Creating Web Pages For Dummies®

Chapter 11. Filling in Your Home Page

In This Chapter

• Writing for the Web

• Formatting Web text

• Using HTML lists

• Entering text in HTML

• Entering text in SeaMonkey Composer

The previous chapter shows you how to get your Web page started. This chapter shows you how to put some text in it and get the text formatted so it looks good.

Along the way, we also talk about how to write for the Web. Web writing is a bit different than other kinds of writing. It's also kind of fun, after you get used to it.

Writing for the Web

Every new medium develops its own style. Magazine articles are often wordy and literary in style. Newspaper articles are brief, to the point, and written in a “pyramid” style that puts the most important information first. The Web has its own style. Learning to use it can make your Web page much more interesting and effective.

Web realities

The new style of writing found online is based on three underlying realities about the Web:

• The capabilities of HTML: HTML allows you to specify some simple text formatting, headings, and lists. Newer versions of HTML also allow you to specify fonts and specific text sizes, but a user can override these specifications.

  What it means for you: Don't count on complicated formatting and specific layout to get your message across. Keep it simple.

• The difficulty of reading from a computer screen: A computer screen has much lower resolution than a printed page — about 100 dpi (dots per inch), versus anywhere from 300 dpi on up for most print. People's eyes ...