CREATING A WEB DOCUMENT

What Software Do I Need For Making The Web Document?

Basically you need:
A simple text editor such as NotePad on the PC or, Simple or TeachText on the Mac. (There are many other possibilities but these are the simplest and are what we suggest for those wanting to learn to code their own documents.)
A browser such as Netscape or Microsoft Explorer.
How Do I Start?
You do NOT need to be online (no internet connection is needed at this point)
1. Open a new file using NotePad
2. Always start an HTML file like this:
<html>
<body>
3. Write the text you want on your page (see Exercise 1a for explanations about the body of an HTML document
4. Always end the file like this:
</body>
</html>
5. Save the file with a recognisable name ending in .htm (Mac files end in .html)
Note WHERE the file is saved so that you can locate it in 6. below.
6. Open the browser;
Choose Open File from the File menu
Locate the file you just saved and open it into the browser window
7. Keep the NotePad and the Browser windows both open and arranged so that you can switch easily from one to the other.
8. Return to your NotePad html file and continue adding text. Experiment with various tags
9. Save your file and read it with your browser as before. (The browser can only read what you have saved)
10. You can build an entire web site on your hard drive but it eventually must be transferred to your Internet Service Provider's web server (See Class 2.)

EXERCISE #1a

1. Open a new file in a simple text editor (NotePad, Simple Text, Teach Text etc. ) or in a normal word processor such as Microsoft Word (But you must remember in the latter case to carefully "Save As" a Text Only file from the pull down menu.
  1. first type out the coded verse as shown here,
  2. then "Save" it, naming it verse.htm (or verse.html on a Mac)
  3. then, from your browser's File menu, choose "Open File" to view your verse.html:

Now, type the following exactly as shown:

<HTML>
<BODY>
My First Web page
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Robert Frost
</BODY>
</HTML>

Now save the file as directed above and look at it with your browser. There is no coding (no HTML tags) and, as you will see, the browser does not recognize the line breaks that you put in.

3. Return to your text file and add the code (tags) shown below: (Your original text is shown in bold just to make it easier to spot)
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>My Web Page</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="aqua">
<H1 align="center"> My First Web page </H1>
<H3> Fire and Ice </H3>
<OL>
<LI> Some say the world will end in fire,
<LI> Some say in ice.
</OL>
<B> From what I've tasted of desire </B> <BR>
<FONT COLOR="red"> I hold with those who favor fire. </FONT> <BR>
But if I had to perish twice, <BR>
I think I know enough of hate <BR>
To say that for destruction ice <BR>
Is also great <BR>
And would suffice.
<P align="right">Robert Frost
<HR>
<A HREF="mailto:Your-Email-Address"> Your-email-address (Your Name)</A> <P>
<A HREF="http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/"> Davis Community Network </A> <P>
<A HREF="http://www.altavista.digital.com/">SEARCH THE WEB</A>
</BODY>
</HTML>

4. SAVE the file and test it again with your browser. This what it should look like. Pay attention to the effect that the various codes have including the <BR> , <P> , <HR> and bodycolor and font color codings.