Download Extended Definition of a web page

Table of Contents
A History of the Internet ............................................................................................... 2
What in the World Is the World Wide Web? ................................................................ 3
The Birth of HTML ...................................................................................................... 4
Building the Web Site ................................................................................................... 4
Understanding HTML Tags .......................................................................................... 5
HTML Tag Properties ........................................................................................ 5
HEAD Tag Properties ........................................................................................ 6
TITLE Tag Properties ......................................................................................... 6
META Tag Properties ........................................................................................ 6
BODY Tag Properties ......................................................................................... 6
Tag Layout .......................................................................................................... 6
Using Colors on the Web ............................................................................................. 7
Using Fonts on the Web ............................................................................................... 7
Using HTML Editors .................................................................................................... 8
Registering Your Site .................................................................................................... 8
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) ......................................................................................... 8
Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 9
Glossary ...................................................................................................................... 10
Appendix ..................................................................................................................... 11
References ................................................................................................................... 12
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If you are one of the hundreds of millions of people who have “been online”, then
you already know what a web page is. For the uninitiated, it is a way to view documents
that are published anywhere on the Internet. If you have thought that you would like to
build a web site and be published online, then this manual will get you started.
This manual is not intended to be a complete reference for HTML programming
or web-site development. Instead, this manual will provide you with all the information
you need to become familiar with basic HTML and the web and teach you how to build
your first web-site. In the remainder of this manual we will provide you with all the
information you will need to design and build your first web site and to upload that
information so that it can be viewed by anyone in the world.
A History of the Internet
The information superhighway or the Internet is one of the most important
developments in the history of computer systems. Strictly speaking, the Internet is not
one network, but thousands of networks linked together. It was created by the U.S.
Department of Defense in 1969 as a way for the U.S. government to communicate
following a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. The original network was named
ARPANET and handled communications differently than traditional networks. Its goal
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was to connect a system of computers together so that the network could still function if
one or more computers were unreachable. The network was designed to forward
messages in small pieces or packets, which could travel along more than one route to any
given destination.
ARPANET originally provided communications services to the military, science
and research communities. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the government split
the network into a military segment: MILNET, and a science and research segment:
ARPANET. In 1990, ARPANET was renamed the Internet and the public was finally
allowed to access and use the network.
Following its release to the public, the Internet grew at a tremendous pace. In
fact, according to Nua Internet Surveys, there are now 179 million Internet users
worldwide (see graph 1 in Appendix). One of the fastest growing information services
on the Internet is the World Wide Web. In fact, this service is so popular that most
people assume that the Internet and the World Wide Web are one and the same.
However, the Internet offers many more services than just the World Wide Web. For
instance, the Internet provides global e-mail, as well as information services such as FTP
servers, Use Net servers, and Gopher services (search engines).
What in the World Is the World Wide Web?
The World Wide Web (Web) is a large on-line repository of information available
to anyone with a connection to the Internet and an interactive program called a web
browser. A web browser is an application that is used to display information (web sites)
from the Web, and to provide users with a simple ‘point and click’ interface for
navigating through web sites. The web browser is a key reason for the growth of the
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Internet and more specifically, the Web. Currently, most of the content found on the
Internet is considered hypertext – text only data. While this type of information is useful
for research, it makes traveling through the Internet uninteresting and lifeless. One of the
main reasons for the popularity of the Web is that it offers users a graphical interface and
presents text based data along with rich data representations such as photographs, sounds,
movies, and graphics.
The Birth of HTML
Regardless of the type of data displayed, all of the content found on the Web is
programmed in the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). Tim Berners-Lee originally
created HTML while he worked at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN)
in 1990. The goal of HTML was to link together information about particle physics that
was difficult to store and access in a traditional database. Therefore, HTML began as a
way to link together hypertext information to allow users to easily find the information
they desired. Today, HTML has been expanded to handle additional types of data and to
enhance the display of this data.
Building the Web Site
When you hear HTML described as a programming language you may think that
prior programming experience is necessary to build a web site; however, HTML is not a
traditional programming language. Instead, HTML is a structural language for describing
documents. Each document you create for the Web is called a web page. Syntactically,
each web page you create is a text file that contains HTML tags to instruct the web
browser to display information in a structure that you define. These tags are used
specifically to format and structure data.
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Traditionally, HTML tags occur in pairs, an opening tag and a closing tag.
Opening tags begin with a less-than symbol, then contain the tag’s name as well as any
attributes for the tag, and end with a greater than symbol. Following the opening tag, you
include the data to be formatted. Finally, a closing tag is used to end the formatting of
the data. This closing tag is represented by a less-than symbol, followed by a slash and
the tag’s name, and ends with a greater than symbol. The following is an example of the
typical use of HTML tags:
<ANYTAG>
YOUR DATA GOES HERE!
</ANYTAG>
Now that you have a basic understanding of the Internet, the Web, and HTML
programming, we will discuss more specifically how to create a web page.
Understanding HTML Tags
HTML Tag Properties
<HTML> </HTML>
HTML is the lingua franca of the Net. It's a simple, universal mark-up language that
allows Web publishers to create complex pages of text and images that can be viewed by
anyone else on the Web, regardless of the computer or browser being used. Despite what
you might have heard, you do not need any special software to create an HTML page, all
you need is a word processor (such as SimpleText, BBEdit, or even Notepad) and a
working knowledge of HTML. And lucky for all of us, basic HTML is dead easy. HTML
is just a series of tags that are integrated into a text document silently telling the browser
what to do. Every HTML page begins with the tag <HTML> and ends with </HTML>.
(Note the end tag has a forward slash.) In between, the file has two sections - the header,
which is invisible to the viewer and the body, which is visible to the viewer.
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HEAD Tag Properties
< HEAD > </HEAD>
HTML files are made up of two main sections: the HEAD and the BODY. The BODY is
the part of the document that is visible to the user in a browser window. The HEAD is
generally invisible with the exception of the TITLE, which appears in the title bar of both
the browser and the Document window. The HEAD contains important information in
addition to the TITLE, including the document type, the language encoding, any
JavaScript functions, variables, keywords, and content indicators for search engines. You
can view the elements in the HEAD using the View menu or the HTML inspector.
TITLE Tag Properties
<TITLE> </ TITLE >
There is only one title property: the title of the page. The title appears in the title bar of
the Document window. Enter a page title in between the TITLE tags.
META Tag Properties:
<META>
META tags are HEAD elements that record information about the current page, such as
the character encoding, author, copyright, and keywords. META tags can also be used to
give information to the server, such as the expiration date, refresh interval, etc. There are
many people who misunderstand, misuse and abuse META tags. Meta name and
keyword properties when used properly can help a web page rank more favorably in
different search engines.
BODY Tag Properties
<BODY> </BODY>
BODY tags encapsulate the visible area of the web page. Enter all of the content you
wish your visitors to see between the opening and closing BODY tags.
Tag Layout
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The layout of all the HTML tags on a web page are shown below. By copying and
pasting the following tags (not the parenthetical comments) into a document and saving
that document with the extension or html, you will have a template for creating HTML
web pages.
<HTML> (Required)
<HEAD>(Optional)
<META>(Optional)
<TITLE>Your Title Goes Here</TITLE>(Optional)
</HEAD>(Optional)
<BODY>(Required)
“Your content goes here.”
</BODY>(Required)
</HTML>(Required)
Using Colors on Web Pages
When designing web pages, there is no way of knowing what type of computer
system people will use to view your site. So you need to develop pages that can be
viewed by even the lowest capacity computer system. This means using the palette of
only 256 colors termed “Web-safe”. There is no guesswork when using Web-safe colors,
they will look identical on every computer. Sticking with the Web-safe palette eliminates
most cross-browser inconsistencies in how colors display. It is important to design
content specifically for the Web, rather than designing something that looks good in
another format and then transporting it to the Web. You can find web safe color pallet at
http://www.james.com
Using Fonts on the Web
A font is a typeface, such as Times New Roman or Arial. In HTML, the word
FONT is a special word that is an element of certain tags, such as the paragraph <P> and
body <BODY> tags. Although the Font element has officially been depreciated by World
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Wide Web Consortium, it is still widely used and supported by both Netscape and
Microsoft browsers. Use only one or two fonts for building a web site-- the only people
whom like a “font salad” are amateur web developers. Choose fonts that are easy to read
and readily available to most computer users, such as Arial, Helvetica, Times New
Roman, etc. Strive for readability over all else. That means type of an appropriate size
and high contrast.
Using HTML Editors
It is important to know HTML code for creating web pages. However, HTML
editors can assist you with this process. Editors offer web developers support with the
creation and design of web pages by writing the HTML code. Editors such as Microsoft’s
FrontPage, Netscape’s Composer, and Macromedia’s Dreamweaver are the most popular
and powerful editors available. HTML editors are WYSIWYG tools that require no
programming knowledge. They are easy to use because of their familiar word-processor
interface, but you can still edit the HTML code directly.
Registering Your Site
In order for your web pages to be viewed, your site must be registered with
InterNIC, the organization in charge of domain name registration. When you register
your web site you are given a domain name, such as www.mysite.com. This provides the
location of a web site in easy to remember words rather than numbers. In the United
States, individuals or organizations that want to participate in the domain name system
must apply for a name under one of the top-level domains. The top-level domains that are
most commonly used are:
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





.com
.edu
.gov
.net
.org
.mil
Commercial Organizations
Educational Organizations
Government Organizations
Networking Organizations
Nonprofit Organizations
Military
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
Once your web page is created and you have a registered domain name, it is time to
upload your site onto the Internet. This can be achieved by using the File Transfer
Protocol (FTP). FTP permits the transfer of an arbitrary number of files in interactive or
batch mode. You can either download files from or upload files to remote computers. The
following are the basic steps required when using FTP:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Start the FTP application
Connect to the remote computer using its domain name
Login to the remote computer using your user name and password
Use the cd command to change to the appropriate directory
To download files use the get command followed by the file name
To upload files use the put command followed by the file name
Close the FTP application
Conclusion
With the increasing popularity of the World Wide Web, having a working
knowledge of web site development is becoming increasingly important. While there are
many businesses and individuals who are on the Web, many are not. Publishing your
own site gives you a voice in this global village. We hope that our efforts will help you
find the on-ramp to the information superhighway.
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Glossary
Browse: To move through (or surf) the Internet or a Web site via a World Wide Web browser. A user can
point and click their way around.
Browser: A program used to view, download, upload, surf or otherwise access documents (pages) on the
World Wide Web. Browsers can be text-based, meaning they do not show graphics or images but most
however are text and graphical based. Browsers read "marked up" or coded pages (usually HTML but not
always) that reside on servers and interpret the coding into what we see "rendered" as a Web page.
Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer are examples of Web browsers.
Domain Name: The "address" or URL of a particular Web site. This is also how you describe the name
that is at the right of the @ sign in an Internet address.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP): A protocol used to transfer a complete file between computers.
HTML: Hypertext Markup Language HTML is the lingua franca for publishing hypertext on the World
Wide Web.
Internet: A global network of interconnected computers.
Hyperlink: The text you find on a Web site which can be "clicked on" with a mouse which in turn will
take you to another Web page or a different area of the same Web page. Hyperlinks are created or "coded"
in HTML.
Search Engine: A program, which acts like a library card catalog for the Internet. Search engines attempt
to help a user isolate desired information or resources by searching for keywords that the user specifies.
Tag: A hypertext markup language command.
Text Editors: Software that assists in creating web pages by providing the HTML code.
Web Page: The most technically correct usage means a single HTML file, which when viewed by a
browser on the World Wide Web (WWW) could be several screen-dimensions long or wide, meaning you
would "scroll" to view contents that are off-screen. The size of a Web page varies greatly from system to
system and depends largely on how your computer monitor's resolution is set.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL): A syntactic form used to identify a page of information on the World
Wide Web.
Web Site: A home and/or location on the World Wide Web. A place made up of Web pages. These pages
can contain graphics, text, audio, video and other dynamic and/or static materials.
WYSIWYG: “What you see is what you get”
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Appendix
Graph 1
Graphic 1: A sample of a web site viewed in Netscape’s Navigator web browser viewing
http://www.webdeveloper.com/
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References:
David Mayr, see. Think. The History of the Internet, 1999,
http://members.magnet.at/dmayr/history.htm
Dynamic Publishing With HTML (January 1998) SAMS Press ISBN: 0546581122
The Internet for Dummies 6th edition (February 1999) IDG Books Worldwide; ISBN:
0764505068
Leiden, C. and Wilensky M. [1999], TCP/IP for Dummies, IDG Books Worldwide, Inc.,
Foster City, California
Nua Ltd., Nua Analysis: How Many Online Worldwide, 1999,
http://www.nua.net/surveys/analysis/graphs_charts/comparisons/how_many_online.htm
World Wide Web Consortium, HyperText Markup Language, 1999,
http://www.w3c.org/MarkUp/
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