Web Design For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 13. Surveying the HTML Landscape

In This Chapter

• Understanding HTML tags

• Using tables and frames

• Using Cascading Style Sheets

• Designing visual effects with HTML alone

• Knowing HTML's capabilities and limitations

• Extending your coding power without coding

Every Web page has two sides — the nice-looking side that visitors see, and the HTML side that holds everything together and makes it all work. As a Web designer, you must know how the less-glamorous flip side of your page works so you can be a more effective designer. I'm not saying that you must know how to program HTML with your eyes closed, but you do need to know how HTML is structured, how you can maximize it, and under what circumstances you can copy and paste it (my favorite form of HTML coding).

Mastering HTML is really not that difficult. The Web itself makes learning HTML tricks, tips, and shortcuts from other Web pages easy because your browser enables you to take a sneak peek at the HTML coding behind any Web page. In addition, the many powerful HTML software tools available make assembling whole Web sites as easy as using a graphics program to build your graphics — in fact, many of these software programs' interfaces look similar. In this chapter, you discover how to use tables, frames, and CSS to effectively control your layout, how to use background tiles in your Web page, and how to make your page interactive with links.

So, without further ado, put on your propeller cap and take a look under the hood and into the ...