At this time, you are probably ready to build your webpage. We will begin by showing you
what tags will be absolutely necessary to put in your first HTML file. Because these tags
make up the basic framework and are the backbone of every page, we will refer to them as
the "skeleton" tags.
The HTML Tag
<HTML> ... </HTML>
- This tag is what defines a text document as a webpage. It tells a web browser that
everything between the two parts of this tag is HTML coding and is to be treated
specially. Everything that you put in your HTML file will be within this tag; there will be
nothing outside this pair.
The Heading
<HEAD> ... </HEAD>
- This tag defines the "heading" of the HTML document. The heading contains various
pieces of information about your document, like the title of your webpage, authoring
information, and relevant keywords which are conveyed through <META> tags and
comments.
Title
<TITLE> ... </TITLE>
- Whatever lies within this tag is the title of your webpage and will be displayed in the title
bar at the top of the web browser. Though not absolutely necessary, it is recommended
and very useful to put a title on your page.
The META tag
<META name="variable name" content="content of the variable">
- The <META> tag is a special tag. Generally, it will be of no use to you, but may be of use to
things like search engines, servers, and CGI scripts. You can put practically anything in a
<META> tag, but some of the most useful and used "names" are things like "keywords"
(relevant search terms for your page...) and "generator" (what you used to build it...).
The Body
<BODY BACKGROUND="image.ext" BGCOLOR="#rrggbb" TEXT="#rrggbb"
LINK="#rrggbb" VLINK="#rrggbb" ALINK="#rrggbb"> ... </BODY>
- This, the <BODY> tag, defines the body, or the main portion, of your document. Most of
what shows up on your page, like text and images, will be within the limits of this tag. The
<BODY> tag has many options which allow you to customize the colors of your page and
place an image in the background. The BACKGROUND option allows you to make an
image "image.ext" the background for your page. The image may be anything you wish,
but must be an image with an extension if .GIF or .JPG (sometimes .JPEG). The
BGCOLOR option lets you set the color of the background on your page, that is if you
decide not to use an image. The TEXT option permits you to change the color of
all text on your page from the default color of white. The LINK option allows you to
change the color of the hyperlinks in your page from blue to whatever you wish. The
VLINK option will let you change the color of hyperlinks that have been visited from
purple to whatever pleases you. The ALINK option changes the color of your hyperlinks when your visitors click
on them, ususally red.