Tools and Rules
Saving your document:
To write HTML, it’s best to use a simple text-editing program. For Mac users, see if you can find a program called TextEdit or SimpleText. For PC users, try looking for Notepad or WordPad.
You can also use a word processing program, such as Word or WordPerfect. If you do, you must save your work in text format. To do this, when you are ready to save your work, click “File” and Save As, and not Save. This is because when you choose Save As, a box pops up and lets you choose the format in which you want to save your document. In this case, you want to save your work as Text.
Why all the fuss if you are using a word processor? Well, web browsers can only read text, and they can’t understand anything else. When you use a word processor program like Word, your document does not automatically save as Text. That’s why I suggest using SimpleText or Notepad because your documents are automatically saved as Text.
While learning HTML, I suggest that you save all your documents in one folder and on your machine’s hard drive. Perhaps the simplest way to do this is to make the new folder on your desktop, allowing you quick and easy access to your documents.
Naming your document:
To name your document, you can choose any filename that you want. But, you need to be sure to add the ending of .html. For example, if you want to name your document "Fred", you would type in the name as: Fred.html.
Viewing your document:
When you are ready to see your new web pages, all you have to do is double click on the filename and it will appear on your computer just like a web page. This way, you don’t need to have space on a web service provider to start learning how to write HTML. However, when your ready to show off your hard work to the rest of the world, you will need to send your documents to a web server, such as Tripod or Angelfire.
Are you ready to continue? Because it’s time to get to the good stuff: writing tags.
This resource originally created by Deborah Dunk.
Revised and edited by Michael Galloway in 2005 & in 2006.