Introduction
Welcome Campers.
Some people have been asking me for help to create their own website, so I decided to make this little HTML-tutorial. To make this a little more 'interesting', I gave the tutorial a bit of a Stargate look.
Since I know that some of you have limited internet-access, you can download the tutorial the tutorial:
Zip-file (size: 500kb)
This way you're able to do the tutorial when you're offline.
In the tutorial folder, you'll find a file named start.html. Double-click on it to start the tutorial. You'll also find a folder called my_website. The folder contains all necessary 'equipment' to do this tutorial. It's also the place where you'll save all the files you'll make. If you don't save it there, you might get some problems along the way.
Those of you who are taking the tutorial online, will still need a few things. You can download them here:
Zip-file (size: 500kb)
You'll find here the my_website folder which is also in the other zip-file. Make sure that you save all your files in this folder.
So what else do you need to create websites? That's easy, Notepad. Yes, you read that right. That silly program that no-one uses, because you can't do a thing with it, that's what you need :) If you're using Windows, you can find Notepad here: Start - Programs - Accessories - Notepad.
TIP: put a link to Notepad on your desktop. That will make working with it much easier.
Depending on which Operating System you're using, you might not have Notepad. I'd recommend you'd use something similar. All you need is a simple text-editor. A couple of examples are Editpad, Wordpad, and you could also use Word.
There are also more complicated programs, created especially for web design, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver. This is a good program, but if you're only beginning to learn html, I recommend you use Notepad first. Later, when you're more familiar with html, you could start using Dreamweaver.
Besides a program to type the code in, you also need a browser to see the result. I'm using Internet Explorer, but there are also other browsers like Netscape, Opera, Mozilla Firefox… the list is long. This can create some problems though: not every browser supports html in the same way. And if you're using an older version of a browser, you might also have some problems.
This won't (shouldn't) be a problem for this tutorial - at least not for the basic html-tags - but if you're trying something special, it might not always work. Just so you know…
I'm using a PC that runs Windows XP and the browsers I've checked the tutorial in are Internet Explorer 6.0, Mozilla Firefox 1.0 and Opera 7.54. Everything in this tutorial works on my computer. Don't worry if you're not using the same programs. You shouldn't have any problems, but there's so much variety in computers and programs that I can't be 100% sure that you won't have problems. If you are having troubles, let me know and I'll try to help you out.
It is important that you use the html code accurately. IE might ignore most mistakes or 'typos', but not every browser does that. As a result, even though your site will look perfect on your computer, it might be a complete mess on someone else's.
So, that's what this tutorial is for. I also have a couple of links that might be useful. This tutorial will only teach you the very basic HTML stuff you need to create a website, but there's so much more you can use:
http://www.w3schools.com/
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to send me an email. I tried to explain everything to my best capabilities, but it's entirely possible that some of it doesn't make sense at all. English isn't my first language, so it wouldn't surprise me if some things aren't clear for you.
If you think there's something missing or that I made a mistake, let me know. I tried to write this tutorial with the information I found on the net and with what I learned at school, but it's not nearly complete. I could always add more :)
Here's my addy: ses_gatergirl@yahoo.com
Okay, that's it for the introduction. Now on to the important stuff :)
Good luck and have fun!!
*ses*