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| Disclaimer: | Click here to read the Disclaimer. Your use of this service is your acknowledgment that you have read, understood and accepted the disclaimer. |
Purpose
The purpose of this document is to make the reader aware of a few of the HTML tags and how to use those with regards to this service and elsewhere. (The purpose is not to educate the reader to be proficient in writing HTML.)
HTML
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language.
Simply put HTML enhances the appearence of the text one writes for the Internet (and Intranet). Of course there are several other tasks that HTML can perform basides simply enhancing the appearence. (e.g. HTML can 'call' an Applet written in Java or can 'execute' a CGI script). But for the this document the focus is kept limited to the appearance only.
Browser
It is possible to write HTML in a simple text editor, but for viewing the text written- with full effect of the appearance, it is necessary to have a browser (e.g. Netscape / Internet Explorer) and to view the text written thru it. (If one is reading this, then already he/she has a browser.) As an example if one creates a file in a simple text editor, and saves it to the disk as say "abc.html", then he/she can view this file thru the browser by opening it thru the browser. (Or on Windows systems, just by double-clicking the icon for the file "abc.html")
Tag
A tag in HTML is what achieves the enhancement in the sppearance. A tag is an instruction given to the browser, which makes the browser to enhance the appearence. A tag basically consists of the actual instruction enclosed in the symbols "<" and ">" (Less-than and Greater-than). (Just my observation - I've used the old word processors like WordPerfect and WordStar. I find the tags pretty similar in operation to the instructions I used to use in the old word processors.)
Instruction
The instruction contained within the tag is applied to the text that follows it and the appearence is changed. So it is necessary to have one instruction to begin the change in appearence and another instruction to end the change in appearence. So the HTML tag instructions are always in pairs. (Again quite similar to the old word processors.)
Examples
Let's consider an example. Say I want to make the text "I like TA" in bold - so that it will appear like this: I like TA.
This is how I'll do it. First I'll write the sentence I like TA. Then just before the sentence I'll put the instruction to begin the bold effect and just after the sentence I'll put the instruction to end the bold effect. The instruction for beginning the bold effect is <B>and the instruction for ending the bold effect is </B>. (If I was to speak it aloud, I'll say, "The instruction for beginning the bold effect is to type to symbol less than followed by B followed by symbol greater than and the instruction for ending the bold effect is to type symbol less than followed by symbol slash followed by B followed by symbol greater than.) Remember that in all the instructions to end the effect there is a symbol / (slash) present. (Often times I've seen people forgetting to put a slash in the ending instruction.)
Here are a few more examples:
Text one types Appearence in browser Comment <I>I like TA</I> I like TA Italics <U>I like TA</U> I like TA Underline <B>I like TA</B> I like TA Bold <I><B>I like TA</B></I> I like TA Bold and Italics <U><B>I like TA</B></U> I like TA Underline and Bold <U><I>I like TA</I></U> I like TA Italics and Underline <U><I>I like TA</I></U> I like TA Italics and Underline
Links
Coming to Sid's question about creating the HyperText Links. The links involve two part. The URL link. And the Title of the link. (In Netscape the URL link is the text that one sees in the Location area - it starts with http:// and the title is the name of the window one sees towards the left hand top portion.) For example for the FVDB page
URL of the link is: http://fundvision.com/wwwboard/wwwboard.shtml
Title of the link is: FundVision Discussion Board
If I need to create a link to say the FVCC Classic Article by Jerry, then first I need to know the URL, next I need to know the Title and then I'll show how to create the link.
URL: http://fundvision.com/fvcc/fvcc_jerry.html Title: FundVision Classic Collection - Jerry's
What I type: <A HREF="http://fundvision.com/fvcc/fvcc_jerry.html">FundVision Classic Collection - Jerry's</A>
How it looks: FundVision Classic Collection - Jerry's
The tag instruction pair for creating the link is:
<A HREF=""></A>
To explain, the URL goes in between the pair of double quotes in the A HREF instruction and the Title goes in the less than and greater than symbols. So it appears as follows:
<A HREF="URL goes here">Title goes here</A>
Fonts
And now (on 05/31/99) coming to Scott's question about how to display the text in multiple fonts. This also involves giving a pair of tags that instructs the browser to begin change in the font and to end the change in the font. (Please note that not all fonts are available on all the machines in all the browsers. So if the font instructed to be displayed is not present, the browser displays the font that's available.) The font change begins with the tag <FONT FACE="XXXX"> where XXXX is the name of the font and it ends with the tag </FONT>
Here are a few examples:
Text one types Appearence in browser Font <FONT FACE="Ariel">I like ICENX - the best energy fund !</FONT> I like ICENX - the best energy fund ! Ariel <FONT FACE="Book Antiqua">I like ICENX - the best energy fund !</FONT> I like ICENX - the best energy fund ! Book Antiqua <FONT FACE="Century Schoolbook">I like ICENX - the best energy fund !</FONT> I like ICENX - the best energy fund ! Century Schoolbook <FONT FACE="Comic Sans MS">I like ICENX - the best energy fund !</FONT> I like ICENX - the best energy fund ! Comic Sans MS <FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style">I like ICENX - the best energy fund !</FONT> I like ICENX - the best energy fund ! Bookman Old Style <FONT FACE="Courier New">I like ICENX - the best energy fund !</FONT> I like ICENX - the best energy fund ! Courier New <FONT FACE="Modern">I like ICENX - the best energy fund !</FONT> I like ICENX - the best energy fund ! Modern <FONT FACE="Tahoma">I like ICENX - the best energy fund !</FONT> I like ICENX - the best energy fund ! Tahoma <FONT FACE="Verdana">I like ICENX - the best energy fund !</FONT> I like ICENX - the best energy fund ! Verdana <FONT FACE="Times New Roman">I like ICENX - the best energy fund !</FONT> I like ICENX - the best energy fund ! Times New Roman
Spacing
And coming to Rich's question ... Often times one has to post text that involves displaying (oxymoron ? *smile*) more than one space. (I'll not call this table, because table is a little more complicated.) Most browesers display only 1 space character, evenif one posts more than 1 space between two words. At times (typically when putting up a small table-like structure) it is not desirable to have just 1 space displayed instead of many. I'll consider an example. Say if I want to post some simple text which has the following format.
Time frame Top Performer Tech/Telecomm Top Performer Financial Top Performer Health/Biotech ---------- --------------------------- -------------------------------- --------------------------------- 1 year Firsthand-Tech Value (115%) Mutual Financial Svcs Z (2%) Vanguard Specialized-Health (20%) 3 years Northern Technology (53%) INVESCO Financial Services (29%) Vanguard Specialized-Health (28%) 5 years Firsthand-Tech Value (51%) INVESCO Financial Services (24%) INVESCO Hlth Sciences (29%)Please notice the spacing between ... say words 'Top Performer Financial' and 'Top Performer Health/Biotech' and between words say '3 years' and 'Northern Technology (53%)'.
Such a display where many spaces are displayed is made possible by enclosing the text, for which the spacing is required in a pair of tags <PRE> and </PRE>. Any text that's enclosed between these pair of tags displays as many spaces as one posts.
Another example isI like FVDB the discussion board for Chartists Timers and Traders !Please notice the spaces between words Chartists and Timers.
Also, it is worth noting that when one gives <PRE> and </PRE> tags, the browsers automatically begin displaying the text following these tags the next line. (Going a little more technical, the tag <PRE> instructs the browser to begin displaying the text following it in 'constant-width' font and the tag </PRE> instructs the browser, the begin displaying the text following it in 'normal' font.)