Question: What is HTML and how can I use HTML for the Portals module?
Answer: HTML is a simple, universal markup language that allows Web publishers to create complex pages of text and images that can be viewed by anyone else on the Internet, regardless of what kind of computer or Web browser is being used. It is a series of tags that are integrated into a text document.
HTML tags are usually English words (such as blockquote) or abbreviations (such as p for paragraph), but they are distinguished from the regular text because they are placed in small angle brackets. So, the paragraph tag is <p>, and the blockquote tag is <blockquote>.
Some tags dictate how the page is formatted (<p> begins a new paragraph), and others dictate how the text is formatted (<b> makes text bold). Still others provide information, such as the title, that doesn't appear on the page itself. Tags are always used in pairs. Every time you use a tag, such as <blockquote>, you must also close it off with another tag, in this case, </blockquote>. Note the slash - / - before the word blockquote; that's what distinguishes a closing tag from an opening tag.
You may require the use of only a limited number of HTML tags. These can include font size, font color, background color along with bolding or emphasizing text tags and creating image links. These tags can be used in defining category and product descriptions and long descriptions.
The following is a list of standard HTML tags and their explanations:
Basic Tags:
<html></html> - Creates an HTML document
<head></head> - Sets off the title and other information that isn't displayed on the Web page itself
<body></body> - Sets off the visible portion of the document
Header Tags:
<title></title> - Defines the name of the Web page. This displays in the title bar of the Web browser.
Body Attributes:
<body bgcolor=?> - Defines the background color, using a color name or hex value
<body text=?> - Defines the text color, using a color name or hex value
<body link=?> - Defines the color of links, using a color name or hex value
<body vlink=?> - Defines the color of followed links, using a color name or hex value
<body alink=?> - Defines the color of clicked links
Text Tags:
<pre></pre> - Creates preformatted text
<h1></h1> - Creates the largest heading
<h6></h6> - Creates the smallest heading
<b></b> - Creates bold text
<i></i> - Creates italic text
<tt></tt> - Creates teletype, or typewriter-style text
<cite></cite> - Creates a citation, usually italic
<em></em> - Emphasizes a word (with italic or bold)
<strong></strong> - Emphasizes a word (with italic or bold)
<font size=?></font> - Defines the size of a font, from 1 to 7
<font color=?></font> - Defines the font color, using a color name or hex value
Links:
<a href="URL"></a> - Creates a hyperlink
<a href="mailto:EMAIL"></a> - Creates a hyperlink to an email address
<a name="NAME"></a> - Creates a target location within a document
<a href="#NAME"></a> - Links to that target location from elsewhere in the document
Formatting:
<p></p> - Creates a new paragraph
<p align=?> - Aligns a paragraph to the left, right, or center
<br> - Inserts a line break
<blockquote> </blockquote> - Indents text from both sides
<dl></dl> - Creates a definition list
<dt> - Precedes each definition term
<dd> - Precedes each definition
<ol></ol> - Creates a numbered list
<li></li> - Precedes each list item, and adds a number
<ul></ul> - Creates a bulleted list
<div align=?> - A generic tag used to format large blocks of HTML, also used for stylesheets
Graphical Elements:
<img src="name"> - Adds an image
<img src="name" align=?> - Aligns an image: left, right, center; bottom, top, middle
<img src="name" border=?> - Sets the size of the border around an image
<hr> - Inserts a horizontal rule
<hr size=?> - Sets the size (height) of a rule
<hr width=?> - Sets the width of a rule, in a percentage or an absolute value
<hr noshade> - Creates a rule without a shadow
Tables:
<table></table> - Creates a table
<tr></tr> - Sets off each row in a table
<td></td> - Sets off each cell in a row
<th></th> - Sets off the table header (a normal cell with bold, centered text)
Table Attributes:
<table border=#> - Sets the width of the border around table cells
<table cellspacing=#> - Sets the amount of space between table cells
<table cellpadding=#> - Sets the amount of space between a cell's border and its contents
<table width=# or %> - Sets the width of a table - in pixels or as a percentage of the document width
<tr align=?> or <td align=?> - Sets the alignment for cell(s) (left, center, or right)
<tr valign=?> or <td valign=?> - Sets the vertical alignment for cell(s) (top, middle, or bottom)
<td colspan=#> - Sets the number of columns a cell should span
<td rowspan=#> - Sets the number of rows a cell should span (default=1)
<td nowrap> - Prevents the lines within a cell from being broken to fit
Frames:
<frameset></frameset> - tag in a frames document; can also be nested in other framesets
<frameset rows="value,value"> - Defines the rows within a frameset, using number in pixels, or percentage of width
<frameset cols="value,value"> - Defines the columns within a frameset, using number in pixels, or percentage of width
<frame> - Defines a single frame - or region - within a frameset
<noframes></noframes> - Defines what will appear on browsers that don't support frames
Frames Attributes:
<frame src="URL"> - Specifies which HTML document should be displayed
<frame name="name"> - Names the frame, or region, so it may be targeted by other frames
<frame marginwidth=#> - Defines the left and right margins for the frame; must be equal to or greater than 1
<frame marginheight=#> - Defines the top and bottom margins for the frame; must be equal to or greater than 1
<frame scrolling=VALUE> - Sets whether the frame has a scrollbar; value may equal yes, no, or auto. The default in ordinary documents is auto.
<frame noresize> - Prevents the user from resizing a frame
Forms: For functional forms, you'll have to run a CGI script. The HTML just creates the appearance of a form.
<form></form> - Creates all forms
<select multiple name="NAME" size=?></select> - Creates a scrolling menu. Size sets the number of menu items visible before you need to scroll.
<option> - Sets off each menu item
<select name="NAME"></select> - Creates a pulldown menu
<textarea name="NAME" cols=40 rows=8></textarea> - Creates a text box area. Columns set the width; rows set the height.
<input type="checkbox" name="NAME"> - Creates a check box. Text follows this tag.
<input type="radio" name="NAME" value="x"> - Creates a radio button. Text follows this tag
<input type=text name="foo" size=20> - Creates a one-line text area. Size sets length, in characters.
<input type="submit" value="NAME"> - Creates a Submit button
<input type="image" border=0 name="NAME" src="name.gif"> - Creates a Submit button using an image
<input type="reset"> - Creates a Reset button