Getting started with HTML

Ok, lets get straight into it! The first thing you need to learn about HTML is, you can use any old text-editor to make HTML pages.
Well here we go, you are now going to make your first webpage.

Firstly, you will need to open a text-editor.

For Microsoft Windows users:
Open NotePad or WordPad. You can find both these programs by going to the "Start Menu" > "All Programs" > "Accessories". Once you have found NotePad or WordPad launch it(start it).

For Mac users:
Open Simple Text.

Once you have started your text editor type in the following: 

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

<html>
<head> 
<title> My first home page title </title> 
</head>  
<body>

Welcome to your first webpage

</body>
</html>
Now save your webpage as 'index.html'(without the quotes) on your desktop. Make sure when you goto 'save as' you put in index.html with the .html part if you do not the file will save as a .txt file.

Once you have saved your first page, open your web browser(the program you are using to view this page). Then goto "file" in the top left corner, now click on "Open file" or "Open..." and then select your 'index.html' file, press open.

Wowy your first webpage. Was that easy or what!

Tips:
  • You can save your HTML page as .htm or .html there is no difference
  • If you are using a WYSIWYG editor. Try switching it to 'code mode'(if you can)
  • Using code to make web pages (instead of a WYSIWYG editor) will give you much more control on how your page will look and your page will become easier to change


In the next section of this beginner HTML tutorial you will learn what HTML tags are and why they are so important.
Next page: Understanding HTML tags
Back: Beginner HTML tutorial: Index