A Little HTML Trick I Use
Some weeks ago, I read a post on ElliotsBlog about HTML. (Hyper Transfer Markup Language) I was not able to comment at the time because I was on a mobile network and pressing those little phone buttons are not that much fun for my big fingers. Well I tried to find the post now so that I could give it credit in this blog post but could not. Basically I am going to be piggy backing on that post.
I do not speak the HTML language but I understand a thing or two and over time I am now able to do a lot with HTML and even PHP and you too can after reading this post. You can sometimes click on View (on your browser) and then click on Source and you can see how most webpages are laid out internally. However here is something I do. I often write what i want to add to my sites on Frontpage then copy the code and paste it where I want on my site. Microsoft frontpage (going obsolete) gives you the opportunity to write in plain English and you can click on the code view and see your English in html format. One more thing is to copy only between the <Body> </Body> tags as Microsoft adds some unnecessary proprietary tags in the headings.
I used Frontpage extensively to create killer ads on ebay when I was a power seller way back and I then copied this ad unto ebay. My layout was always unique and I never hesitated to send a warning letter to those who tried to copy my layout, ad language or pictures. I used this technique recently when I had to add a button on a site created with WordPress. I copied the page to Frontpage and then played around with it to see what does what till I got what I wanted.
It is not every time you want to pay someone to do stuff for you. Somethings you can do for yourself and tools like Frontpage can help.
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You can also do this to a lesser degree with Word. I find this particularly useful for turning lengthy documents such as a TOS agreement from .doc into .html. Microsoft does add a bunch of junk (fonts, etc.) but it can be cleaned up pretty easily and saves a whole lot of time.
I’ve come across your blog a couple of times and you’ve usually had good advise but there are a couple of points here that need to be addressed:
1. HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. Not a big deal but thought I’d clarify.
2. HTML is not difficult to learn but it’s essential to master. It’s not hard because, as you said, you can view source on any web page and see how someone implemented something cool. You have the entire internet to guide you.
But it’s important to understand that HTML is not complicated and is simply marking up your text with the proper codes so a browser can render it properly. The codes are usually very clear or easy enough to remember once you’ve written a couple of pages. The trick is not to use the crutch of Frontpage or Word because you don’t learn anything of value that way. These do nothing but generate horrendous HTML that isn’t human readable in the least and difficult for search engines to decipher which is just bad all the way around. Look up a tutorial or two online, write a couple of pages from scratch in notepad and you’ll be all set to step up to more sophisticated tools to help you write clean, valid html faster. And once you know html, you will not want to go back to Frontpage or Word to generate html for you.
3. Learn the standards and validate your pages – the fewer errors you have in your css and html the higher you will rank with search engines. Generate clean, readable, SEO optimized html and your pages will jump to the top. It’s really as simple as that. If the tools you use spit out bad html, change your tools. If your wordpress theme is invalid, fix it or change it to one that’s valid. Frontpage and Word are horrible at generating valid html so just don’t even bother going there unless you save the text out to a plain text file when you are done.
4. Use CSS and use it everywhere. It allows you to separate your design from your content. Why is that important? Because it makes it easier for search engines to find your content. Read up on SEO “tricks” and CSS so you know what search engines like. CSS is a little trickier to learn than html as browsers have had a harder time standardizing on what all is implemented (especially ie6), but it’s also time well spent.
Thanks that for the Correction on HTML defination. That was a typo and in the process I also realized that my link to Wiki was not working either. I have fixed both.
I enjoy working with HTML. I’m not great at it but I learn a little bit every time that I work with it. One site that I find helpful is w3schools.___/htmL/ (replace ___ with ‘com’ of course). I particularly like the Try It feature where you can test the code that you create in a ‘safe and controlled’ environment.