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Learn About Domains & HTML

HTML code, Web pages, and domain names, while different, all share a single purpose. These tools make information available on the Internet to the world at large. Any business, school, or person that wants to make their presence known online will in some way make use of these three things. Some people will use automated tools to manage them, while others will set them up on their own. Both people who code websites and those who are interested in knowing how it is done can benefit from understanding the basics of Web design and hosting.

Domains

In order for a website to become visible to the public, it needs to have its own domain name. A domain name is a human-readable name or alias assigned to a numeric Internet address. Domains come in two or three parts. Top-level domains are one of these parts: These include things like .com, .org, .edu, and .net. The second part is referred to as the second-level domain, and it is located before the top-level domain. For example, when looking at domainname.com, domainname is the second-level domain and .com is the top-level domain. All websites must at least have a top-level domain and a domain name. In many cases, they also come with a third part called a subdomain, such as shop.domainname.com, with the word shop being the subdomain.

HTML

HTML, or Hypertext Markup Language, is the most commonly used language of the World Wide Web. It is a form of human-readable code that Web browsers interpret to turn information into a document for the public to view. The purpose of HTML is to manage the layout of a page using tags and deliver information according to that layout. HTML can be coded by hand, or people may turn to computer programs to automatically generate the code that meets their requirements.

Tags

In order for a user to design a Web page according to their layout specifications, HTML requires the use of tags. Tags are coded layout instructions that are enclosed in angle brackets, which means any text between the < and > characters constitutes HTML code that a web browser will try to interpret. Most tags must be paired, which means they must be opened and closed. For instance, < b >, which is the command for making text bold, must be closed with < /b > to define the end of a bold text entry, or else all subsequent text will be bold.

Basic Formatting

In order for a Web page to be readable for humans, some basic formatting will be necessary. HTML provides a large number of tags, or layout instructions, to help a user format their page properly or according to their desires. Some of the basic formatting codes included in HTML include paragraph breaks, bold, italics, font faces and sizing, and colors. Users can also place images as well as text around images, and they can also arrange data in tables.

Adding Links/Anchors

Web pages rarely exist by themselves. In many cases, they exist as part of a website, with many other pages that refer to each other or even to pages at other websites. To do this, a Web designer will need to use links. A link starts with < a href="(URL)" > and closes with < /a >. The (URL) can be another web page (such as http://example.com), FTP resource (ftp://example.com), or another resource accessible by a Web browser. There must be text enclosed within the tag, called anchor text, to describe the link and give the reader something to click on. You can also use this type of code to create anchors within a page, so the reader can click to automatically move to a different place on the same page.

Adding Images

Placing an image or images on a Web page is a commonly used way to make online content more interesting or to create a visual context for information. Basic HTML code enables Web designers to place images as well as wrap text around them. Images must have a source, which is either a file on the website or on another computer or network (though the latter is strongly discouraged). Images can also be used as links to other online resources, allowing the user to click on a photo and be taken to another website or page.

Forms

Users can interact with websites by using Web forms. Forms are a means by which one can enter information to be stored somewhere for processing. Web forms provide a variety of ways for users to input information, including text boxes for typing data and drop-down menus for multiple-choice input. Programs such as CGI scripts are used to read the user input and perform functions like emailing the information to the website owner, verifying a user's age, or processing purchases for e-commerce.

Tables

HTML tables are a tool that Web designers use for layout control. They enable authors to arrange information into consistent rows and columns as well as strictly manage their width. In addition, it is possible to control the justification and background color of each cell in the table. It is also possible to control other attributes of a table, such as the spacing between table cells and the width of the cell's borders. For tables that are used for lists, authors may use the first row of cells as headers for the data cells below. Tables may also be useful for creating multi-column Web page layouts.