The Official HTML Discussion Thread

Welcome to the Fan Sites Forum Official HTML Discussion Thread. This is the first in a series of threads I plan on introducing, with the discretion of our forum Moderator, jedimasterbac. Here goes:

What is HTML?
HyperText Markup Language - HTML - is perhaps the most popular language used in the creation of web pages. There are several versions of HTML, the most recent being HTML 4.01, which is moderated by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). There will be some links later on tin this post that will better explain HTML, as well as give some tutorials and other useful tools.

Purpose of this thread
This thread is intended to spark discussion about HTML and possibly other coding languages. It is a place where you, as a user, can come in and give your own hints and tips. The biggest benefit I think this thread could have, is be a sort of Question and Answer thread where users can come in and ask questions regarding HTML and your web pages. Remember, do not be afraid to ask a question. Chances are, some other people are wondering the same thing.

Helpful Links
World Wide Web Consortium Home Page
HTML Validator - Make sure your web page follows correct HTML 4.01 guidelines.
W3schools.com HTML Tutorial - A very nice tutorial that also has quizzes and tests to see what you know.
HTML Wikipedia page - Has the history of HTML as well as more helpful links.

 

I'll play along! Not sure where to begin, though. HTML is HTML, and most people use GUI-based editors to do the dirty work of "coding" for them, anyway. I will say, however, that a good knowledge of HTML can really assist in finding out the pitfalls of using GUI-editors and fix anything they might accidentally "correct" or change for you.

 

That's a good starter topic here. What exactly do you guys use when writing your code? I know that a lot of people do not think one is a true "coder" unless you do it all by hand on programs like notepad, then there are those who use What You See Is What You Get(WYSIWYG) programs like Dreamweaver and such.

I use to use just Notepad. I enjoyed doing it all by hand and what not. But then, I found an old copy of Macromedia Dreamweaver laying around the house and started using it...it is much nicer. Very easy to use because I am lazy at times. How about you guys (all three of you )

 

I much prefer WYSIWYG. It's a bit inferior in certain places than using something like Notepad, but I've found that it's far more simpler and easier to use, even though HTML in itself is rather simple I think so long as you know what you're doing.

 

Dreamweaver is definitely the industry-standard tool for creating an actual page. I currently am still using Dreamweaver MX 2004, which ironically crashes every other startup like a good Macromedia program does. However, since Adobe bought Macromedia, you can expect future iterations of the program to come out a lot more flawlessly... that means fewer bugs and a tighter code that will obey the designer/coder more and "fix" the code less.

Basically, I suggest working smarter and not harder. You can hard-code the HTML and Javascript in Dreamweaver and view the immediate results on screen. Personally, I lay out the material with the designer and fix whatever I need in the code section. Dreamweaver's organization works hard to keep your project together and is more than worth whatever sacrifice one's "coding" ego has to take from using a WYSIWYG program.

 

Yes, good, sound advice.

Here's an interesting question. What types of coding languages (pretty much anything to do with coding) do you guys know or are familiar with?

For me, I mainly know/use HTML. I include CSS in that because it is fairly simple. I am slightly familiar with PHP, but that is limited. And...that's it.

 

I use Dreamweaver. I like the split-panes view where I can do both WYSIWYG and source code. With my site (not a SW site, BTW ) mostly set up, I do mostly updates, so I'm mostly editing and copy/pasting. Some things are quicker edits in WYSIWYG, and some things I can do much faster directly in the source code.

Plus, if you are learning HTML, it's a good way to see how the parts you highlight look in code and vice versa.

 

You have no business being here then.

 

Can we get a link to your site, General? I wouldn't mind seeing your design... if jedimasterbac will just look away for a brief moment.