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There you can learn (for free) standards compliant HTML, CSS and more. I've seen a lot of information in various HTML lessons that was dead wrong. This is a great place to start out on the right foot.
One of the nicest features are their example boxes. You put your trial code in one box and immediately see the result in another.
[edited by: tedster at 7:56 pm (utc) on May 23, 2003]
Sinner
I started hand coding and never looked back. All I know about software programs is that their code isn't as good as mine. It also takes me longer to clean up after them than to do it by hand.
If you learn about what it is trying to do for you then you won't need it to do it. ;)
If you need a site and you need it quick, use the programs like dreamweaver or frontpage.
By using the programs, you can begin to get a sense of the coding and learn from there. The programs put a lot of extra code in your pages that you dont need, but after you've done a few pages, you will beign to learn the html and be able to hand code the pages.
I'm no pro yet, but thats how I learned, and it was easier for me to learn this way.
Look for a good HTML Text editor... and then use it to manage your code and pages.. and as in th ecase of HTML TIDY, perform a preliminary clean-up before you check you validate your code at the W3.org validator (there are others).
I use Homesite which is now built into DW, but I still write ALL of my code by hand. This includes all of my CSS which I write using notepad. For me, Homesite is a good file and site management program. Advanced find and replace is useful. But for code? All by hand..
You can find excellent, free programs such as HTML-Kit and 1stPage 2000, which will allow you to write code while still providing most, if not all, of the site management features of DW or FP.
Make the W3.org your number one resource. LEARN, LEARN, LEARN... VALIDATE, VALIDATE, VALIDATE! Soon it will all become clear.. and second nature. you will thank yourself for it.
HOw will one understand the error messages of a validator if on eused apps like DW from the beginning?
And from what i've seen DW still produces some "crappy" HTML.
Coconut, once you understand HTML it's probably handier to use a tool like DW (or any of the many others available) to manage your site. But myself, I still end up cleaning up the code manually in a basic text editor.
www.weballey.net
Very clear explanation of the absolute basics.
NB: Its website promotion information is out of date - e.g. search engine submission is pretty obsolete now as you just need an incoming link from another already indexed site.
www.htmlhelp.com
www.selfhtml.com
Set yourself apart from the common herd - learn to handcode and you can make ANYTHING on a website.
If you use DreamWeaver or FrontPage you are stuck being able to do only what they can do - and probably make horrible code too.
If you use DreamWeaver or FrontPage you are stuck being able to do only what they can do - and probably make horrible code too.
I only partly agree with that. As I stated earlier, I suggest that one learns to write html manually before diving into a wysiwyg editor.
But at the moment I draft pages and manage sites in FP, but rewrite a lot of the html, because it is horrible code that doesn't validate and most of the time almost unreadable because of unnecessary line breaks etc.
Code cannibalism is also hightly recommended.
If you see a site that is doing things that you think are cool and would like to incorporate, take a peek at their source code and you'll learn more than any tutorial could ever teach you.
It's also a "targeted" form of learning, you teach yourself what you need to know, when you need to know it.
Ciao.
www.devguru.com
