HTML Basics

For those interested in web development, let's start with basics.

HTML is an acronym for Hypertext Mark-up Language. It's a mark-up language not a programming language. Just like any language, HTML come with rules for communication. Sentences are made up of nouns, verbs, etc. When you're having a conversation with someone, you don't tell them you're about to talk using verbs or nouns, you simply say the words and communicate the thoughts to the other person.

It's the same way with HTML. Mark-up languages come with tags and these tags provide the skeleton/structure for displaying the content on a website. A web user does not have to be told that a tag, or structure will be used to communciate what's on the web page. The HTML translates the structure and tags to something we can visibly read or view.

Here are a few common tags:

<table> </table>

<strong> </strong>

<p> </p>

Do you see a pattern? Notice that the starting tags end with slashes to close the ending tags. The general rule is that if you open or start a tag, you need to close it.

Any content that you put in between these tags will then display on a web page. To try this on your computer, you will need to create an html page.

1. Go to your desktop.
2. Right click on the desktop and click on new file.
3. Assuming that you have the extensions (.doc, .xls, html) turned on, rename the new file to mytestpage.html.
4. Once the file has been made, right click on it and open with Notepad or Wordpad.
5. Copy <p>hello world </p> to the page and click save.
6. Double click on the file to view it in the browser of your choice.
7. Congratulations! You've just create your very first HTML page.

Now experiment with a few more tags, like the <strong> </strong> and <table> </table> tags. We'll get into to other tags soon.

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Twibattical

Hip and cool, does not mean overuse. Don't get me wrong, social media is a great tool. In context of Twitter, it's an amazing way to interact with some of the smartest, creative and wisest people online like @guykawasaki - marketing guru @tonymorganlive - innovator and blogger, and @astro_mike, space twitter, to name a few.

But remember, in moderation.

If social media is causing you (me included) to be unproductive, try a twibattical. If you stop eating dinner to check your @replies and direct messages, then you may be a twibattical candidate. I'm not saying don't ever tweet or update your status. That's silly. That's why you signed up, to be social and connect. Simply moderate.

Here's a couple things that's worked for me, perhaps you could borrow a few. Feel free to suggest.

1. Use a tool to view real time tweets, like Tweetdeck. This allows you to manage status messages across Facebook and Twitter. No more signing into two accounts for status messages, manage it from one place. Work smart.

2. If you don't like Tweetdeck, try the Opera Browser. It has built in widgets where you can manage your account from the browser.

3. When you tweet, tweet on purpose, with purpose. You will get through the traffic. She will call you back, or not - oops. I hear you, but also share information that could benefit or improve the status quo, not just yours. Your peeps will be glad you did.