For some reason, HTML seems to really frighten a lot of people. Some have seen complicated HMTL that’s been produced by an editor program, or they’ve clicked ‘View Source’ on a few pages and been scared by what they’ve seen.

What you have to realise, though, is that HTML was designed from the beginning to be a very simple language to learn and to use – just because automated systems for producing it have a tendency to make it over-complicated, it doesn’t mean that your code has to be that way. The best way to get started with HTML is to get over any fears you might have and just get started.

Note that you will need to save files as filename.html before you will be able to open them in a web browser. If you’re not sure how to do this with a text editor, use an HTML code editing program.
All About Tags.
NOTE: A space has been added after each < and before each > so the tags will show on an HTML page to make the tags work remove the spaces
There’s only one thing you really need to understand before you start writing pages in HTML, and that’s the tag system. Basically, tags are commands in angle brackets, with text between them. For example, here is some text in a bold tag:

< b >bold text< /b >

The first tag < b > is the opening tag.
The second tag < /b > has a slash before its name because it’s a closing tag. You can have as many tags inside other tags as you want, as long as you always remember to close the last one first. For example:

< b >< i >< u >bold, italic, underlined text< /u >< /i >< /b >
If the tags are closed in the wrong order, then the code is invalid and may not work. Read the rest of this entry

One of the first things you need to concider when you are designing yur website is the color scheme. Once you decide on what colors you want to use and where you are going to place them the rest will normally fall into place with a little more planning. Choosing the wrong colors though can cause you to have a bad looking site no matter how good the rest of your design is.
Pay Attention to Contrast.
First of all, before you do anything else, you need to check that the colors you’ve chosen provide enough contrast for your text to be readable. Don’t put orange text on a yellow background, or red on blue, or anything like that. You should especially avoid using a lighter version of a color on top of a darker version of that same colour, or vice versa. You’ve got to make sure that your text is readable.
Never Use Black Backgrounds.
You can generally use whatever colors you like as part of your color scheme, but stay away from black backgrounds. It makes your website look ‘underground’ and threatening, not to mention old-fashioned. The only people who will like it will be dyed-in-the-wool computer nerds and people who get headaches from large areas of white. Read the rest of this entry

Once upon a time, building a website was very expensive. Now, you can have a site up and running for the price of a used book, if you’re frugal and careful. Getting an inexpensive website is a great first step on the ladder, to get started on the web and see if it’s for you.
Five-Dollar Domains.
If you’re willing to take the less popular domains like .info, or some of the ones for specific countries, then you should easily be able to get your hands on a domain for less than $5. Some countries, such as .tk (the small island of Tokelau), even offer their domains for nothing!
Free Software.
Nowadays, it’s possible to build a website using nothing but software you can get for free – most of the best scripting languages are free, and each one has a lot of free software built for it by hobbyists. Check out www.sourceforge.net, which is a big repository of free software. Read the rest of this entry