HTML Explained: Tips for Self-Starters

Written by Dina Giolitto, Wordfeeder.com


Want to save money while promoting your web-based business? Of course you do. Here's some advice onrepparttar matter, from a freelance copywriter who knows: it pays to learnrepparttar 137368 basics of HTML.

If you're like me (stubborn), you've probably been dodging HTML for many years. All that code mushed together... it's distressing to look at! But here'srepparttar 137369 thing: HTML is your friend. He might be ugly, but he's a good guy to have on your side.

Once you get a basic understanding of how HTML works,repparttar 137370 gibberish starts to make sense. And that's when you'll realize how easy it is to create web pages for your own business without having to 1. pay a designer thousands of dollars, or 2. purchase one of those expensive web design programs.

Let's start with a general explanation. HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. It'srepparttar 137371 basis for every single design element you see on a web page: layout, copy, image placement, links, music, animation, etc. People who design their sites using fancy web page creators with buttons and copy/paste features are merely controllingrepparttar 137372 HTML code viarepparttar 137373 program's graphic overlay. Underneath it all,repparttar 137374 code's still there in its pure form. You can see it if you go to a webpage and then click View>Source fromrepparttar 137375 top menu.

Easy Web Page Creation

You can create a professional-looking web page using HTML andrepparttar 137376 bare minimum of tools: a text program (such as Notepad) to write and save files in, a Web browser to viewrepparttar 137377 files, and a photo-editing program such as Photoshop.

Ever visit a webpage and then click View>Source so you can stare atrepparttar 137378 "guts" and try to make sense of it? The text program that opens that page isrepparttar 137379 same one you'll use to create your own web page from scratch. Keep in mind, a text program is NOTrepparttar 137380 same as a word-processing program, such as Microsoft Word. If you use Word, you may accidentally save your file as a .DOC, and in doing so, create all kinds of coding problems that make your page look crazy. NEVER create web pages in Word!

Here are three salient points about writing HTML code.

1. Your text editing program does not recognize paragraph returns when you type them withrepparttar 137381 Enter key. You will separate your text manually, using HTML tags such as < P > and < BR >.

2. HTML code does not differentiate between capitals and lowercase. Your tags can be typed either way and they'll still work no matter what.

3. HTML doesn't recognize Smart Quotes- those curly quote marks that Word and other word processing programs like to convert your straight quotes (or inch marks) into when you least expect it. HTML also doesn't recognize "curly" apostrophes (as opposed to straight ones, or footmarks). If you use these in your web documents,repparttar 137382 computer will interpret them as code and fill your web page with gibberish. So DON'T USE SMART QUOTES OR CURVED APOSTROPHES!

Creating a Text Document:repparttar 137383 Basis for Your Web Page

Start a new file in your text program such as Notepad, then save it withrepparttar 137384 .html extension. For example, you might name your file, "myfirstwebpage.html". Later, after you've entered your code intorepparttar 137385 text program, viewrepparttar 137386 page as it will appear onrepparttar 137387 web by using a web browser such as Explorer or Netscape. Click File>Open, and then enterrepparttar 137388 name of your file. Viola! There'srepparttar 137389 web page that YOU created! The great thing about this feature is that you can keep on saving your text file and refreshingrepparttar 137390 browser page to track your progress.

Keep in mind thatrepparttar 137391 pages you create and save as .html files won't be available for viewing onrepparttar 137392 internet until you publish them. This is done by purchasing a web hosting package through one ofrepparttar 137393 major web hosting companies; for example, GoDaddy.com. You're required to "rent a space" for each web domain you own. But that's a topic for another article entirely.

Now comesrepparttar 137394 fun part: uncoveringrepparttar 137395 "secret" to HTML! HTML is logic-based; and for those of us who love a good logic puzzle, this is truly a beautiful thing.

HTML Tags at Work

In viewingrepparttar 137396 source of web pages, you may have noticed a lot of these things: < >. They're called HTML tags, and they're whatrepparttar 137397 computer uses to interpretrepparttar 137398 HTML code.

NOTE: in this article I had to add spaces to all of my HTML tags so that I could display them without actually having them work. There are two HTML tricks to actually "shutting off" HTML tags, but neither of them function properly in this submission box.

The HTML tags shown here will display like so: < FAKE TAG > but in reality you're supposed to type them like so:

.

Moving along, a friend of mine describes HTML tags as "on/off switches." An easy example which you may be well-familiar with, isrepparttar 137399 Bold command. To "turn on" Bold, type < B > (but with no spaces). All ofrepparttar 137400 text that comes afterrepparttar 137401 Bold tag, will then be Bolded. To "turn off"repparttar 137402 bold characteristic, type < /B >. Any text that comes afterrepparttar 137403 "bold off" tag will unbolded.

It's worth mentioning that in all cases, all text that falls between an "on" or "off" HTML tag will take onrepparttar 137404 characteristic of that tag descriptor. How much text can you put in between two HTML tags? As much or as little as you want. That means, you can use just a couple of HTML tags to design paragraphs and paragraphs of text.

What are some other HTML tags that web designers frequently use?

< I > and < /I > (for italics) < U > and < /U > (for underline) < BR > (to create a single line break).

How to Organize your Digital Audio Collection

Written by Ross MacIver


If you have been collecting audio files for even a short while, you probably have a fair number stored on your computer. Finding a specific song by clicking through directories can be tedious and time-consuming, so you really need a way to find what you are looking for quickly and easily. Fortunately, there are many software packages that can help you do just that – organize your music collection and let you find songs by name, artist, or almost any other classification.

MP3 files can have “tags” imbedded inrepparttar file that store information aboutrepparttar 137292 song. Standard tags are Title, Artist, Album, Track, Year, Genre, Composer, and Comments. Most MP3 files that you find onrepparttar 137293 internet will use at least some of these tags – Title and Artist beingrepparttar 137294 most common.

If you have lots of MP3s that don’t have tags, you can use a program like MP3 Tag Tools that can add tags automatically. MP3 Tag Tools is freeware and there are many other programs that have similar functions. Tags will be generated fromrepparttar 137295 file name orrepparttar 137296 folder name. You can process all your MP3 files atrepparttar 137297 same time, and even re-name files according to their tags.

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