Web Design Basics

Web
Design
Basics
HTML
and
CSS
HTML
stands
for
Hypertext
Markup
Language.
It
is
the
main
language
of
the
Web.
While
there
are
other
languages
used
on
the
Web
(programming
languages
that
provide
interactivity
functions),
most
websites
have
HTML
in
some
form
as
the
basis
of
the
site
code.
HTML
files
are
text
files
that
describe
the
content
of
the
page.
You
use
HTML
to
structure
your
content
on
an
html
page
without
regard
to
style.
A
Web
browser
interprets
the
markup
and
renders
the
page
on
a
user’s
computer.
CSS
(Cascading
Stylesheets)
is
another
text-‐based
language,
used
in
conjunction
with
HTML,
but
it
is
used
to
style
the
content
on
the
page.
CSS
can
be
used
to
control
color,
fonts
and
layout.
By
using
a
single
CSS
page
linked
to
each
HTML
page,
an
entire
website’s
style
and
layout
can
be
centrally
controlled.
This
allows
for
easy
changes
to
design
without
affecting
content.
HTML/CSS
files
can
be
developed
in
a
simple
text
editor
like
TextEdit
or
Notepad,
but
many
HTML
editors
exist
that
provide
additional
coding
functionality,
like
line
numbers
and
color
context.
I
use
Text
Wrangler,
but
others
include
Sublime
Text,
TextMate,
KomodoEdit
or
Notepad++.
Adobe
Dreamweaver
is
a
graphical
HTML
editing
program,
but
learning
to
work
with
code
will
help
when
you
need
to
troubleshoot
problems
or
work
with
existing
files
or
frameworks.
HTML5
is
the
next
generation
of
HTML.
It
functions
in
the
same
manner
as
HTML,
but
adds
semantic
tags,
rich
media
and
animation
features
and
works
with
CSS3.
To
try
out
some
of
these
features,
we’ll
be
using
the
website
jsfiddle.net.
You
don’t
need
to
sign
up
to
try
it
out,
but
if
you
want
to
save
any
of
your
work,
you’ll
need
to
login
for
an
account.
Choose
Run
each
time
you
make
a
change
to
see
the
result.
The
basis
of
HTML
is
in
its
elements
or
tags.
Tags
are
designated
by
opening
and
closing
angle
brackets.
1
<html>
CodeActually
Cindy Royal, Ph.D.
Texas State University
School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Some
tags
have
additional
options,
called
attributes.
The
attributes
have
values
designated
by
the
designer.
Values
are
surrounded
by
quotation
marks.
2
<tag attribute = "value">
<body bgcolor = "blue">
<body bgcolor = "#AACC00">
Most
tags
must
be
closed
after
inserting
the
contained
text.
This
tag
bolds
the
text
enclosed
within
it.
The
closing
tag
makes
sure
no
other
text
is
bolded.
<strong>Cindy Royal’s page</strong>
Proper
coding
style
requires
tags
to
be
written
in
lowercase.
Format
of
an
HTML
File
You
open
and
close
an
HTML
page
with
the
<html>
tag.
That
tells
the
browser
to
expect
HTML.
There
are
two
sections
of
a
Web
page.
<head>
The
head
of
the
document
contains
information
about
the
page.
In
the
head
section,
you
can
include
the
title
of
the
page
(renders
in
title
bar
of
browser),
links
to
stylesheets
and
other
related
files
and
meta
tags.
<body>
The
body
of
the
document
contains
all
the
content
on
the
page.
<html>
<head>
…head information goes here
</head>
<body>
…body information goes here
</body>
</html>
Notice
that
there
is
no
content
between
the
closing
<head>
tag
and
the
opening
<body>
tag.
Content
for
the
site
goes
either
in
the
head
or
body
sections.
In
most
cases,
all
tags
that
are
opened
need
to
be
closed
after
the
content
that
it
marks
up.

Basic
Site
Tags
<title>
-‐
The
title
tag
puts
the
title
in
the
title
bar
of
the
browser.
Insert
in
the
head
section.
<p>
-‐
Use
this
tag
for
paragraphs
of
text
<h1>
-‐
<h6>
-‐
Use
these
tags
for
headings
<strong>
-‐
bold;
you
may
also
see
<b>.
<em>
-‐
italics;
you
may
also
see
<i>.
Hands
on:
Play
with
the
above
tags
in
the
JSFiddle
HTML
section.
When
you
use
JSFiddle,
the
html,
head
and
body
tags
are
assumed.
You
won’t
see
the
result
of
the
title
tag.
If
you
use
them,
it’s
ok,
but
you
will
see
an
error
message
in
the
HTML
window.
Tags
with
attributes
<a>
-‐
This
tag,
in
conjunction
with
the
href
attribute,
creates
a
link.
3
<a href="http://www.google.com">Google</a> - is my favorite
search engine.
Notice
the
placement
of
the
quotation
marks
around
the
value
of
the
attribute,
in
this
case,
the
URL
of
the
page.
The
text
that
will
show
up
on
the
page
is
the
word
“Google”
and
it
will
appear
as
a
link.
Everything
after
the
closing
</a>
tag
will
not
appear
as
a
link.
If
you
want
to
open
the
link
in
a
new
window,
use
the
“target”
attribute
with
the
“_blank”
value.
<a href="http://www.google.com" target="_blank">Google</a> - is
my favorite search engine.
You
can
use
the
<a>
tag
for
internal
links
(links
to
other
pages
on
your
site)
as
well.
<a href="resume.html">Resume</a>
Internal
links
should
open
in
the
same
window.
<img>
-‐This
tag
allows
you
to
insert
images.
<img src="photo.jpg" />
The
src
(source)
is
the
filename
of
the
image.
The
file
must
be
uploaded
to
your
Web
host
so
that
your
page
can
access
it.

4
Hands
on:
Insert
an
image
and
a
link
on
your
site.
You’ll
only
be
able
to
do
external
links,
since
you
will
only
be
working
with
one
page.
Be
sure
to
use
target="_blank" so
when
you
test
it,
it
will
open
in
a
new
window.
Standalone
tags
You
will
notice
that
<img>
included
a
“/”
within
the
original
tag.
<img src="photo.jpg" />
Since
you
are
not
surrounding
any
text
with
the
markup,
this
is
considered
a
“standalone”
tag.
The
proper
way
to
close
a
standalone
tag
is
to
put
the
“/”
inside
the
tag
just
before
the
closing
angle
bracket
>.
<br />
This
provides
a
line
break.
It
is
also
considered
a
standalone
tag,
because
there
is
nothing
for
it
to
surround
and
should
be
closed
with
a
/
before
the
closing
>.
Lists
and
Tables
Lists
can
be
either
ordered
(numbered)
or
unordered
(bulleted).
These
are
nested
tags,
with
the
list
items
nested
within
the
opening
<ul>
or
<ol>
tag.
<ul>
<li>cats
<li>dogs
<li>bears<.li>
</ul>
These
will
appear
in
bullets.
<ol>
<li>cats
<li>dogs
<li>bears<.li>
</ol>
These
will
appear
with
numbers.

5
Tables
allow
for
further
delineation
for
tabular
data.
They
provide
a
more
advanced
way
to
layout
content
on
a
page.
It
uses
three
nested
elements.
<table>
-‐
main
table
tag
<tr>
-‐
table
row
<td>
-‐
table
data
<table>
<tr><td>Dogs</td><td>Roses</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cats</td><td>Petunias</td></tr>
</table>
Add
border
and
width
attributes
to
further
customize
your
table,
like
this:
<table
width="200"
border="1">
Hands
on:
Play
with
lists
and
tables
in
your
JSFiddle.
Layout
Divs
and
Spans
HTML
allows
you
to
divide
the
page
into
containers
for
content.
Use
the
<div>
tag
for
this.
You
will
then
apply
classes
or
ids
to
the
<div>
to
style
it
for
layout.
<div>
is
a
block
element.
<span>
is
similar
to
<div>
except
that
you
can
use
it
inline.
Use
<span>
when
you
want
to
style
something
inline
differently
than
other
items
in
the
block.
<div>
and
<span>
will
make
more
sense
as
we
work
with
CSS.
Classes
and
IDs
<div>
and
<span>
will
take
classes
and
ids
as
attributes.
You
can
define
the
names
of
classes
and
ids
in
CSS.
An
id
can
be
used
once,
for
a
section
of
a
page
that
will
not
be
used
again.
Classes
can
be
used
multiple
times,
for
styles
that
you
want
to
use
in
multiple
places.
This
will
make
more
sense
as
we
work
with
CSS.
Comments
Sometimes
you
want
to
include
a
comment
on
your
HTML
page
that
doesn’t
get
rendered
by
the
browser.
A
comment
might
be
a
note
to
yourself
or
to
another
designer
working
on
the
page.
It
could
be
a
way
to
delineate
different
sections
of
the
page.
Comments
are
handled
differently
by
different
languages.
Use
comments
in
html
like
this:

6
Doctype
Open
the
page,
before
any
HTML,
with
the
proper
Doctype.
A
Doctype
tells
the
browser
which
version
of
HTML
you
are
using.
For
HTML5,
the
doctype
is
simple.
<!DOCTYPE html>
Saving
Your
Files
Files
should
be
saved
with
an
.html
extension.
For
your
home
page,
name
it
index.html.
This
is
the
default
filename
and
allows
the
browser
to
find
it
when
you
simply
type
in
the
domain
name,
once
your
files
are
published
on
the
Web.
Other
files
will
be
accessed
via
the
domain
name
and
the
filename,
but
once
a
user
is
on
the
home
page,
they
will
be
using
your
navigation
to
move
about
the
site.

Format
of
an
HTML
Page
With
Divs
For
Layout
A
basic
page
is
created
using
<div>
tags
to
designate
header,
nav
and
section
containers
on
the
page.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>My New Website</title>
</head>
<body>
<div id="main">
<div id="header">
<h1>My New Website</h1>
</div>
<div id="nav">
<p><a href="index.html">Home</a> <a
href="resume.html">Resume</a>
<a href="links.html">Links</a></p>
</div>
<div id="section">
<h2>Welcome</h2>
<p><img
src="http://cindyroyal.com/images/royal_headshot_web.jpg"
align="left" width="100" />Welcome to my new website. I am an
associate professor at <a href="http://txstate.edu"
target="_blank">Texas State University</a> teaching <span class =
"red">Web design and digital media concepts</span>.
</p>
</div>
<div id="aside">
<h3>Courses</h3>
<ul>
7
<li>Web Design</li>
<li>Issues in New Media</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

8
The
image
above
shows
what
the
sample
html
looks
like
in
the
browser
before
applying
a
stylesheet.
CSS
CSS
(Cascading
Stylesheets)
is
a
separate
set
of
codes
that
allow
you
to
style
the
elements
of
your
page.
You
can
use
CSS
in
a
separate
stylesheet
linked
to
each
page
of
your
site
(preferred),
in
the
<head>
of
the
document
or
inline
on
a
specific
element.
To
link
a
CSS
page
in
an
html
page,
include
a
line
like
this
in
the
<head>
section.
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" type="text/css" />
Make
sure
you
use
your
stylesheet’s
name
in
the
href,
save
it
in
the
folder
with
your
html
pages
(or
identify
the
folder
to
which
you
save
it
in
the
href)
and
you
also
upload
the
stylesheet
to
your
server
when
you
post
to
the
Web.
For
jsfiddle,
you
can
put
your
CSS
in
the
CSS
window.
You
open
a
style
by
indicating
the
element.
Within
curly
braces,
you
indicate
properties
and
their
values.
For
example,
p {
color: #000000;
font-size: 12px;
}

9
Sample
CSS
Apply
this
CSS
to
the
HTML
page
above
and
see
what
happens.
Notice
that
comments
in
CSS
are
handled
like
this:
/*
This
is
a
comment
*/
The
code
below
is
commented
to
explain
the
styles.
/* Use body styles to control most of the site */
body {
color: #000000;
background-color: #FFFFFF;
margin-left: 20px;
font-family: Helvetica;
}
/* Designate paragraphs and headings as needed */
p
{
font-size: 1em;
margin: 10px;
margin-top: 0px;
}
h1
{
font-size: 1.8em;
color: #8ca571;
margin: 10px;
}
h2
{
font-size: 1.2em;
margin: 10px;
}
h3
{
font-size: 1.1em;
margin-bottom: 0px;
}

10
/* Modify the colors and presentation of the <a> tag. In CSS,
lists can have a hover effect */
a {color: #8ca571; text-decoration: none}
a:visited {color: #a4a5a3; text-decoration: none}
a:hover {color: #a5ba8e; text-decoration: underline}
/* This area designates the ids for <divs>. Notice the “#” to
designate ids. */
#header {
width: 100%;
}
#nav {
position: relative;
height: 24px;
border-bottom: 1px solid #8ca571;
width: 98%;
margin: auto;
}
/* You can use special styles for tags within certain elements */
#nav a {color: #000000; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;
margin-right: 10px;}
#nav a:visited {color: #000000; }
#nav a:hover {color: #8ca571; }
#nav p {
margin-left: 0px;
}
#section {
position: relative;
width: 75%;
float: left;
}
/* We are using this style for a sidebar */
#aside {
position: relative;
width: 25%;
float: left;
}

/* You can use as many divs as you want. If you want to include a
footer, establish a div with this id. */
#footer {
position: relative;
margin-left: auto;
margin-right: auto;
height: 42px;
}
/* This main div is used to put a border, with rounded corners,
around the entire page */
#main {
border: 1px solid #8ca571;
clear: both;
overflow: auto;
border-radius: 15px;
}
/* This demonstrates a special class. It begins with a "." You
can use this whenever you want to turn something red. Could be
used with a <span>. */
.red {
color: red;
}
11

12
CSS
Properties
Reference
W3C
CSS
Recommendation
-‐
www.w3.org/TR/css3-‐selectors
Full
description
of
these
properties
can
be
found
at
www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/properties.html.
Another
good
description
of
properties
-‐
www.blooberry.com/indexdot/css/propindex/all.htm
Font
properties
font-‐family:
Arial,
Verdana,
Helvetica
etc.
font-‐size
–
use
em
or
px
font-‐weight
-‐
bold
font-‐style
–
italic
Color
and
Background
properties
color
–
color
of
text
background-‐color
–
color
of
background
background-‐image
–(background-‐image:
url(“name.gif”);
background-‐repeat
–
use
‘no-‐repeat’
to
show
once
Text
properties
text-‐decoration
–
underline
vertical-‐align-‐
vertical
positioning
of
the
element
text-‐align
–
alignment
within
element
text-‐indent
–
first
line
indent
Box
properties
margin-‐top,
margin-‐right,
margin-‐bottom,
margin-‐
left
–
shorthand
example
-‐
margin:
1px
1px
1px
1pxm;
padding-‐top,
padding-‐right,
padding-‐bottom,
padding-‐left
shorthand
example:
padding:
1px
1px
1px
1pxm;
Border
properties
border-‐top-‐width,
etc.
or
shorthand
example
border-‐width:
1px
1px
1px
1px
border-‐color
border-‐style
–
dotted,
dashed,
solid,
none
shorthand
example:
border:
solid
red
List
properties
list-‐style-‐type-‐
disc,
bullet,
none
list-‐style
display:
inline
(to
make
lists
present
horizontally)
Other
properties
width
height
float
–
used
for
positioning
and
wrapping
around
an
element
display:
inline
or
block
to
change
default
position
–
absolute
or
relative
top
–
use
with
absolute
positioning
left-‐
use
with
absolute
positioning
Positioning
Use
divs
as
containers
for
layout
can
use
absolute
or
relative
positioning
can
size
containers
with
px
or
%
#header
{
width:
950px;
height:
100px;
padding-‐top:
0px;
padding-‐left:
0px;
}
New
ways
to
do
positioning
with
HTML5
no
need
to
use
divs
for
main/common
sections
of
the
page.
• <header></header>
• <nav></nav>
• <section></section>
• <footer></footer>
Add
CSS
properties
as
you
would
for
divs
in
stylesheet,
i.e:
header
{
width:
950px;
height:
100px;
padding-‐top:
0px;
padding-‐left:
0px;
}

Some
additional
items:
We
won’t
be
able
to
cover
it
in
this
session,
but
you
will
need
to
know
about
the
following
items
when
creating
a
website:
Semantic
Tags
in
HTML5
HTML5
offers
some
semantic
elements
that
you
can
use
without
declaring
a
<div>.
If
you
use
them,
be
sure
to
check
their
browser
support.
13
<header>
<nav>
<article>
<section>
<aside>
Media
Queries
for
Responsive
Design
–
additional
CSS
properties
exist
to
offer
different
styling
for
different
sized
windows.
Responsive
Design
is
an
important
aspect
of
Web
Design.
You
probably
see
how
different
sites
respond
to
different
window
sizes
and
device
sizes
when
you
are
browsing
the
Web.
How
to
Publish
to
the
Web
–
you
will
use
a
program
that
handles
File
Transfer
Protocol
(FTP),
to
publish
to
the
Web.
You’ll
need
a
web
hosting
and
a
domain
name
from
a
company
like
Bluehost.
Then
you
use
the
FTP
program
to
upload
a
copy
of
your
files
(html,
css,
images)
to
the
Web
so
they
can
be
seen
by
anyone
with
a
Web
connection.

Web Design Basics

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Web Design Basics (20)

More from Cindy Royal (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Web Design Basics