All HTML files
are simple text files and can be created with the most basic text editors such
as SimpleText (Macintosh) or Notepad (Windows). HTML has evolved to include more
complex and useful page layout elements such as Tables, Frames, and Layers but
the underlying structure remains as simple as the original HTML specifications.
These specifications allowed documents to be transmitted quickly accross the Internet
and provided cross platform compatability.
The basic HTML stucture consists
of "Tags" that are understood by a web browser which renders the HTML
text file into the desired format of its author. For the sake of basic understanding,
it is fair to say that HTML Tags have an open and a close. All text between the
Open and the Closing tag is given the prescribed format by the browser.
An
HTML tag simple consists of a predefined command surronded by the characters <
and >. The simplest tag creates bold text and is formed as follows:
The text within <B>the bold tags</B> becomes bold!
The
browser understands that everything between <B> and </B> should be
bold text and renders the sentance like this:
The text within the bold
tags becomes bold!
