Features - The Basics of HTML: Learn Them!
02 - Styling Tags
After you learn the basic mandatory tags for an HTML document, you will probably want to change the way
your page looks, such as the fonts, alignment, and other various elements.
The most important thing here, however, is making
the document you're creating able to work in most browsers, something called browser compatibility. In addition, some people
may not have the same fonts that your system has so be sure when you are using special fonts, to use one or add extra ones
for the font-ically challenged.
An Example of Stylized HTML Code
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Title of Website - Description</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000">
<CENTER><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica" SIZE=2>Basic HTML Tutorial!</FONT></CENTER>
</BODY>
</HTML>
The <FONT> and </FONT> Tags
If you want to make your page look different or if you just want to get rid of the standard fonts normally
used (Times, Times New Roman, etc.) for webpages without their fonts defined, this is the tag for you. This is probably one of
the easiest fonts to understand... as long as you can figure out the SIZE attribute.
First, open the area you want to change the font of by adding <FONT>. Then, you can add attributes
to it such as FACE, SIZE, and if you want, COLOR. These go inside the <FONT> tag. These are pretty much self-explanatory
but you may have questions on the SIZE attribute. You don't put the standard font sizes here such as 10, 12, 14, etc. but rather,
a "browser font size" such as 1,2,3,4,5, or 6; 1 being the lowest, 6 the highest. Once you've done all of this, be sure you
place the </FONT> tag where the area for the font ends.
The <CENTER> and </CENTER> Tags
These tags are very self-explanatory. You simply place everything you want centered between these two tags
and they will appear centered on your document.
The <P> and </P> Tags
The <P>, or Paragraph tag, is the classic tag for aligning your text on different sides of the browser
window. All you need to do is add ALIGN=(LEFT,CENTER,RIGHT) within the <P> tag and you're all set! Be sure to close your
paragraph or block of text with the </P> tag!
Finishing Up Styling Tags
These are only the basic styling tags in an HTML document. As our series progresses, we will add more tags
used for styling in your documents and we'll even cover Cascading Style Sheets, a relatively new technology in terms of implementation
which makes it easier to create uniform documents without all the hassle of standard HTML.
Tutorial Sections
00 - Introduction
01 - Mandatory Tags (Html, Body, etc.)
02 - Styling Tags (Font, Alignment, etc.)
03 - Conclusion
Related Links
HTML Information
HTML Editors
R Smith
The XRS Network
Wednesday November 3, 1999
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