Objectives of this Tutorial
Generally: To create a basic web page using Notepad.
Specifically: On completion of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Create a new web page and open an existing web page in Notepad
- Add the <HTML>, <HEAD>, <BODY> and <TITLE> tags
- Work with heading levels
- Enter paragraphs of text
- Save a web page as an HTML file
- View a web page using a browser
You can use any plain text editor to create HTML pages. Alternatively, you can obtain an HTML Editor. An HTML Editor will offer a wider range of tools than a text editor, allowing you to make your pages easier to read and edit by colour-coding HTML tags and automatically indenting code.
Note: You could also use a word processing application, such as Microsoft Word, to write your web pages, but you must save your HTML as plain text files with an .HTML file extension. Do not use the Save As HTML option.
Start Notepad
Notepad is usually found in the Accessories program group, however there may be shortcuts to the icon on the Desktop and/or Start Menu.
To start Notepad
- From the Windows Desktop, double-click the Notepad icon
OR
- On the Windows Taskbar, click Start
and select the Programs menu item
- From the submenu displayed, select the Accessories item, then click Notepad
Notepad is started. A new, blank file is displayed. You can enter text into this then save it as a web page (HTML file).
Start a Web Page
When you start a web page the very first item that is added to a web page is the <HTML> tag. This identifies your document as being HTML code. The <HTML> tag is placed at the very top and the very bottom of a web page. All other tags and text and contained within these two tags.
To add the <HTML> tag
- At the top of the page type <HTML>
- Press Enter several times to create space for the code that will fill the page
- Type </HTML> towards where you think the bottom of the page will be
HTML tags entered onto the page
Tip: Create a template with the <HTML> tags already typed in and use this as a starting point for all new web pages that you create.
Save a Web Page
To save the text as a web page in Notepad
- From the File menu, select Save As...
The Save As dialogue box is displayed.
Save As dialogue box
- From the Save in: list box, select the drive where you want to store the document
- From the main part of the dialogue box double-click on the folder you want to store the document in
- In the File name: box, enter the name of the document in lowercase and the file extension .html (it is very important to add the extension to the end of the file name)
- Click Save
Note: To designate a page as the default page for its directory, name the page either index.html or default.html. When the visitor types in the URL for that directory the default page will automatically be displayed.
Continued...
