How to Learn HTML

Web design is simple

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

Things You'll Need

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

Instructions

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.