1.
Introduction to Website Design and Development
One of the most important parts of the internet is what is called the ‘World Wide Web’. The World wide
Web is made up of millions of web pages which make up the web.
Web server and domain
In order to let other people see your website it must be placed on a web server. This is called ‘hosting’ a
web site. Before you can do this, you must choose an URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for your site, such
as www.cs-11s.com. This is called the site’s domain name.
Domain names are purchased from a domain registrar who has authority to sell domains.
Website Design
Before designing a website, look at other websites to help decide on layout, style and text. Arrange files and
folders sensibly. Test the website to check it fits its audience and purpose.
Website layout
Normally, on a website there is a title bar at the top, a menu on the left and then the main information appears in the big
space on the right.
Try to avoid flashy things like sound, scrolling banners and animated text/graphics. Your site should be suitable for your
purpose and audience.
Website style
You should keep a consistent house style. Use the same font, sizes and layout throughout the site. This gives a more
professional impression than constantly chopping and changing between different pages.
Website style tips
Have consistent left-hand navigation on each page.
Don't have too much text on one page - people don't like scrolling down pages.
Break text up using bullet points, short paragraphs and tables. It's more difficult to read text on screen than it is on
paper.
Keep graphics to a minimum. Graphics increase the page weight and increase the time pages take to download.
HTML
Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is a basic programming language for building web pages. It uses a set of
predefined tags that the web browser then interprets and renders/displays.
Working with HTML
HTML is typically written (or generated) in two ways:
1. using a plain text editor, eg Notepad, Notepad++, TextPad etc
2. using a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor, eg Dreamweaver, iWeb, SeaMonkey Composer etc
Plain text editor
An editor like Notepad offers greater control over the code when compared to a WYSIWYG editor because each and every
character that forms the HTML and the resulting web page is hand typed. The disadvantage is it’s a slow process.
WYSIWYG editor
The web page is designed, and the content written and styled, using a series of tools. The page can be previewed in the
default browser from within the application. This makes building a web page much faster because only a limited knowledge
of HTML is needed as it’s automatically generated. However, the code can still be edited by hand.
Different types of browser
Not all browsers render (display) web pages in the same way. Common browsers include:
Internet Explorer
Firefox
Safari
Opera
Chrome
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
W3C is responsible for standardising HTML and releasing updated specifications that revise existing tags, introduce new
tags and identify deprecated tags and should be the first reference point for any matters concerning HTML.
Introduction to HTML
HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language, and it is the most widely used language to write
Web Pages.
Hypertext refers to the way in which Web pages (HTML documents) are linked together.
Thus, the link available on a webpage is called Hypertext.
As its name suggests, HTML is a Markup Language which means you use HTML to simply
"mark-up" a text document with tags that tell a Web browser how to structure it to
display.
Example of an html document structure
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Page Title</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
Example Explained
The <!DOCTYPE html> declaration defines this document to be HTML5
The <html> element is the root element of an HTML page
The <head> element contains meta information about the document
The <title> element specifies a title for the document
The <body> element contains the visible page content
The <h1> element defines a large heading
The <p> element defines a paragraph
HTML Tags
HTML tags are element names surrounded by angle brackets:
<tagname>content goes here...</tagname>
HTML tags normally come in pairs like <p> and </p>
The first tag in a pair is the start tag, the second tag is the end tag
The end tag is written like the start tag, but with a forward slash inserted before the tag
name
HTML Page Structure
Below is a visualization of an HTML page structure:
The <!DOCTYPE> Declaration
The <!DOCTYPE> declaration represents the document type, and helps browsers to display web pages
correctly.
It must only appear once, at the top of the page (before any HTML tags).
The <!DOCTYPE> declaration is not case sensitive.
The <!DOCTYPE> declaration for HTML5 is:
<!DOCTYPE html>
HTML Basic Examples
Don't worry if these examples use tags you have not learned.
You will learn about them in the next chapters.
HTML Documents
All HTML documents must start with a document type declaration: <!DOCTYPE html>.
The HTML document itself begins with <html> and ends with </html>.
The visible part of the HTML document is between <body> and </body>.
Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
HTML Headings
HTML headings are defined with the <h1> to <h6> tags.
<h1> defines the most important heading. <h6> defines the least important heading:
Example
<h1>This is heading 1</h1>
<h2>This is heading 2</h2>
<h3>This is heading 3</h3>
HTML Paragraphs
HTML paragraphs are defined with the <p> tag:
Example
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
<p>This is another paragraph.</p>
HTML Links
HTML links are defined with the <a> tag:
Example
<a href="https://www.w3schools.com">This is a link</a>
The link's destination is specified in the href attribute.
Attributes are used to provide additional information about HTML elements.
You will learn more about attributes in a later chapter.
HTML Images
HTML images are defined with the <img> tag.
The source file (src), alternative text (alt), width, and height are provided as attributes:
Example
<img src="CS11s.jpg" alt="CS11s.com" width="104" height="142">
HTML Buttons
HTML buttons are defined with the <button> tag:
Example
<button>Click me</button>
HTML Lists
HTML lists are defined with the <ul> (unordered/bullet list) or the <ol> (ordered/numbered list) tag,
followed by <li> tags (list items):
Example
<ul>
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Tea</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ul>
HTML Elements
HTML Elements
An HTML element usually consists of a start tag and end tag, with the content inserted in
between:
<tagname>Content goes here...</tagname>
The HTML element is everything from the start tag to the end tag:
<p>My first paragraph.</p>
Start tag Element content End tag
<h1> My First Heading </h1>
<p> My first paragraph. </p>
<br>
HTML elements with no content are called empty elements. Empty elements do not have an end
tag, such as the <br> element (which indicates a line break).
Nested HTML Elements
HTML elements can be nested (elements can contain elements).
All HTML documents consist of nested HTML elements.
This example contains four HTML elements:
Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
Example Explained
The <html> element defines the whole document.
It has a start tag <html> and an end tag </html>.
The element content is another HTML element (the <body> element).
<html>
<body>
<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
The <body> element defines the document body.
It has a start tag <body> and an end tag </body>.
The element content is two other HTML elements (<h1> and < p>).
<body>
<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>
</body>
The <h1> element defines a heading.
It has a start tag <h1> and an end tag </h1>.
The element content is: My First Heading.
<h1>My First Heading</h1>
The <p> element defines a paragraph.
It has a start tag <p> and an end tag </p>.
The element content is: My first paragraph.
<p>My first paragraph.</p>
Do Not Forget the End Tag
Some HTML elements will display correctly, even if you forget the end tag:
Example
<html>
<body>
<p>This is a paragraph
<p>This is a paragraph
</body>
</html>
The example above works in all browsers, because the closing tag is considered optional.
Never rely on this. It might produce unexpected results and/or errors if you forget the end
tag.
Empty HTML Elements
HTML elements with no content are called empty elements.
<br> is an empty element without a closing tag (the <br> tag defines a line break).
Empty elements can be "closed" in the opening tag like this: <br />.
HTML5 does not require empty elements to be closed. But if you want stricter validation, or if
you need to make your document readable by XML parsers, you must close all HTML elements
properly.
Use Lowercase Tags
HTML tags are not case sensitive: <P> means the same as <p>.
The HTML5 standard does not require lowercase tags, but W3C recommends lowercase in
HTML, and demands lowercase for stricter document types like XHTML.
HTML Attributes
Attributes provide additional information about HTML elements.
HTML Attributes
All HTML elements can have attributes
Attributes provide additional information about an element
Attributes are always specified in the start tag
Attributes usually come in name/value pairs like: name="value"
The href Attribute
HTML links are defined with the <a> tag. The link address is specified in the href attribute:
Example
<a href="https://www.w3schools.com">This is a link</a>
Try it Yourself »
You will learn more about links and the <a> tag later in this tutorial.
The src Attribute
HTML images are defined with the <img> tag.
The filename of the image source is specified in the src attribute:
Example
<img src="img_girl.jpg">
Try it Yourself »
The width and height Attributes
Images in HTML have a set of size attributes, which specifies the width and height of the image:
Example
<img src="img_girl.jpg" width="500" height="600">
Try it Yourself »
The image size is specified in pixels: width="500" means 500 pixels wide.
The alt Attribute
The alt attribute specifies an alternative text to be used, when an image cannot be displayed.
The value of the attribute can be read by screen readers. This way, someone "listening" to the
webpage, e.g. a blind person, can "hear" the element.
Example
<img src="img_girl.jpg" alt="Girl with a jacket">
The alt attribute is also useful if the image does not exist:
Example
See what happens if we try to display an image that does not exist:
<img src="img_typo.jpg" alt="Girl with a jacket">
The style Attribute
The style attribute is used to specify the styling of an element, like color, font, size etc.
Example
<p style="color:red">I am a paragraph</p>
The lang Attribute
The language of the document can be declared in the <html> tag.
The language is declared with the lang attribute.
Declaring a language is important for accessibility applications (screen readers) and search engines:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en-US">
<body>
...
</body>
</html>
The first two letters specify the language (en). If there is a dialect, use two more letters (US).
The title Attribute
Here, a title attribute is added to the <p> element. The value of the title attribute will be displayed
as a tooltip when you mouse over the paragraph:
Example
<p title="I'm a tooltip">
This is a paragraph.
</p>
We Suggest: Use Lowercase Attributes
The HTML5 standard does not require lowercase attribute names.
The title attribute can be written with uppercase or lowercase like title or TITLE.
W3C recommends lowercase in HTML, and demands lowercase for stricter document types like
XHTML.
At W3Schools we always use lowercase attribute names.
We Suggest: Quote Attribute Values
The HTML5 standard does not require quotes around attribute values.
The href attribute, demonstrated above, can be written without quotes:
Bad
<a href=https://www.the11s.com>
Good
<a href="https://www.the11s.com">
W3C recommends quotes in HTML, and demands quotes for stricter document types like XHTML.
Sometimes it is necessary to use quotes. This example will not display the title attribute correctly,
because it contains a space:
Example
<p title=About W3Schools>
HTML Attributes
Attributes provide additional information about HTML elements.
HTML Attributes
All HTML elements can have attributes
Attributes provide additional information about an element
Attributes are always specified in the start tag
Attributes usually come in name/value pairs like: name="value"
The href Attribute
HTML links are defined with the <a> tag. The link address is specified in the href attribute:
Example
<a href="https://www.w3schools.com">This is a link</a>
Try it Yourself »
You will learn more about links and the <a> tag later in this tutorial.
The src Attribute
HTML images are defined with the <img> tag.
The filename of the image source is specified in the src attribute:
Example
<img src="img_girl.jpg">
The width and height Attributes
Images in HTML have a set of size attributes, which specifies the width and height of the image:
Example
<img src="img_girl.jpg" width="500" height="600">
The image size is specified in pixels: width="500" means 500 pixels wide.
The alt Attribute
The alt attribute specifies an alternative text to be used, when an image cannot be displayed.
The value of the attribute can be read by screen readers. This way, someone "listening" to the
webpage, e.g. a blind person, can "hear" the element.
Example
<img src="img_girl.jpg" alt="Girl with a jacket">
The alt attribute is also useful if the image does not exist:
Example
See what happens if we try to display an image that does not exist:
<img src="img_typo.jpg" alt="Girl with a jacket">
The style Attribute
The style attribute is used to specify the styling of an element, like color, font, size etc.
Example
<p style="color:red">I am a paragraph</p>
The lang Attribute
The language of the document can be declared in the <html> tag.
The language is declared with the lang attribute.
Declaring a language is important for accessibility applications (screen readers) and search engines:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en-US">
<body>
...
</body>
</html>
The first two letters specify the language (en). If there is a dialect, use two more letters
The title Attribute
Here, a title attribute is added to the <p> element. The value of the title attribute will be displayed
as a tooltip when you mouse over the paragraph:
Example
<p title="I'm a tooltip">
This is a paragraph.
</p>
We Suggest: Use Lowercase Attributes
The HTML5 standard does not require lowercase attribute names.
The title attribute can be written with uppercase or lowercase like title or TITLE.
W3C recommends lowercase in HTML, and demands lowercase for stricter document types like
XHTML.
HTML Attributes
Attributes provide additional information about HTML elements.
HTML Attributes
All HTML elements can have attributes
Attributes provide additional information about an element
Attributes are always specified in the start tag
Attributes usually come in name/value pairs like: name="value"
The href Attribute
HTML links are defined with the <a> tag. The link address is specified in the href attribute:
Example
<a href="https://www.w3schools.com">This is a link</a>
You will learn more about links and the <a> tag later in this tutorial.
The src Attribute
HTML images are defined with the <img> tag.
The filename of the image source is specified in the src attribute:
Example
<img src="img_girl.jpg">
The width and height Attributes
Images in HTML have a set of size attributes, which specifies the width and height of the image:
Example
<img src="img_girl.jpg" width="500" height="600">
The image size is specified in pixels: width="500" means 500 pixels wide.
The alt Attribute
The alt attribute specifies an alternative text to be used, when an image cannot be displayed.
The value of the attribute can be read by screen readers. This way, someone "listening" to the
webpage, e.g. a blind person, can "hear" the element.
Example
<img src="img_girl.jpg" alt="Girl with a jacket">
The alt attribute is also useful if the image does not exist:
Example
See what happens if we try to display an image that does not exist:
<img src="img_typo.jpg" alt="Girl with a jacket">
The style Attribute
The style attribute is used to specify the styling of an element, like color, font, size etc.
Example
<p style="color:red">I am a paragraph</p>
The lang Attribute
The language of the document can be declared in the <html> tag.
The language is declared with the lang attribute.
Declaring a language is important for accessibility applications (screen readers) and search engines:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en-US">
<body>
...
</body>
</html>
The first two letters specify the language (en). If there is a dialect, use two more letters (US).
The title Attribute
Here, a title attribute is added to the <p> element. The value of the title attribute will be displayed
as a tooltip when you mouse over the paragraph:
Example
<p title="I'm a tooltip">
This is a paragraph.
</p>
We Suggest: Use Lowercase Attributes
The HTML5 standard does not require lowercase attribute names.
The title attribute can be written with uppercase or lowercase like title or TITLE.
W3C recommends lowercase in HTML, and demands lowercase for stricter document types like
XHTML.
At W3Schools we always use lowercase attribute names.
Single or Double Quotes?
Double quotes around attribute values are the most common in HTML, but single quotes can also be
used.
In some situations, when the attribute value itself contains double quotes, it is necessary to use single
quotes:
<p title='John "ShotGun" Nelson'>
Or vice versa:
<p title="John 'ShotGun' Nelson">
Single or Double Quotes?
Double quotes around attribute values are the most common in HTML, but single quotes can also be
used.
In some situations, when the attribute value itself contains double quotes, it is necessary to use single
quotes:
<p title='John "ShotGun" Nelson'>
Or vice versa:
<p title="John 'ShotGun' Nelson">
Single or Double Quotes?
Double quotes around attribute values are the most common in HTML, but single quotes can also be
used.
In some situations, when the attribute value itself contains double quotes, it is necessary to use single
quotes:
<p title='John "ShotGun" Nelson'>
Or vice versa:
<p title="John 'ShotGun' Nelson">
