Learn Basic HTML Skills.

How much do you know about HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)? HTML is the "code" that's used to create web pages and web sites. Do you know a paragraph tag < p > from a link tag < a >? Do you know how to make a table or put an image in the document?

In my post The Frustration of Trying to Make Money Online, item #6 is Learn Basic HTML Skills. If you're trying to do anything online, like blogging or creating web pages for whatever reason, you need to know HTML.

You may be asking: what if I use a WYSIWYG GUI software package, why would I want to get my hands dirty with HTML? WYSIWYG = What You See Is What You Get, GUI = Graphical User Interface: meaning a software package like Microsoft FrontPage or Adobe GoLive that lets you create web pages by dragging and dropping and typing like you would in a word processor. These programs generate the HTML for you. Even if you are using a software package like this, you should still take the time to learn HTML. There are times when you will want to, or need to, edit the HTML these programs generate: having enough knowledge of HTML to do so will hopefully keep you from shooting yourself in the foot. One word of warning: these types of programs don't always generate HTML code that's easy for a human to follow (which is one of several reasons I don't use them).

What about blogging? You should really know enough HTML to make your blog post stand out by adding images, hyperlinks, etc. This is easy stuff to learn, and if executed correctly, will make your blog appear much more professional.

What about CSS? What IS CSS you ask... CSS = Cascading Style Sheets... see this post where I explain CSS and why it's important.

What about forms and other cool stuff like dynamic or interactive pages (pages that change based on data or something that the user has entered)? Creating a form to accept user data (from a visitor to your web site) and then send an email with that data is not hard. An example is a form to request more information: a visitor to your web site could fill out a form and when they submit it, an email is sent to you with their request. What about randomly rotating images from a group of images... that's not hard either. Or, how do you verify that an email address that someone entered is formatted like an email address and is probably not junk? This type of thing is called "scripting" which is really a form of simple programming using PHP, JavaScript, or some other programming language. Don't let me calling it programming or that the fact that it uses a programming language scare you. It's easy to learn the basics.

Make your blogging and web site life easier by learning the basics of HTML.

Until next time,
Fred

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