't perfect strict xHTML you don't know your stuff
! <br />
<br />
<br />
-7hunters<!--content-->I agree with 7hunters use something easy and you don't let people tell you your code is not perfect. The thing with html is if it comes out like you want it then its perfect because there is no right or wrong way if you get the result you want. The reason I say stay away from front page is because that is the first thing I used and once you learn the basics you want to kill your self because front page puts so much junk in your code or well it did when I first started messing with it.<!--content-->Originally posted by Shto <br />
...The thing with html is if it comes out like you want it then its perfect because there is no right or wrong way if you get the result you want... <br />
<br />
I beg to differ. There is somewhat a right and wrong way.<br />
<br />
Such as, it's wrong to use <h5>Blah</h5> to get bold text, although some people actually do that...<!--content-->Originally posted by Shto <br />
The thing with html is if it comes out like you want it then its perfect because there is no right or wrong way if you get the result you want.As Paul Jr. said, that is totally incorrect. What would you use to back up such a statment? If you pay attention to what HTML means, you'd realize that it is a markup language, and it's elements should be used to markup the pages with semantic meaning. Ie, headers are <h1>-<h6>, paragraphs are <p>, etc.<!--content-->Originally posted by Paul Jr <br />
<br />
<br />
Such as, it's wrong to use <h5>Blah</h5> to get bold text, although some people actually do that... <br />
The thing is why does it matter how someone does it if it comes out they way they want it? If it looks right then who is anyone else to say it is not. <h5>Blah</h5> might not be the way it should be done but hey manipulating the code to do what we want is the programmers way just because it is not used the way it was intended does not make it wrong.<!--content-->You obviously are not thinking about the results of that. The elements mean a certain thing, and when used differently than that, the results can be undesirable. What do you think <h5> means to a screen reader? Bold text? I think not... <br />
<br />
You obviously veiw the web through a visual viewpoint - it is much more than that. What if users are not browsing on the latest graphical browser. Also, corectly coded sites tend to get listed better on google (often referred to as the biggest blind user of the web). When google "sees" the <h1> through <h6> tags, it sees headings, not bold text. Also, what says the user agents need to render a <h5> bold?<!--content-->Sorry I am playing devils advocate. I know the results and I understand what the header tags mean. But I still stand by what I said before it does not make it wrong to use it. If I completely understand what I am doing and I understand the results of my actions but do it anyway because it suits my needs or gives a desired effect I want it is not wrong. =P<!--content-->
<!--content-->By background I assume you are talking about background images. Avoid them if you have text directly over top of the background image. You would put the background image in the <body> tag and then specify a background color for the table cell or <div> that contains text.<br /><br />
<body background="url/to/image.jpg"><br />
.<br />
.<br />
.<br />
<td bgcolor="COLOR"><br />
This is regular body text. This table cell would also be the main content area of your page.<br />
Basically, use a background color for any table cell that will contain text.<br />
For an example of what I'm talking about, visit:<br />
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://users.tm.net/gburghardt/">http://users.tm.net/gburghardt/</a><!-- m --><br />
</td><br />
<br />
<br />
Deciding on a topic<br />
<br />
Can't really help you there too much. It all depends on what the site is for (business, personal, information, etc...). If it's just your personal site, make it about you. I've got lots of random rantings on my site (link above) and other tidbits about me. I have a whole section on web design and have written some HTML and CSS tutorials that you may find helpfull.<br />
<br />
The World Wide Web Consortium (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.w3.org/">http://www.w3.org/</a><!-- m -->) has set up a number of standards for HTML, JavaScript, and Cascading Style Sheets that most browsers released after 2000 comply to under certain circumstances. My web design tutorials aren't fully standards compliant, but they do work in most any browser.<!--content--><body background="url/to/image.jpg"> <br />
<br />
uhhhh thanks for the help but well: What the heck did what you told me mean????
<!--content-->url/to/image means the file path to the image on your web server. URL means Uniform Resource Locator, which is just short for a web address.<br /><br />
An example file path to an image would be:<br />
<br />
background="images/backgrounds/forrest.jpg"<br />
<br />
This tells the browser to request the forrest.jpg image from a folder called "images" located in the same folder it got the HTML file from. Once the browser finds the "images" folder, it will look for a folder called "backgrounds" and then find forrest.jpg inside the "backgrounds" folder.<br />
<br />
The above example is called a relative URL. The web address to a picture or other file is relative to the HTML document that requests. You may find absolute URLs easier to understand if you're just starting out.<br />
<br />
Absolute URLs<br />
<br />
Simply put, the exact, full web address to a file on the Internet, be it an image, HTML page, executable file (.exe), etc.<br />
<br />
Using the above background example:<br />
<br />
background="http://www.somedomain.com/images/backgrounds/forrest.jpg"<br />
<br />
To understand absolute and relative URLs, check out the web design tutorial on the <img> tag on my site:<br />
<br />
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://users.tm.net/gburghardt/webDesign/html/5-images/">http://users.tm.net/gburghardt/webDesign/html/5-images/</a><!-- m --><!--content-->If you are really stuck and it goes against the grain to suggest it!! But why not use a WYSYWG editor like FrontPage.<br />
<br />
I recently had to write a site in FrontPage and was surprised at just how easy it is to use. Here is a forum link<br />
<br />
<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.frontpagetalk.com">www.frontpagetalk.com</a><!-- w --><br />
<br />
Even if you do use an editor, they have limitations and it's still worthwhile having a reasonable grasp of HTML. The W3C site (mentioned previously) is my favourite!<!--content-->Front Page how mean!!!
Try something like dreamweaver easy to use and does not mess up the code like front page.<!--content-->You might go to Macromedia.com and try a free Download <!--more--> of their trial software CONTRIBUTE. It's a wysywig easy to use web building software program from what I understand. It's also mildly more affordable then DreamWeaver. <br /><br />
Everyone starts out easy (geocities, freeservers) and works up. I know a lot of people get into arguments about, 'well I learned html in two days --oh yeah I learned it in 8 hours --oh yeah I was born knowing it!! That's all huey. <br />
<br />
Begin with projects and software you are comfortable with, spend the extra time in the planning stage and don't listen to people who try to tell you if it isn't perfect strict xHTML you don't know your stuff
! <br /><br />
<br />
-7hunters<!--content-->I agree with 7hunters use something easy and you don't let people tell you your code is not perfect. The thing with html is if it comes out like you want it then its perfect because there is no right or wrong way if you get the result you want. The reason I say stay away from front page is because that is the first thing I used and once you learn the basics you want to kill your self because front page puts so much junk in your code or well it did when I first started messing with it.<!--content-->Originally posted by Shto <br />
...The thing with html is if it comes out like you want it then its perfect because there is no right or wrong way if you get the result you want... <br />
<br />
I beg to differ. There is somewhat a right and wrong way.<br />
<br />
Such as, it's wrong to use <h5>Blah</h5> to get bold text, although some people actually do that...<!--content-->Originally posted by Shto <br />
The thing with html is if it comes out like you want it then its perfect because there is no right or wrong way if you get the result you want.As Paul Jr. said, that is totally incorrect. What would you use to back up such a statment? If you pay attention to what HTML means, you'd realize that it is a markup language, and it's elements should be used to markup the pages with semantic meaning. Ie, headers are <h1>-<h6>, paragraphs are <p>, etc.<!--content-->Originally posted by Paul Jr <br />
<br />
<br />
Such as, it's wrong to use <h5>Blah</h5> to get bold text, although some people actually do that... <br />
The thing is why does it matter how someone does it if it comes out they way they want it? If it looks right then who is anyone else to say it is not. <h5>Blah</h5> might not be the way it should be done but hey manipulating the code to do what we want is the programmers way just because it is not used the way it was intended does not make it wrong.<!--content-->You obviously are not thinking about the results of that. The elements mean a certain thing, and when used differently than that, the results can be undesirable. What do you think <h5> means to a screen reader? Bold text? I think not... <br />
<br />
You obviously veiw the web through a visual viewpoint - it is much more than that. What if users are not browsing on the latest graphical browser. Also, corectly coded sites tend to get listed better on google (often referred to as the biggest blind user of the web). When google "sees" the <h1> through <h6> tags, it sees headings, not bold text. Also, what says the user agents need to render a <h5> bold?<!--content-->Sorry I am playing devils advocate. I know the results and I understand what the header tags mean. But I still stand by what I said before it does not make it wrong to use it. If I completely understand what I am doing and I understand the results of my actions but do it anyway because it suits my needs or gives a desired effect I want it is not wrong. =P<!--content-->