Chapter 1: Getting Started

Welcome to the world of HTML! If you have never written HTML code before, you should start with this section. If you’ve written HTML before, you should feel free to skip ahead to Chapter 2, Markup Basics.

When you’re done with this chapter, you should be able to:

• create and alter a simple web page
• explain what HTML elements and attributes are
• use your browser to help you view and reuse code from other websites

Section Summaries

The Getting Started chapter contains these sections:

1. Diving In — Demonstrates basic HTML concepts by diving in and creating a simple web page.

2. Structure — Examines document structure: the html element, the head, the title, and the body.

3. Tinkering — Makes alterations to the “Simple Web Page”. We’ll add text, change the background color, and explore how HTML handles whitespace.

4. Elements — Explores elements, which are the basic building blocks of a web page. What are the components of a element? What happens if you misspell a element? And is there a good use for the blink element? The answer might surprise you!

5. Attributes — Explores attributes, which modify the behavior of a element. We’ll look at the components of an attribute and talk about attribute whitespace, attribute misspellings, and other issues.

6. Browser Tools — Explains how to use key browser features, such as viewing source, viewing page properties, and saving images.