How to Learn HTML

HTML, which stands for Hypertext Markup Language, is the language used to create Web pages.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Modems
• Internet Access
• Computers
• Text Editor: EditPad
• Web Browsers

1. Call your local community college or university. Many schools give courses on HTML and Web design and have programs that offer a certificate of completion and/or course credits.

2. Purchase a book on HTML design. Book/CD-ROM combinations offer hands-on learning and Web development tools.

3. Go to the HTML Writers Guild Web site (www.hwg.org) and sign up for the trial membership. The HTML Writers Guild offers classes in HTML, Web design and Web graphics for members.

4. Learn HTML on your own by looking at a page's source code. With your browser, open a simple, easy-to-read page. Open the View menu, then select Source or Page Source, depending on your browser. Study how the source code translates into the page you see in the browser.

5. Purchase an HTML reference manual to help you decipher the tags and their roles. You can even copy a page's source code and insert your own elements to see what happens.

6. Visit the World Wide Web Consortium at www.w3c.org to find an HTML tutorial and learn more about HTML's history.

7. Ask a Web-page designer to teach you HTML as he or she designs a page for you. It costs a little more, but you will learn as you go and be able to update your own page.

Tips & Warnings

• It is best to learn HTML before you use an HTML assistant or Web design application. You can use HTML code to make changes that many HTML assistants won't allow you to make.
• Use another's source code only to learn. Using someone else's Web page as your own is copyright infringement. Once you have learned HTML, you can create your own pages.

[synonym]

on 10/29/2009 Just go to About.com . Just about anything and everything you ever could want to learn regarding HTML4.0-XHTML1.0-CSS-etc is there in an extensive set of tutorials.

[mad-shirts]

on 11/17/2008 The HTML for Dummies book is good for folks like me who want something simple and elementary, nothing terribly fancy, although there are sections that are more advanced. Cheap too if you purchase it online. My own site MAD-SHIRTS.COM makes use of a little html, as you can see from the layout.

on 6/30/2006 I can't agree that XHTML is more difficult, it is simply tighter and cleaner. What's more it will soon be the standard, so if you are starting now, that's the one to go for. Otherwise you'll just have to change all your bad old-style HTML habits. And XHTML leads to DHTML, and that's fun.

on 3/20/2006 XHTML is the web standard now. If you're learning HTML, stop and learn XHTML first. It's a much cleaner, more precise language.

http://jessey.net/simon/xhtml_tutorial/one.html

I'd recommend the above for a tutorial.

on 11/22/2005 There is a free HTML Editor that works just great. It will color the tags of HTML and other scripts so things are easy to find ... and it's free! He he.:) Go to http://www.visicommedia.com/ and download the AceHTML 4 Freeware. You're welcome. :)