Step #3

     Your HTML files will always lead off with the <HTML> tag, which you type at the top of the file. This tag doesn't do a whole heckuva lot except tell any Web browser that tries to read the file that it's dealing with a file that contains HTML doodads. Similarly, the last line in your document will always be the </HTML> tag, which you can think of as the HTML equivalent for "The End."

So each of your Web pages will start off looking like this:

     <HTML>
     </HTML>

     The next tags serve to divide the document into two sections: the head and the body. The head section is like an introduction to the page. To define the head, you add a <HEAD> tag and a </Head> tag immediately below the <HTML> tag you typed in earlier. So your Web page should now look like this:

     <HTML>
     <HEAD>
     </HEAD>
     </HTML>

     The body section is where you enter the text and other fun stuff that will actually appear on the Web page. To define the body, you place a <BODY> tag and a </Body> tag after the head section (below the head <HEAD> tag), as follows:

     <HTML>
     <HEAD>
     </HEAD>
     <BODY>
     </BODY>
     </HTML>

     Yawn. So far, so boring. Unfortunately, these early stages of Web page creation are only marginally more exciting than watching paint peel. It's a necessary evil, however, and it's one I'll discuss in more depth (I'll bet you can't wait for that) in Chapter 4, "Laying the Foundation: The Basic Structure of a Web page."

Down with Drudgery!

     To use the tedium of these early stages of Web page creation, you'll find some help on the disk that with this book. I've included a file name SKELETON.HTM that contains all the tags that make up the bare bones (story about that) of a Web page.