Read an Excerpt
Module 1: Getting StartedGoals:
- Understand the Internet as a medium for disseminating information
- Plan for the audience, goals, structure, content, and navigation of your site
- Identify the basic differences between the different types of HTML editors
- Learn from the pros using the VIEW SOURCE command of popular Web browsers
For as long as I have been involved in making Web pages, people have asked me to teach them the process. In the beginning, many people are intimidated at the thought of learning HTML. Fear not. One of the reasons I decided to go to art school was to avoid all math and science classes. So, as I tell my students . . . if I could learn HTML, so can you.
HTML is not rocket science. Quite simply, HTML is a means of telling a Web browser how to display a page. That's why it's called HTML, which is the acronym for Hypertext Markup Language. Like any new skill, HTML takes practice to comprehend what you are doing.
Before we dive into the actual creation of the Web pages, you need to understand a few things about the Internet. I could probably fill an entire book with the material in this first chapter, but the following should provide you with a firm foundation.
Understanding the Medium
When you are asked to write a term paper in school, you don't just sit down and start writing. First, you have to do research and learn how to format the paper. When you decide to write and design a Web page, the process is similar.
The Anatomy of a Web Site
Undoubtedly, you have seen a few Web sites by now. Perhaps, you know someone who is a Web geek, and you have watched him navigate through a Website by chopping off pieces of the Web address. Do you ever wonder what he is doing? He knows a little bit about the anatomy of a Web site and how the underlying structure is laid out.
Ask the ExpertQuestion: I've heard the phrase "The World Wide Web" used so many times, but I'm a little confused about what it actually means and how it relates to the Internet.
Answer: The World Wade Web (WWW or the Web) is often confused with the Internet. While the Internet was originally created during the Cold War as a way to link sections of the country together during an emergency, the Web didn't really exist until the late 19$0s. At that time, Tim Berners-Lee created a set of technologies that allowed information on the Internet to be linked together through the use of links, or connections, in documents. The language component of these technologies is HTML.
The Web was mostly text based until Marc Andreessen created the first Web browser in 1992, called Mosaic. This paved the way for video, sound, and photos on the Web.
As a large group of interconnected computers all over the world, the Internet comprises not only the Web, but also things like newsgroups (online bulletin boards) and e-mail. Many people think of the Web as the graphical or illustrated part of the Internet...