Basic HTML structure

There are two ways that you can build a personal website. You can write out all the HTML code by hand using any ASCII text editor such as notepad, or you can use a WYSIWYG, (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor such as Claris Home Page, and Macromedia Dreamweaver.

This course emphasizes the use of WYSIWYG editors. As designers we like to be able to move things around, searching for interesting compositions. Although this is exactly what you are doing when you write HTML code by hand, many of us are more comfortable if we can "see" what we are working with.

You don't need to know a lick of HTML code to use a WYSIWYG HTML editor, but you will feel more confident in your work if you have a basic understanding of the HTML structure associated with the elements that make up a typical page. This will vastly increase your ability to problem solve as you build and post your own web site.

Software that writes HTML code "behind the scenes" isn't always perfect, and you'll sometimes need to edit the code yourself. You might, for instance, run into a situation where you have to edit an INSERT IMAGE tag once you have FTPed a file to the server. If you know how to code HTML, it's easy to open up an HTML file and add things like extra tags or image file locations. Suddenly, "POW", your good to go.