Introduction to HTML and web publishing

Two study days on HTML and Web Publishing were held in 1998 - one in Edinburgh and one in Glasgow. The following is a report from the Edinburgh session.

Held at Edinburgh University's Wolfson Technology Resource Centre on a wet an snowy day, this proved an enjoyable introduction to the mysteries of HTML (hyper-text markup language). The workshop was ably led by William Nixon of Glasgow University and Emma Riley of Napier University.

The day began with a short introduction to the World Wide Web, its history and associated jargon. We then spent the rest of the morning creating our very own home page using Notepad, a simple text editor. Working through a detailed and well-produced workbook, we learnt to add the appropriate tags to our text to create headings, paragraphs, formatting, bullet-points, and the insertion of graphics.

Finally we created both external and internal links for our page. The afternoon session began with a discussion of some factors to consider when developing a Web site and some tips on good design. We then moved on to create a Web page like the one we had spent the morning working on, but this time using HTML Assistant (one of a number of HTML editors available) to add the tags for us.

I found it very satisfying to see my own Web page gradually coming together and, whilst I would not claim to be able to go off and create a Web site, I felt that the day certainly demystified HTML, and gave me a much greater understanding of how Web pages are put together.

Alison Bogle The Development Group