HTML, XHTML, and CSS All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies®

Chapter 1. Sound HTML Foundations

In This Chapter

• Creating a basic Web page

• Understanding the most critical HTML tags

• Setting up your system to work with HTML

• Viewing your pages

This chapter is your first introduction to building Web pages. Before this slim chapter is finished, you'll have your first page up and running. Creating a basic page isn't difficult, but building pages in a way that grows and expands as you get more sophisticated takes a little foresight. Most of this book uses the XHTML standard. In this first chapter, I show part of an older standard called HTML. HTML is a little bit easier to start with, and everything I show in this chapter translates perfectly to the XHTML you'll use throughout the book.

In this minibook, you discover the modern form of Web design using XHTML. Your Web pages will be designed from the ground up, which makes them easy to modify and customize. As you figure out more advanced techniques throughout this book, you'll take the humble pages you discover in this chapter and make them do all kinds of exciting things.

Creating a Basic Page

Here's the great news: The most important Web technology you need is also the easiest. You don't need any expensive or complicated software, and you don't need a powerful computer. You probably have everything you need to get started already.

No more talking! Fire up a computer and let's build a Web page!

1. Open a text editor.

   You can use any text editor you want, as long as it lets you save files as plain text. If you're ...