Assuming you could assimilate gushing fountain of wisdom in previous articles, we move onto streams of more evolved tags. Let's start with graphics.

Graphics enhance look of a page, they make it more informative [One picture is worth a thousand words, etc.], and they give your page an identity. But don't go over board - total size of one page should not, ideally, exceed 25 KB. There are many other issues involved with web-based graphics, but at this moment, we are just covering HTMLization of graphic files.

== Step 7: ==

To include graphics, we use tag in this manner:

Where "picture.gif" is some graphic file that you already have in same folder. If graphic file is not present in same folder as your HTML page, then you have to specify entire path of file being used. For example, if your HTML file is in root directory, and "picture.gif" is in a sub-directory - graphics - of your root-directory, syntax turns out to be:

"/" (forward slash) is for servers. For your local hard-drive, you should use "" (back slash).

SRC is an attribute of and it stands for "source".

There are primarily two graphic file formats prevalent on web, namely, GIF and JPG. GIF files use lesser colors, and hence are smaller in size and load quicker, and further, animated graphics can be created out of GIF files. JPG files are more refined, and we use them to display graphics that require clarity and greater pixel density, for instance, a photograph. More efficacious formats are being developed in meantime to suit Internet compatibility.

In some tags, you don't have to use closing tag. We don't use with .

Let's recall that some basic features of XML are:

· XML can keep data separated from your HTML · XML can be used to store data inside your HTML documents · XML can be used as a format to exchange information · XML can be used to store data in files or in databases

The power and beauty of XML is that it maintains separation of user interface from structured data, allowing seamless integration of data from diverse sources. Customer information, purchase orders, research results, bill payments, medical records, catalog data and other information can be converted to XML on middle tier, allowing data to be exchanged online as easily as HTML pages display data today. Data encoded in XML can then be delivered over Web to desktop. No retrofitting is necessary for legacy information stored in mainframe databases or documents, and because HTTP is used to deliver XML over wire, no changes are required for this function.

Once data is on client desktop, it can be manipulated, edited, and presented in multiple views, without return trips to server. Servers now become more scalable, due to lower computational and bandwidth loads. Also, since data is exchanged in XML format, it can be easily merged from different sources - ok, this is aspects that personally interests me. The portability of data. Database programmer all over world face unlimited problems while tackling with data of multifarious formats. If formats cease to matter, anybody, anywhere, on whichever machine, can view and manipulate data.

>From previous article, we might recall XML, unlike HTML, does not have proprietary tags. We can go on a wild trip and define our own tags, according to necessity. Consider this for example: