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Hypertext Markup Language is the foundation of World
Wide Web. The web is a gigantic storehouse of information written
in billions of interconnected pages. The pages are written using
the language HTML. HTML documents are ASCII files with embedded
codes for logical markup, format (text styles, document titles,
paragraphs, tables) and hyperlinks. Browsers (Netscape, Internet
Explorers etc.) can read and interpret HTML codes. HTML is not a
programming language but a mark-up language that anyone without
software background can master in days.
A working knowledge of HTML is necessary for taking
maximum advantage from your website. You may not be designing your
website, but a working knowledge will help you communicate with
your designer in same frequency and achieve what you wanted to achieve
fast with maximum ease.
The secret behind HTML is that there is no secret
! Everything's out in the open in an HTML document. To test this,
visit any webpage and click View>Source in your browser. You
will be able to see underlying HTML code for the webpage.
HTML is made up of two key concepts:
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Hypertext: A way of creating multimedia documents
and a method for providing links within and between documents.
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Markup Language: A method for embedding special
tags that describe the structure as well as the behaviour of
a document
One can create simple HTML pages using any text editor
(Windows Notepad, Wordpad etc. but NOT MS Word). For complicated
pages there are excellent software like Frontpage, HotMetal etc.
that create HTML codes.
The simplicity and power of HTML lets anyone create
web documents for private or public use. The power of hypertext,
with its built-in support for multimedia and document links, creates
the threads that compose the worldwide web with its billions of
interconnected pages. Mark-up allows flexible and aesthetic display
of text and graphics that make reading that much pleasure. The bottomline,
you have an incredibly powerful medium to reach out to your target
audience, a medium that is much more powerful than print and moves
in a borderless world.
Next week we shall discuss selected web resources
that help you master HTML in no time even if you do not have any
computer background.
Related Links:
Source: FAIDA
- Newsletter on Business Opportunties from India and Abroad
Vol II, Issue 20' October 25' 2001
Author :
Dr. Amit K. Chatterjee
(Amit worked in blue-chip Indian and MNCs for 15 years in various
capacities like Research and Information Analysis, Market Development,
MIS, R&D Information Systems etc. before starting his e-commerce
venture in 1997. The views expressed in this columns are of
his own. He may be reached at amit@infobanc.com
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