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Web Development


Short Contents

For Beginners...
Introduction
Changes from 3.2
Document
Attributes
...that are available for all BODY objects
Text
Organisation tools
Forms
Images
Sounds
Style Sheets
Special Effects - Javascript
Search Engines

Full Contents

For Beginners...


Introduction

 Other HTML sites
Putting pages online
Tips For beginners
Download this Guide

Changes from 3.2

Document

 Specifying Language
Structure

The <HEAD> section

...General attributes
...Title
...Setting the Base address
...Queries : ISINDEX
...META tags
...Character sets
...<LINK>s

The <BODY> tag
... General Attributes
...Document Colours
...Background

Attributes

 ...that are available for all BODY objects

Text

 Headings
Fonts
Preformatted text
Change text direction
Special Characters
Character Formatting
...Blink
...Bold
...Italics
...Underline
...Strikethrough
...Superscript
...Subscript
Paragraph formatting
...Blockquote
...Line Breaks
...New Paragraph
...Stop Line Breaks
...Word Break
...Centre text
...Marking Modifications
Miscellaneous
...Abbreviation
...Acronyms
...Addresses
...Use Bigger/Smaller fonts
...Citations
...Code
...Definitions
...Keyboard input
...Sample
...Teletype
...Variables
...XMP

Organisation tools

 Comments

Horizontal lines

DIV and SPAN

Links
...<LINK>s
...within pages
...Image maps

Frames
...Naming and Targeting
...Inline Frames

Tables
...example tag
...Rows
...Cells
...Captions

...Head, Body & Foot

Lists
...Definition lists
...Directory Lists
...Menu Lists
...Ordered Lists
...Unordered Lists

Embedding special files
The Object Element

Forms

 Inputs and buttons
Selection menus
Element Labels
Fieldsets and legends

Images

Sounds

Style Sheets

 specifying version
individual elements
in the HEAD section
specifying media types
external sheets
cascading sheets
media-dependant defaults
HTTP headers

Special Effects - Javascript

 Events
...onAbort
...onBlur
...onChange
...onClick
...onError
...onFocus
...onLoad
...onMouseOver
...onMouseOut
...onReset
...onScroll
...onSelect
...onSubmit
...onUnload
Basic Commands
...Changing the status bar
...Opening a new window
...changing page being viewed

Search Engines

Getting friendly with Search Engines!

This is the hard part : trying to get people to list your site! Before you attempt this, you should check that your site is actually ready to be listed! Such checks include :
  • There are no broken links - Sometimes engines spit the dummy if they encounter too many of these!
  • All of your pages are linked to each other - Many search engines follow all of the links within your site, indexing each page. In addition, Geocities requires you do this anyway!
  • You make good use of META and TITLE tags - see below.
  • If your site uses frames, ensure that you link to all of your pages in the NOFRAMES section. Search engines ignore the FRAMES tags.
The majority of engines will use META tags and your page title to index a site. Generally, results are ordered depending on where matches are found :
  1. The Title
  2. "KEYWORDS" META tag
  3. "DESCRIPTION" META tag
  4. Document text
Therefore, it is important to choose the title carefully if you want your page near the top of results list.. be sure to include important keywords in the title!

DO NOT SPAM : This includes the practice of including words multiple times, or using irrelevant words in attempt to make a site appear near the top of results lists. Not only is it considered very rude, but if someone reports such activity to search engines, you risk having all of your pages removed from that engine's entire network!

The easiest way to submit pages to search engines is by using a free service such as Submit-It.com. Note that while some services ask you to enter personal details such as street address, you can usually avoid this by typing "to be changed", or something to that effect. You can also try visiting each search engine and using the "add URL" or "suggest a site" link at the bottom of their main screen. I suggest trying both methods - it doesn't hurt to submit a site twice, anyway!

Also note that most search engines take 2-3 weeks or longer to list a site! Also be aware that while Alta Vista claims to only take 1-2 working days, in my experience this can occasionally be up to 2 weeks, although they are usually the fastest to list sites.

(C)opyright, Geoff Knagge.
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