In a nutshell, the web is a whole bunch on interconnected computers talking to one another. The computers (on the web) are typically connected by phone lines, digital satellite signals, cables, and other types of data-transfer mechanisms. A 'data-transfer mechanism' is a nerd's way of saying: a way to move information from point A to point B to point C and so on.
The computers that make up the web can be connected all the time (24/7), or they can be connected only periodically. The computers that are connected all the time are typically called a 'server'. Servers are computers just like the one you're using now to read this article, with one major difference, they have a special software installed called 'server' software.
What is the function of server software / programs?
Server software is created to 'serve' web pages and web sites. Basically, the server computer has a bunch of web sites loaded on it and it just waits for people (via web browsers) to request or ask for a particular page. When the browser requests a page the server sends it out.
How does the web surfer find a web site?
The short answer is: by typing in the URL, or in other words, the web site address. So for example, if you wanted to find the web site www.killersites.com, you would type in the address into your web browser's address bar or maybe use your 'favorites' or 'bookmarks' link to Killersites.
There are other ways to find web sites (like search engines,) but behind the scenes web sites are all being found by going to the web site's official address. That brings us our last nerd detail: how does a website get an official address so that the rest of the web can find it?
Registering your domain name
If you ever wondered what the heck registering a domain was all about ... you probably figured it out by now! But just in case - registering a domain name gets you an official address for your web site on the World Wide Web. With this 'official' address, the rest of the web can find you.
Like your home address is unique in the real world, there also can't be any duplicate addresses on the Internet, otherwise no one would know where to go! In other words, domain names are unique addresses on the web.
Why does registering a domain name cost money?
If you want to have your own unique address on the web, your own domain name, it will cost a few bucks for each year you want to 'own' the name. The cost of registering a domain name ranges from less than $10 USD to about $30 USD per year. You can register a domain from 1 to 10 years.
The reason for the cost is that the central 'address book' of all the world's domain names needs to be updated - somebody's got to pay for that! You may have noticed that I just snuck in a little extra piece of information: the giant 'web address book' of domains.
That leads us to our last bit of nerd information: when you type in a website's domain name or click on a link that takes you to that domain name, your browser starts asking servers where that particular domain name is sitting (on the web) and the servers are then able to tell the browser where to go by referring to the giant address book I mentioned above.
Building your first web page
The three ways you can build a web page
1. Use a pre-made template: WHAT IS A WEB DESIGN TEMPLATE?
A web site design template is a pre-made website design template which can be customized to reflect your company's branding. Website design templates can be found in various formats like Photoshop and HTML. Many times, these templates are compatible with HTML editors like GoLive, FrontPage, and Dreamweaver.
Web site templates can be very useful; they can be used by experienced web designers to 'jump-start' the creation of a website. They are also a way for people to put out great-looking web sites quickly with little or no knowledge of HTML and web design.
2. Use an HTML editor like FrontPage or Dreamweaver:
HTML editors make building web pages feel like (to a certain extent) creating a document in Microsoft Word ... it's made pretty easy. But the downside is that you lose a certain amount of control of what you're doing and in some cases become dependent on the program.
3. Hand-code your HTML in a text editor like Notepad:
That means you type in the HTML code yourself. This is the approach we are going to use here, because it's the quickest way to learn how to build web pages, and it is arguably the best way because you have the most control over what you're doing.
Ok, now that we know the advantages of hand-coding web pages, let's jump into just the bare minimum of theory, then we will build our first web page!
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What are HTML tags?
HTML tags are specifically formatted text that creates 'markers' for web browser to read and interpret. These 'markers' tell the web browser what and how to display things on the web page. Tags are placed in and around text and images (text and images are some of the 'things') that your want to have appear in your web pages.
HTML has a whole bunch of tags (just like the alphabet has a whole bunch of letters) that the web designer can use to build web pages. As mentioned above, tags have a specific structure so that when the browser is reading an HTML page, it knows the tags from the normal text.
Tags are typically words or abbreviations of words placed between angled brackets. So for example: to make text bold, HTML has the 'bold' tag that looks like this:
This text will be bolded
Another commonly used tag is the paragraph tag:
This is a paragraph of text.
