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How Do You Spell HTML?
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How do you....
| How Do You Spell HTML? |
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How do you.... |
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Elizabeth
Moderator
Member Ascendant
since 1999-06-07
Posts 6871Minnesota |
create a link using HTML? Is there any way to do that? |
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| © Copyright 2001 Elizabeth A. Larson - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669Michigan, US |
 /pip/guidelines/html.htm#links |
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Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
Can I give the long description, since I typed all this up while Ron was sneaking in on me?  Bear with me here, it seems complicated initially, but isn't really as bad as it seems! I promise! I just hope I've remembered correctly, and the HTML is turned off for this forum! The code for a link is based on what is called an 'anchor,' represented by the base of the single letter: 'a' Attached to that anchor can be various things, though almost always the 'href' tag. The 'href' tag is followed by the url of the specific link you are creating. A basic link could be as follows: <a href="http://countlesshorizons.com/">Countless Horizons</a> In the above link, you'll notice that we have the opening of the tag, represented by the carat character. (I think it's called a carat... not positive.) < What this symbol does, is to mark the beginning of the tag itself, telling the browser that a command follows. After that, we have our anchor reference: a Then our reference command: href= Next, our URL, outlined in quotation marks - (be sure to close the quotations as well, or the browser may become very confused!) "http://countlesshorizons.com" Note: Be sure to include the 'http:' portion of the URL unless your link is in the same base directory as your page. If, for example, you tried to link to this thread page, and didn't type the 'http: - <a href="piptalk.com/pip/Forum60/HTML/000016.html">My thread</a> - your browser will automatically translate the page as one origination from your base URL, translating it to: http://www.yourwebsite.com/piptalk.com/pip/Forum60/HTML/000016.html - giving you the dreaded, evil DNS Error page! After the URL, we close that portion of the tag: > Which tells the browser that this portion of the command is complete. But this is only part of it. So far what we have is only half a link. We have to give some text to show the people who're browsing your page what that link is. To do that, we have to include a description of where the link leads, a repeat of the tag, or whatever you want to use: Countless Horizons The above part is the only part which will actually show up on the page, so you want to make sure that it's descriptive enough to let your visitors know what they'll be clicking on! Almost all (there are a few, very few exceptions) tags in HTML require an opening tag and a closing tag. The '<a href="http://countlesshorizons.com/">' portion of our tag is what is considered the opening portion of this tag. The description we included,'Countless Horizons', is what the visitors will see. </a> Is the closing of this tag. < Represents the opening of the closing tag. (That sounds wrong doesn't it!) / Is, as far as I know, the way to finish all HTML tags. It is followed by the same letter or word that you used to initiate the command, in this case: a Since the 'a' is the part of the opening tag which is considered the command, it is the part we use to close it. > Finally ending the command. Once more complete: <a href="http://countlesshorizons.com/">Countless Horizons</a> If you wish, you can simply copy the above code and paste it into your document, obviously changing the URL and description to match what you're looking for. Hopefully I haven't made it seem a lot more complicated than it really is. The above things I've listed operate in most of the basic commands for HTML, substituting only the appropriate tag for different applications. Once you have the basics of how a tag operates (opening and closing, etc.), then you have a firm foundation from which to work with for the rest of the commands! And that's it. If you or anyone else would like, we can also go over the rest of the attendant commands that go with the 'a' tag - such as the 'title' addition, which will allow Internet Explorer browsers to view the same or another description when they hover their pointer over the link (similar to what happens when you let your pointer hover over an image - like the "Passions in Poetry" one just above your name Elizabeth). Let me know! Peace, C  |
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Allan Riverwood
since 2001-01-04
Posts 3502Winnipeg |
oops... nevermind.... this reply...  [This message has been edited by Allan Riverwood (edited 03-29-2001).] |
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Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669Michigan, US |
Great Job, Chris! Just one correction and one addition, if I may? A carat is the ^ character (shift-6). The < may have a name other than less-than sign, and the > may be called something other than greater-than sign, but I wouldn't know what they are. Here's a good reference, both for the common names of characters, and how to produce them with HTML codes. http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/reference/special_characters/ When you talk about almost all HTML tags requiring an opening and closing portion (start here and end here), what you're describing are called container tags - called that for what I'm sure are obvious reasons. And you're right, there are relatively few exceptions. In fact, I strongly suspect that future HTML standards will eliminate ALL just exceptions, to insure compatibility with XML and HXML, which already require non-container tags to be self-closing. An example of a non-container tag is <BR> the line break tag. It doesn't surround anything, there is no start here, end here, so it has no corresponding close tag - which would logically be </BR> if it did exist. But HXML requires all tags to essentially be containers, even when there's nothing to contain. So the correct code for a line break is <BR/>, which makes it a self-closing tag (note how the / is on the other side of where we normally expect it?). This basically says start here and end in the same place. As I said, this will probably become the standard someday. But it gets worse. Remembering that all HXML tags must be closed, a lot of the things we do today are going to break when the new standards are written. For example, let's talk about the paragraph tag. We start a paragraph with <P> and, because it is a container tag, we end it with </P>. But every browser out there (even the rather dumbed down Netscape) is smart enough to know you can't possibly embed one paragraph inside of another. So if you don't close your paragraph tag, the browser will automatically close it for you when it finds the next <P> tag. In effect, the <P> says start here and the next <P> says stop here and start again. Doing it that way is very common, to the extent that most of the WYSIWYG editors even do it. And it's wrong, according to the HXML standards. Will all our pages blow up or be converted one gigantic paragraph when the new standards are released? Your guess is as good as mine. |
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Elizabeth
Moderator
Member Ascendant
since 1999-06-07
Posts 6871Minnesota |
Thanks! You guys are cool...  |
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WhtDove Member Rara Avis
since 1999-07-22
Posts 9245Illinois |
Go figure, I learn HTML, and they change it on me. LOL What does HXML stand for? |
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Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
Always changing Becca - about the only constant there is! XML = Extensible Markup Language I don't know if adding an "H" before the acronym represents anything other than a mix with "HTML"...? C |
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WhtDove Member Rara Avis
since 1999-07-22
Posts 9245Illinois |
Thanks Chris. So pretty much the only difference between the two is the closing tags? Well, having to close every tag? |
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JBaker515
since 2001-02-28
Posts 458Dartmouth College |
it is... |
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JBaker515
since 2001-02-28
Posts 458Dartmouth College |
really easy! $ Jeff $ : ) |
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quietlydying
since 2001-06-10
Posts 935the wonderful land of oz |
html is what makes up the net. you can do almost anything with it. ::big grin:: to answer your question: <a href="YOURLINKGOESHERE">what you want to call the link</a> that's all there is to it. /jen/ to give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer. [ghandi] |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
I think I am in trouble. I actually understood the text.. AND? found it somewhat captivating... (be gone geeks!) (serenity exits...pouring circles of salt...) |
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quietlydying
since 2001-06-10
Posts 935the wonderful land of oz |
we've all been there serenity. soon, you will to weak to fight it. ::in a soothing voice, much like enya's:: just sit back, relax, close your eyes and let the nerdiness take over. ::/soothing voice:: welcome to dark side.  /jen/ i'm so bitterly disappointed. betty, i think it's time you leave now. |
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Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
Just wait until (as I did last night) you wake up remembering a dream where you were wading through pages and pages of Perl.  |
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jwesley Member Rara Avis
since 2000-04-30
Posts 7563Spring, Texas |
I couldn't get into the link Ron mentioned (http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/referencespecial_characters):here's another I just left so know it works http://www.utexas.edu/learn/html/spchar.html j. |
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