Dummies - HTML 4 5th Ed For Dummies

Introduction

Welcome to the wild, wacky, and wonderful possibilities of the World Wide Web, simply referred to as the Web. In this book, we introduce you to the mysteries of the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and its successor, XHTML. Because HTML and XHTML (we use (X)HTML in this book to refer to both versions at the same time) are used to build Web pages, learning them will bring you into the community of Web authors and content developers.

If you’ve tried to build your own Web pages but found it too forbidding, now you can relax. If you can dial a telephone or find your keys in the morning, you too can become an (X)HTML author. No kidding!

This book keeps the technobabble to a minimum and sticks with plain English whenever possible. Besides plain talk about hypertext, (X)HTML, and the Web, we include lots of examples, plus tag-by-tag instructions to help you build your very own Web pages with minimum muss and fuss. We also provide more examples about what to do with your Web pages after they’re created so you can share them with the world. We also explain the differences between HTML 4 and XHTML, so you can decide whether you want to stick with the best-known and longest-lived Web markup language (HTML) or the latest and greatest Web markup language (XHTML).

We also have a companion Web site for this book that contains (X)HTML examples from the chapters in usable form — plus pointers to interesting widgets that you can use to embellish your own documents and astound your friends. Visit www.dummies.com/extras and select “HTML 4 For Dummies, 5th Edition” from the list.