HTML & CSS
Support Page
This web page is a supplement to the WorldU3A [support] list server. It will provide an ongoing source of discussion topics and links for all aspects of web page design for U3A members.
About this page
The purpose of this page is to provide, as we say above, a place where we can supplement any discussions in the WorldU3A [support] list server about web page design and implementation. The page will try to meet the needs of beginners through to the advanced web page developer. It is not intended to provide tutorial or teaching material directly from this page; however, we will try to provide links to a wide range of existing quality sites that our readers can take advantage of.
Please let me know what you think about the page and what you would like to see included here - its your page after all!
Introduction to web pages
Web pages are plain text documents that use a 'mark-up' code to display their formatting. Mark-up codes are not unique to web pages; word processors, such as MS Word, use mark-up codes for text formatting, its just that you cant see them. When you bold text in MS Word, mark-up code is placed before and after the selected text so you can see and print the text in bold type.
The mark-up code used for web pages is called HTML (HyperText Markup Language). See the links below (especially Writing HTML for more details about how HTML works.
If you are new to designing and building web pages then you can get started without learning HTML. There are many tools such as MS Word, OpenOffice.org, Abi Word, MS Front Page, Nvu, etc. etc. that allow you to create web pages like a word processing document. However, to get more control over your output you will need to learn a little HTML and use tools such as HTML-Kit or a text editor such as NoteTab or TextPad which include web building features. Discussion of these various tools would make a lively topic for the [support] list.
Creating web sites by hand
The following link is to a copy of a document that appeared recently on the OS News web site. The article points out the ease and benefits of creating web pages using a simple text editor such as Windows Notepad. I have added some personal bits in the way of sample code and recommendations for text editors and reference books. Please follow-up this article via the 'support' listserver if you have any thoughts.
Links
Reader's links
The following three links were provided by Jeffrey Screeton in a recent e-mail to [support]
A
Guide to HTML and CGI scripts
Basic
HTML formatting tags
CSS from the
ground up
This
button is a link to a page about the Firefox program,
submitted by Alan Bannister of South-West Herts U3A
My links
The following are some links that I think you might find useful:
Digital Web Magazine - an on-line magazine intended for professional web designers and web developers
About Web Design / HTML
Writing HTML a tutorial for creating web pages
W3 Schools - find all the Web-building tutorials you need
Colour Schemer - a great resource for choosing colours for your web pages
If you are new to web page design and are not sure what some of these links are all about but still want to learn, stay tuned and we will talk about some of the issues covered as time goes on. E-mail to the [support] list if you have any questions.