HTML for Beginners #1
by
Robert Betts
(Age: 62)
copyright 08-23-2002
Age Rating: 13 to 127
One question I am often asked is what about HTML?
There are many places at PnP where you can use that, in writing, comments and titles.
Overused though it can compete with the site colors and scheme. That tends to detract from your work rather than enhance it so it should be avoided.
What is HTML? It stands for Hyper-Text Markup Language. It is a computer language which all web pages use to display content.
One mistake I often see is someone creating a work in MS Word, converting the document to HTML and simply cutting and pasting that into the submissions screen. Word adds quite a bit of extraneous code which will cause the result to be nowhere near what you are trying to do.
First: Every webpage consists of head and body. The head information is normally invisible to you. You can do a right mouse click, then select reveal source on most pages. That shows all the code that made the page. This is one of the very best ways to learn code. Look at what another has done and analyze how it actually works.
Near the top you will see this: < head>. a bit further down, you will see < /head>. Search engines do see that though. In there you will see keywords, description and many other things. These are there to help placement with search engines.
Just like a car, if you start off in first, get going then shift right into first again the car will lurch, groan and complain. Much the same happens here. This page already has the < head> information. If you duplicate that, the page will lurch.
That is the major reason that copying and pasting from Word causes problems. The only valid information you may enter is in the body, that is, the HTML between < body> and < /body>. Be sure NOT to include the < body> tag itself either.
It is best to start with little things, a few small commands before attempting larger projects.
Ok so let's make some text italic The HTML command for this is < i>. Please note I will use the convention of a space right after < If I did not do this it would actually do the command and you would not be able to see the code that did it. like this
To end a block of italic text the command is < /i>. This format of commands in HTML is quite regular. The / indicates to end a command.
Here are a couple more you can experiment with:
< b> < /b>
< h1> < /h1>
< h2> < /h2>
< h3> < /h3>
< h4> < /h4>
I'll add a few more lessions as I can. Meanwhile experiment and I'd invite you to search the web for articles. A good search term for that is: "HTML Tutorial"
P.S. --- I just added some code that will get over the MS Word problem. The excess tags are now automatically stripped out. The above advice however is still good. Other sites may not have such filtering.
bob
Aaron's questions need a more detailed answer so I'll do it here as an edit:
The < head> information is already on this page. (If you cannot do that check, Tools, Internet Options, Programs and make sure you have an HTML editor named - if not, select one) If you duplicated it then it could confuse the engines. As noted in my P.S. above, I have now blocked that so it is no longer a concern.
At one time I asked people to put in keywords and description. The result was very poor. Many had no idea what these do and weren't about to learn. I gave it up when many entered 'a poem' as the only keyword. That is about the same as throwing a grain of sand on a beach and expecting it to be found later. Ditto for descriptions.
If our writers would learn how important these are to search engines, we could place much higher. That task though is impossible, so I have done the best I can with general keywords and description.
The description that the engines see is the first 200 characters of your work. Presumably, if you are a good writer, you will grab your reader quickly, within the first sentence or so. That is my best guess that I can use to try to help our writers.
Help Us Stop Plagiarism -
Nearly all works at PnP are original. However a few people choose to plagiarize.
To check, choose a phrase from the work, then either drag and drop to the search box or copy and paste.
click on search and works at Google will be shown which match. Just to be sure, please do this before
you recommend or rate the work highly...
Bob, I rated this a "5" because I could understand your very well-written summary on HTML. Never have I utilized it, but I really do want to learn. Maybe I can learn on this site. I'm hopeful.
That is programmed in and yes, the head has your name in several places, author, title and description. You may right mouse click then reveal source to see it. You may have to do a refresh before this mouse click will work.
bob
Bob, great idea to give floks a little html lesson. I personally need one. Unfortunately, I know so little, that your article wasn't exactly clear. I'm guessing that there is stuff between the < head> and the < /head>. Is that right? Can we put a header into our stories that won't be visible when viewing the site, but which will put us on the map of search engines. I assume we surround the things we want to have italicized with the < i> and < /i>. Right? If so, "need" will be italicized up top when I submit this.
As you can see, HTML is also permitted in comments. However, be very careful there because comments canot be edited. the < h1> tage makes HUGE text and will distort the page terribly. Keep it simple in comments, either < i> or < b> work best.
Welcome !
