# Hints and tips for HTML

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## This page offers some hints and tips for using html

### Click on the hyperlinks below to take you to the correct section of this webpage.

What is a website?

What is html?

How do I create a webpage?

Make sure that you use the correct terms

What is hexadecimal?

Useful hyperlinks

## What is a website?

A website is a collection of individual but related webpages that are usually stored together and hosted by a web server. These can be programmed or created using different languages including HTML, Sun Microsystems Java and Microsoft ASP. Each webpage can include a variety of different objects such as text, sound, as well as still and moving images. You are going to develop your webpages in HTML.

## What is html?

HTML is an abbreviation for HyperText Markup Language. It is a text based language used to develop websites, and is often used within an intranet or the Internet. Files are written in HTML using a simple text editor or web authoring package like Macromedia Dreamweaver or Microsoft FrontPage. Files are written in text format and are usually saved with an .htm file extension. These are file formats that are recognised as webpages by web browsers like Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. You are going to develop your webpages using a simple text editor.

## How do I create a webpage?

There are two ways of creating a webpage using html. The first method involves creating the markup language in a text editor, which is the method demonstrated in this textbook. The second method involves using a WYSIWYG package. In this type of package an interface is used so that you do not usually see the html code, but actions that you take within the package create the html markup for you. Although these packages appear to be easier to use, they do not give you an understanding of the markup that they create. The markup is often inefficient, having extra tags that are not really required for the task that you are completing. The code created by some WYSIWYG packages is not strict html and would not validate to w3 standards, so may not work in all browsers. We would recommend that you create your webpages using a text editor to start with, then if you wish use a WYSIWYG package, but use the underlying skills to go in and edit the markup as required.

## Make sure that you use the correct terms

Over the past few years, as the practical examinations have developed there has been a trend to test your knowledge and understanding of each topic as well as just your practical skills. In some examination questions you are asked to use the correct terms to describe what you have done/would do in certain circumstances. Make sure that you call the language html a markup language and not code or a programming language and use the term tags correctly. It is possible that examiners may ask you to describe how mixed colours are created using hex codes, or how cell spacing and cell padding work in a table. As you read the book and work through each section try to make sure that you understand the key words. In the book many of these are highlighted in red as they also appear in the glossary, along with an explanation of what they mean.

## What is hexadecimal?

Hexadecimal, or hex for short is a counting system that is based upon sixteens. This means that numbers are counted in sixteen’s rather than in the ten’s used in the decimal system. Because we do not have sixteen different characters for each number we use letters and numbers like this.

Decimal | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28
Decimal | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 1A | 1B | 1C

... and so on. This counting system continues like this...

Decimal | 152 | 153 | 154 | 155 | 156 | 157 | 158 | 159 | 160 | 161 | 162 | 163 | 164 | 165 | 166 | 167 | 168 | 170 | 171 | 172 | 173
Decimal | 98 | 99 | 9A | 9B | 9C | 9D | 9E | 9F | A0 | A1 | A2 | A3 | A4 | A5 | A6 | A7 | A8 | A9 | AA | AB | AC

The largest number that can be stored in a single byte of information is the decimal number 255 which is FF in hexadecimal.

## Useful hyperlinks

There are other places that can be used to gain valuable information that may help. These include the Hodder Education website and the W3C website.

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