![[The Basics of HTML - Image]](html.gif)
The Basics of HTML
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| SGML Specifications | HTML Specifications | HTML Practical Applications | HTML Style Guides | |
| SGML Specifications and Resources |
| I included the topic of SGML, because it is an authoring language that is a true ISO standard and a HTML document is primarily a SGML document. In other words, HTML is an application of SGML, which described, is a sequence of characters oriented into a set of entities, thus creating a logical hierarchy of elements. If you care to learn more about SGML, you should visit the following sites: |
| The HTML Specification |
| Okay, now on to HTML and what it's all about. By definition:1 |
The Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is a simple markup language used to create hypertext documents that are platform independent. HTML documents are SGML documents with generic semantics that appropriate for representing information from a wide range of domains. HTML markup can represent hypertext news, mail, documentation, and hypermedia; menus of options; database query results; simple structured documents with in-line graphics; and hypertext view of existing bodies of information. |
| The HTML specification has changed over time from it's first inception. The current specification is HTML 2.0, with HTML 3.0 under current discussion and development. While we wait for HTML 3.0 to solidify, you will find a version of HTML, sometimes referred to as HTML +, that augments the current HTML 2.0 specification, a.k.a. Netscape and Explorer extensions (Netscape and Microsoft, respectively). By the way, Netscape already has extensions to the not yet finalized HTML 3.0 specification. Well, some things just don't materialize and in this case it is HTML 3.0 (it is now defunct). Anyway, the previous statements about HTML 3.0 are still interesting and for all practical purposes serves as a historical milestone for HTML. Now on the horizon is a new proposed standard, which is HTML 3.2 (a.k.a. "Wilbur"), along the lines of "Wilbur" is yet another DTD that has come into view; which is know as "Cougar". In order to understand the theory behind HTML, I've provided the following links to sites where can learn more about the HTML specification(s): |
| HTML Guides - Practical Applications |
| Now that you understand the theory behind HTML, the next thing to learn is the practical application of HTML. In other words, how do you use HTML? If you don't know how, then I suggest that you visit the following sites to learn how: |
| HTML Style Guides |
| Just when you thought you knew all there was to know about HTML, well, there is just one more aspect that you will need to know. Putting it all together with style. There are some prudent practices that revolve around the style in which HTML is used. Speaking of style, there is such a thing called style sheets that can be used within your HTML document(s), however, style sheets is a totally different subject that I won't get into yet. So here are some sites where you can go to learn all about the style in which HTML should be used. |
![[*]](redball.gif) | A Basic HTML Style Guide | ||
| Elements of HTML Style | ||
| Gareth's Style Guide | ||
| HTML Bad Style Page | ||
| HTML Writing Tips | ||
| NCSA HTML Style Sheet | ||
| Style Guide for Online Hypertext | ||
| Web Style Manual | ||
| 1T. Berners-Lee and D. Connelly, "Hypertext Markup Language 2.0" RFC 1866 (November 1995) |
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