Basic HTML/CSS Primer for High School Advisers

HTML Foundation of Web development < <

You don’t have to be a Web ninja to understand Web development basics.

Code is a series of logical questions and answers

So, let’s answer some questions …

Layers of a Web site

Hypertext Markup Language Hypertext Markup Language describes: - Structure - Content - Typographic hierarchy - Rudimentary style (bold, italics, etc.) What is HTML?

HTML Document It might feel chaotic and unstructured … But the entire content of the page exists here.

Cascading Style Sheets - Separates style from content - Easier to change formatting and update an entire Web site - Eliminates page load - Flexible design - Better user accessibility for search bots and screen readers - Allows you to design for multiple browsers and multiple Operating System (Linux, PC or Mac) environments What is CSS?

CSS Document

HTML is used for content and structure

HTML houses scripting languages and behaviors

CSS separates style from content

CSS helps screen readers and users with disabilities read real content

HTML vs. CSS Review Speaking of accessibility …

A brief intro to accessibility

When building a Web site consider accessibility issues for users , search engines and mobile applications

A user sees:

Search bot/screen reader: Video on Screen Readers and Accessibility

Mobile device:

There are several things you can do to create good experiences for all users:

Write good, descriptive headlines

Write detailed paragraphs

Write precise page titles

Write descriptive image tags

Write descriptive links Don’t say ‘click here!’

Separate content from style

Ready to start writing HTML and CSS ? Who needs fancy schmancy software? We don’t!

Create a folder called ‘ Web ’ on your desktop

In that folder, create a new folder called ‘ style ’

Open a text editor : Text Wrangler, Text Edit or even Word is fine.

Save a new document as ‘index.html’ You just created a homepage. And added content.

HTML has open and close brackets, which are called tags: <b> Content goes here </b> Result: Content goes here <i> Content goes here </i> Result: Content goes here For a complete list, go to W3Schools.org <font color=”blue”> Content </font> Result: Content

Declare a ‘DOCTYPE’ DOCTYPE tells browsers which set of rules or semantics to use, what types of tags are allowed and how strictly to follow it. XHTML 1.0 Transitional is now one of the most common ‘DOCTYPEs’ to declare. For a complete list, go to W3.org

Create an HTML tag

- Defines the document as <html>

Make sure to add open and close tag

End of the document </html>

Create an HEAD tag

- Defines header information

Contains meta data and links to external files (such as CSS)

Create an TITLE tag Defines Title of Web page

Create an LINK tag A favicon is the small image that shows up in the browser Examples:

Create META information Add descriptive text for search engines and screen readers to read

Create CSS Link Adding a stylesheet link will allow you to link CSS to HTML

Create a CSS file - Create a new file called styles.css

Link HTML to CSS Make sure that the name of the folder matches up

Add a BODY tag to the HTML page Defines content area of the Web page

Let’s start adding content! Between <body></body> tags, you can start to add other tags, such as paragraphs <p></p> and headlines <h1></h1>

You’ve got a page … But it looks kind of boring, right?

CSS Basics p { color:#666666; } Result: Content becomes grey p { color:#666666;font-weight:900; } Result: Content becomes grey and heavy bold Target HTML tags with ‘selectors’ in CSS. Attribute style information between the brackets.

Change ‘style’ of an HTML element:

Remember this?

Who’s a Web ninja? Questions?