How HTML Works
Reading: Internet Literacy, chapter 17. Note: This is a review module that can be skipped by students who have already had a basic course in Web page authoring. If you plan to work through this module, on the other hand, you will need a copy of the Internet Literacy textbook described in the textbook section of this course outline.
Topics
HTML is the markup language used to create hypertext documents for the World Wide Web. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. The key to understanding how HTML works is to know what it means to mark up a text. This class explains the concept of a markup language, defines the families of HTML tags, and identifies the tags that you will use in creating your Web page résumé.
Understanding Markup
To mark up a text means to insert special codes called tags into the text. The tags control how the text appears on a Web page. If you pull down your Browser's View menu and choose Page Source, you'll see how the text you're reading now got marked up so it would flow well onto this Web page. Notice all of the codes inside brackets. Those are the HTML codes.
Taxonomy of HTML Tags
Chapter 17 contains a taxonomy of HTML tags. You should study that taxonomy carefully to familiarize yourself with the different kinds of tags you can use. You need not memorize these tags, because you'll be using a graphical Web page creation tool that inserts the tags for you. You need to be somewhat familiar with the tags, however, so you'll understand what the Web page creation tool is doing for you.
Versions of HTML
The World Wide Web is an emerging technology, and new HTML tags get invented constantly. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the standards body that officially registers new features into HTML. All of the major computing vendors and network companies belong to the W3C. To learn more about the consortium, go to www.w3.org.
