In this section, you're going to learn just what a
web page is and how it can be read by a browser
like Internet Explorer or Firefox. You'll also
construct your very first web page. Let's make a
start.
Files on your computer come with extensions. If
you wrote a letter using Microsoft Word and
saved it with the name 'MyLetter', the software
would add four letters to the file name (three in
older versions). Because it was typed using Word,
the four letters that get added to your filename
are .docx . So your file name will be
'MyLetter.docx' and not just 'MyLetter'. If you
created a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel and
called it 'Accounts' the Excel software will add its
own four letter extension to your file name. It will
add .xlsx . So you file name will be
'Accounts.xlsx' and not just 'Accounts'. So you
get a different four letter extension depending on
the software you used.
These extensions are very important to
computers. They are used to identify the type of
file it is. With a file extension, Word can recognise
its own documents. It sees the letters docx and
says 'Ah yes, that's one of mine. I can open it.' If
it sees a different extension, xlsx for example, it
says 'What the heck is that?' You may then get
an error message telling you that the file type is
not recognised.
Web pages have their own file extensions. Oddly
there are two different extensions, a three letter
file extension and a four letter extension. Web
pages come with the extension .htm or .html . A
browser can recognise either extension.
When you open up a web page with your browser,
Internet Explorer for example, the browser
software checks the file extension, the same
check that Word and Excel make. If it sees the
.htm or .html extension it knows it's a web page
and then tries to open it. (Modern browsers,
though, can open up other types of files. Internet
Explorer can open up your Word documents and
PDF files.)
Behind the scenes, however, the thing that
Internet Explorer is trying to open is really a text
file that has had its extension changed from .txt
to .htm . The text file though will have special
symbols and words, called Tags. When the
browser sees these Tags it goes to work,
displaying whatever you typed and hiding the
Tags from your viewers.
Most web pages on the internet are written in
code called HTML. HTML stands for HyperText
Markup Language, and is fairly easy to get the
hang of. That's because HTML is not a
programming language: it is a language designed
to improve the presentation of text. For example,
in Microsoft Word, if you want a nice big heading,
you can select a font size from a menu. HTML
has an easy way to change the size of text of
headings, too, which you'll see in a moment. But
that's basically all you are doing with HTML '
presenting text and images on a page. The way
you do this is with things called TAGS.
What is HTML 5?
HTML comes in different versions. When people
talk about HTML 5 they are talking about the
updates to the mark up language. These updates
were agreed (mostly) by a whole host of different
parties, all members of an organisation called
W3C. W3C was founded in 1994 by Tim Berners-
Lee, who also created the first version of HTML
and invented the World Wide Web. They now
oversee the defining of new Web technologies.
Comapnies who make browser like Microsoft
(Internet Explorer), Mozilla (FireFox), and Apple
(Safari) can then decide which of the new Web
technoligies they wish to implement.
Most of the big names in browser technology
decided to implement quite a lot of the new
suggested updates (specifications) put forward by
the W3C. These specifications are commonly
known as HTML 5. In practice, this means
implementing features like HTML Video and audio
directly into the browser, as opposed to needing a
3rd party plugin like Adobe's Flash. Another
exciting update is something called the Canvas
tag. This allows you to create quite sophisticated
animations and graphics using Javascipt, again
without needing a 3rd-party plugin.
There are a whole lot of new HTML tags that take
browser technology forward into the 21st century.
Throughout this course, we'll introduce you to the
essential HTML 5 tags that you need in order to
create a modern web page.
web page is and how it can be read by a browser
like Internet Explorer or Firefox. You'll also
construct your very first web page. Let's make a
start.
Files on your computer come with extensions. If
you wrote a letter using Microsoft Word and
saved it with the name 'MyLetter', the software
would add four letters to the file name (three in
older versions). Because it was typed using Word,
the four letters that get added to your filename
are .docx . So your file name will be
'MyLetter.docx' and not just 'MyLetter'. If you
created a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel and
called it 'Accounts' the Excel software will add its
own four letter extension to your file name. It will
add .xlsx . So you file name will be
'Accounts.xlsx' and not just 'Accounts'. So you
get a different four letter extension depending on
the software you used.
These extensions are very important to
computers. They are used to identify the type of
file it is. With a file extension, Word can recognise
its own documents. It sees the letters docx and
says 'Ah yes, that's one of mine. I can open it.' If
it sees a different extension, xlsx for example, it
says 'What the heck is that?' You may then get
an error message telling you that the file type is
not recognised.
Web pages have their own file extensions. Oddly
there are two different extensions, a three letter
file extension and a four letter extension. Web
pages come with the extension .htm or .html . A
browser can recognise either extension.
When you open up a web page with your browser,
Internet Explorer for example, the browser
software checks the file extension, the same
check that Word and Excel make. If it sees the
.htm or .html extension it knows it's a web page
and then tries to open it. (Modern browsers,
though, can open up other types of files. Internet
Explorer can open up your Word documents and
PDF files.)
Behind the scenes, however, the thing that
Internet Explorer is trying to open is really a text
file that has had its extension changed from .txt
to .htm . The text file though will have special
symbols and words, called Tags. When the
browser sees these Tags it goes to work,
displaying whatever you typed and hiding the
Tags from your viewers.
Most web pages on the internet are written in
code called HTML. HTML stands for HyperText
Markup Language, and is fairly easy to get the
hang of. That's because HTML is not a
programming language: it is a language designed
to improve the presentation of text. For example,
in Microsoft Word, if you want a nice big heading,
you can select a font size from a menu. HTML
has an easy way to change the size of text of
headings, too, which you'll see in a moment. But
that's basically all you are doing with HTML '
presenting text and images on a page. The way
you do this is with things called TAGS.
What is HTML 5?
HTML comes in different versions. When people
talk about HTML 5 they are talking about the
updates to the mark up language. These updates
were agreed (mostly) by a whole host of different
parties, all members of an organisation called
W3C. W3C was founded in 1994 by Tim Berners-
Lee, who also created the first version of HTML
and invented the World Wide Web. They now
oversee the defining of new Web technologies.
Comapnies who make browser like Microsoft
(Internet Explorer), Mozilla (FireFox), and Apple
(Safari) can then decide which of the new Web
technoligies they wish to implement.
Most of the big names in browser technology
decided to implement quite a lot of the new
suggested updates (specifications) put forward by
the W3C. These specifications are commonly
known as HTML 5. In practice, this means
implementing features like HTML Video and audio
directly into the browser, as opposed to needing a
3rd party plugin like Adobe's Flash. Another
exciting update is something called the Canvas
tag. This allows you to create quite sophisticated
animations and graphics using Javascipt, again
without needing a 3rd-party plugin.
There are a whole lot of new HTML tags that take
browser technology forward into the 21st century.
Throughout this course, we'll introduce you to the
essential HTML 5 tags that you need in order to
create a modern web page.
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