HTML information

Note that anytime something is written like this:

body (enclosed in <...>)

it means that what is written first (in this case, the word 'body' is placed inside the <...> in place of the ellipses (ellipses = ... quite literally the 3 periods back to back)

The first tag that any Web page must have is the html tag enclosed inside <...>. It tells the browser that the following text will be marked up in HTML format, and not some other format such as straight text, SGML, or XML. The closing tag is required and is the last tag in your document.

The head tag (again, enclosed inside <...> ) is used to define information for the browser that may or may not be displayed to the user. Tags that belong in the 'head' section are the following (all enclosed inside <...>): title, meta, script, and style. The closing tag, /head (also enclosed in <...>) is required.

The title tag (enclosed inside <...>) belongs in the head section of your document. It is the title of your webpage, and is usually displayed by the browser at the top of the browser pane. The closing tag /title (enclosed inside <...>) is required.

The body tag (enclosed inside <...>) is where all of your HTML information belongs. It defines the primary portion of your Web page. With attributes of the body tag, you can define the background color of your webpages, the text color, the link color, and the active and vistited link colors. The closing /body tag (enclosed inside <...>) is required.

The above listed tags would be written in the following order:

hmtl
head
title
*insert title here*
/title
/head
body
*insert body text here*
/body
/html

All of the tags listed above must be enclosed inside <...>

When writing in paragraph form, the paragraph tag is used to break things into paragraphs. It is a paired tag. That means that both the p tag and the /p tag (enclosed inside <...>) must be used. It should be written as follows:

p
*insert body text here*
/p

Note that both the 'p' and the '/p' are enclosed inside <...>

The line break tag is used basicallly like the enter key. It is for breaking one line to start another. It is written as 'br /' enclosed inside <...>. It is placed where you want the line to end.
It can be used for an address:

123 Any Street br /
City, State, 12345 br /

Or in typing a letter to publish in html:

Dear John, br /

How are you? I am doing well. I hope you are also. br /

Sincerely, br /
Jane br /

Note that all occurences of the 'br /' tag are enclosed inside <...>

Remember when you were writing term papers, and your English teacher told you that when a quote is more than 3 lines, you had to double-indent it? Well, in html coding, it becomes a blockquote. A blockquote is a long quote or a block of text you want to quote. About.com says that publishers often call this a "pull-quote." Browsers often display a blockquote the same way your English papers do - slightly indented from the surrounding text. However, the blockquote tag should NOT be used for indenting.

It would appear like this:

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompetence.
Thy love is such I can no way repay.
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

-To My Dear and Loving Husband, Anne Bradstreet

The blockquote tag is a paired tag, so it must have blockquote (enclosed inside <...>) and the end tag /blockquote (enclosed inside <...>) is required.

Now let's say that you want to give a list, whether it be of vocabulary words or a list of items for a camping trip. To do this, you would use the ordered list tag. The ordered list tag is a paired tag and is written as 'ol' (enclosed inside <...>). This is a relatively easy tag to remember as it is simply abbreviated (Ordered List).

Now, in order to distinguish the items you are listing from any random text you may want to include after your list, you should type the list item tag. It also is a paired tag and is written as follows: 'li' (enlcosed inside <...>). This tag is also simply abbreviated for the coding. (List Item). So far your coding should look like this:

ol
li

Note that both the 'ol' tag and the 'li' tag should both be enclosed inside <...>.

After the 'li' you should list the first item you want listed, and then the /li tag (enclosed inside <...>). After the /li tag, press enter (not type the line break tag) and repeat. At the end of the list, include the end tag for the whole list - '/ol' (enclosed inside <...>). For example, if you want to list things you need done around the house, you might type it like this:

ol
li Clean the kitchen /li
li Dust the den /li
li Pick vegetables from the garden /li
/ol

Note that all occurences of the following tags must be included inside <...>: ol, li, /li, and /ol.