Reference Information. If
you are simply looking for reference information your first stop should be the CompuCure site. (Until recently, Netscape had a great site for this but much of it is gone now due to their partnering with CNet.)
Even if you are going to use one of the many new "make it easy" editors, you should get to know tags. This is because these editors often make mistakes
that create problems in their tags. The HTML Tag Reference Guide by the World Wide Web Consortium is a great on-line reference. While the guide in this link is the W3C version 3 discussion, version 4 is not universally accepted and would not work in the older browsers. It is completely searchable. Its descriptions get to the point quickly
with examples for most HTML tags. The Consortium is a good place to get to know HTTP too.
New to HTML. If you are new at web page creation and don't know where to start, then we have some help for you.
Possibly the best HTML learning place on the web is the HTML Basics Tutorial. The HTML Guru offers some really good starting tips. You should also take a look at NCSA Beginner’s Guide to HTML, HTML for the Complete Idiot, and read the PC Week article, "Crash course on
writing documents for the Web". Tine's Internet guide, while graphic heavy and too full of Java and other features for commercial application, is another resource for technical
assistance. Thus the Web Design Group, which has lots of tips for creating web pages that don't exclude visitors, is the very next stop on your way
to becoming a HTML pro.
HTML Pro. If you are an HTML pro and are looking for advanced tips, try visiting 'Tips,
Tricks, How to, and Beyond'. It's a can't-miss site for finding new and interesting ways to use HTML. Another stop should be the 'How did they do that with HTML?' page and the stodgy HTML Resources site by the HTML Writers Guild. A key thought is HTML compliance
and a great reference for that is HTML Standards Compliance - Why Bother? A final resource we recommend is the Desktop Publishing and HTML reference site.
Web Design for Commercial Sites. Hope we don't insult the kids and programmers too badly here, but design of
a commercial site is not the same as a personal home page or an opportunity to show that you can really make a program kick. The business wants a return on their investment and that means
the business issues, purposes, and aspects need to be addressed for the both the business and their customers. We have a lot on this subject throughout our site. Some excellent thoughts on
the technical aspects of a commercial web site is available on Web Monkey in Jim Frew's article, Degrading Pages.
POINTERS TO FREE STUFF Whether you are a webmaster wannabe or a webmaster looking to improve your existing HTML skills,
the Web offers countless free HTML resources that can make the task of learning fun and relatively easy. Here are some HTML resource sites for webmasters from beginner to advanced level.
HTML: An Interactive Tutorial: http://davesite.com/webstation/html/
A good site for beginners. Starts with basic terminology and then proceeds with a chapter by chapter interactive approach.
A Visual HTML Tutorial: http://www.atwebmaster.com/htmlhome.html
Another HTML tutorial site for beginners. A good starting point for those without any background in HTML and who like a visual approach to learning.
HTML For The Conceptually Challenged: http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/html_tutor.html
The Webmaster of this site describes it as follows: "If you mostly watch television, have an attention span measured in microseconds, and think reading is a waste of your valuable time,
this page is for you."
A Beginners Guide To HTML: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html
A primer for producing documents in the hypertext markup language used on the World Wide Web.
The WDVL: http://www.stars.com/Authoring/HTML/ The Web Developer's
Virtual Library. This is a comprehensive web site with a wealth of information and detail. The area on HTML authoring alone is very impressive. If you master that, you can move on to the
sections covering DHTML, VRML, XML, Java and other web development related topics.
The HTML Writers Guild: http://www.hwg.org/ The world's largest international organization
of Web authors with over 98,000 members in more than 130 nations worldwide. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in web authoring and a desire to improve his or her skills. An excellent
resource for webmasters of all skill levels.
The HTML Compendium: http://www.htmlcompendium.org/0frame.htm
A reference manual of all HTML tags in general use. Each element page contains the tag, text on how it is used, an example of its use, where possible, and the acknowledged attributes and
arguments that modify that tag.
HTML Questions & Answers: http://members.aol.com/htmlguru/qanda/index.html
If you are running into problems in getting your web pages to look the way you want, then you may want to pay this site a visit. Useful for webmasters past the beginner stage.
Editor packages. There are a lot of entries in this area. Before you buy, examine our editor review. You may even find that a freeware editor meets your needs, especially if the page has be professionally created prior to your taking over operation
of the web site.
