Open Notepad by going to Start => Programs => Accessories => Notepad.
- Notepad is a very simple word processor program.
- On the main menu in Notepad, select Format and click next to word wrap. This turns on the word wrap feature. Without it on, the words would just keep going on one line, out of sight.
- Remember that all web design work is saved in one of your folders on G:\.
- After you have written some html code, save the document as an html type of file. To do this, in the file name field, give the file a name and then add .html at the end. Otherwise the program will save it as a .txt type of doc which will not open as a web page.
- Now, you should be able to go into your folder on G:\ and open the html file to see your web page. The file will have an internet explorer icon, the blue E. If your file looks like a notepad, then you have saved it as a .txt file. Try saving it again as an .html file.
- Naming your files: When you save a web document, whether it is a page, an image, or an object, give it a meaningful name in the correct format. Name your assignments with short, descriptive file names. For example, assignment 1 should be named something like basic_tags.html . Use the underscore character instead of spaces between words in a file name.
- It is very important to save changes as you write xhtml in Notepad since you will not be able to see the changes on the web until they are saved.
- Once you have saved changes, go back to your xhtml web page and click the Refresh button, or use the F5 key to refresh.
- It is a good idea to check your work through the web page as you make changes in Notepad. Again, save changes, go to the web page and refresh.
- File management: I should be able to look in your G:\ folder and easily find your xhtml files. I should be able to determine which files to open by looking at their names. The names should correspond to the assignment.
Using basic xhtml tags
There are some xhtml tags that are common to most xhtml docs. Learn these now:
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of page</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>This is my first homepage>.
</body>
</html>