Helpful Hints for HTML

	Sign In Sign-Up

KeiriaStar's Helpful Hints for HTML

I've seen many pages devoted entirely to making HTML a universal language, so that the average layperson can create their own website without giving themselves a migraine in the process. I've used these sites. I have links to some of them on 'KeiriaStar's Super Links Page.' I've also seen "HTML Help" sections on some people's private pages, and some informational pages. Spirit Online, for example. It's chock full of useful stuff for today's modern pagan. Yet at the bottom of the index on the left side of the page, there's a link to their "HTML Help" section.

I am not creating an "HTML Help" section for my page. This is a helpful hints page. I am assuming that you can use the following tags:

 <a href> <head> <foot> <body> <title> <hr> <table> <meta> <img src> <blink> <li>

and others. This is for the intermediate user who has mastered the basic tags listed above. (If you are an intermediate HTML writer, you already also know that many of those tags have useful attributes.) I like to play around with Netscape Composer to see what I can do with my page, or what sort of tricks can I employ to make it look neat. Here's a few of the things I discovered while playing around.

Tip #1: Most people like to make their pages colorful, and if you look at their source code, you'll see things like this:

What's wrong with that tag? Nothing? Wrong. At least, that's what I say. It is my advice to NEVER EVER EVER use words as the value for the color attribute. Use the hexadecimal codes for font and background colors. The above tag corrected now looks like this:

Now one might say, "But how in the world does "#FF0000" = "red"? Again, it's hexadecimal code. Notice how I emphasized code. Let me explain it to you a bit. Hexadecimal literally means "six digits" and you notice that there are six letters and numbers in the hexadecimal code. I usually think of it as 3 pairs of digits rather than 6 digits. Each pair of digits represents a primary color. It goes like this:

RRGGBB

Meaning, the first two digits determine the red content, the second two determine the green content, and the third two determine the blue content.

Hexadecimal counting is a bit complex. Two zeros indicate none of the color, while two "f"s indicate that the color is "maxed out," if you will. Here are numbers one through twenty counted hexadecimally:

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D
0E 0F 10 11 12 13 14

Essentially, you start at 00 and then progress through the digits. When one of the digits reaches 9, it goes next to A. FF, the highest number, is equal to 255. So the higher the number, the more of a primary color is used in your color.

Hexadecimal code is confusing at first. So here's the tip. Play with it. Just type in random digits and letters (A-F of course), and see what sort of colors you get. Use the hexadecimal codes in the
<body bgcolor> tag before you add content to your page. And, very importantly, get a piece of paper and write down the hexadecimal codes AND word descriptions of colors you like, and tape it somewhere near your computer. This is practical. If you find a color you like, you'll want to use it again. So write the hexadecimal number of the color down, describe the color, and BAM! next time you need a funky color, you got a nice list to choose from. Also, playing with colors takes time... it's not always good to use a lot of time on colors. And, the best part is, every browser sees "FF0000" in exactly the same way, while each browser might give you a different shade of "red."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tip #2: BUY A BOOK

This is probably the best advice I can give you. HTML For Dummies is an excellent book. It's designed for the layperson. It's the book I own. You can always flip through it when you have a question on a tag. And... my copy came with this nifty CD full of programs and software. Pretty cool!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tip #3: On fonts

Everyone loves using neat fonts to enhance their page. Problem is, not everyone has that really cool font. So, you have three choices. The first is to not use the fancy fonts at all. The second is to turn your fancy-fonts-enhanced-text into images so that everyone can see your font. The third is to provide a ZIP file of the font so your viewers can download your awesome font and use it themselves. All three choices have their pros and cons.

Not using a neat font is often boring. How many sites do you see that are Times New Roman? Boring, right? But sometimes you see Arial and Comic Sans MS. Those are also universal, and they're not quite as boring. I personally love Arial. But on these pages, I'm using the font "Calligraph421 BT" so if you can't see it, I'll soon have the ZIP of the font available on my page.

Turning your text into graphics is time consuming. It takes you time to make the graphics. It takes the user time to download the graphics. But, they don't need to be bored by Times New Roman or take time out to download a zip file.

Downloading a font takes time and speed out of your connection. But once you have the font, you can use it whenever you want.

Whichever of these three you choose is up to you. But please remember this: If you really want to use a neat-looking font, try to make it accessible to all in some way.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*