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“Where can I get some HTML to put on my page?”This question, or a variation, appears frequently on help boards. So many people, fascinated by the World Wide Web and lured by the offer of free web space and the promise of “easy, point and click” web page builders, dive into designing a web page with no design knowledge, let alone any technical savvy. Many are happy to be able to put up a badly laid out cookie-cutter page containing their name and a picture of their dog and to advertise the page to all their friends. They often wonder why the world is not beating a path to their virtual door, why their page doesn’t look the same when they see it on a friend’s computer, why this or that on the page doesn’t work after an attempt to edit the page. And it mostly comes down to this: Too many people are unwilling to learn HTML. Causes range from simple laziness to succumbing to advertising hype (GeoBuilder, FrontPage, PageMill, etc.) to outright fear of all that technical stuff. Well, it really is not particularly difficult. You learn a few basics, then just keep building and refining your skills. Kind of like cooking. Or gardening. Or any sport, hobby, craft, etc. There are many excellent tutorials — most, unfortunately, based on HTML 3.2 — and readily available reference sites. I list those that I have investigated and found to be of good quality in the links at the bottom of this page. This is not another HTML tutorial. To get the most out of what I offer on these pages, you must first learn the basics of HTML. I will explore some of the tricks of the trade, show how to craft unusual effects. What I cannot do is teach you how to design a page or how to create content. In other words, these pages will help you develop the craft, but you must supply the art. These pages are intentionally plain. We are not attempting to dazzle you with “cool” effects, but want to show you how to practically improve your page, as well as how to make some of those “cool” effects without making your page a bloated mess. If you have any questions not answered here, or if you don’t understand something I cover, please post your question on Bassocantante’s Forum at http://bassocantante.com/bbs/ . One of us will answer your question unless the answer can be found on this site. We also will not respond to questions about basic HTML covered by standard tutorials. If in doubt, ask your question. We may not answer your question, but we won’t make fun of you or make intentionally caustic remarks. Or, as my co-author told someone recently, “It can be difficult to understand the difference between title and title.” — some of the allegedly helpful pages simply add to the confusion: “Put this in the header for your document, then start your page with a good header.” Say what? Enough of the introduction. Dive right in and experience the joy of learning this craft. By the way, I seldom make major changes to these pages, so some of the rant may be a little out of date.
Links to HTML tutorials:
And don’t miss the best site on web page design: Web Pages That Suck Want to see some of my handiwork? Each site shows a different overall style because each is designed for a different purpose.
Copyright © 1999 Carlton Higginbotham, Meade Street Productions.
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