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5. STRUCTURAL TAGS

INDEX CARD #5:

BASIC STRUCTURE OF HTML FILES (5a)

What's the basic structure of an HTML document? An HTML document is divided into two major portions: the HEAD and the BODY. The HEAD contains information about the document; the BODY contains the stuff that will be displayed in the browser window. The skeletal structure is:
<HTML>
<HEAD><TITLE>Document Title</TITLE></HEAD>
<BODY>Contents of Document</BODY>
</HTML>

What is the <TITLE> tag used for? The TITLE container goes inside the HEAD container. It provides a description of the page's contents. Avoid vague titles like "Welcome" or "My Homepage." The title is used:
--at the top of the browser window
--in the HISTORY list (which lists recently-visited sites)
--as the description, when the site is saved in a bookmark file
--by search engines

INFORMATION BROWSERS IGNORE (5b)

Some information in an HTML document is ignored when the document is viewed in a browser:
How do I insert COMMENTS in an HTML document? Browsers will ignore text between the <!-- and --> symbols. Use comments liberally to de-mystify your HTML code. They can extend over more than one line. Be sure to put a space after the initial <!-- and before the final --> , like this:
<!-- This is a comment. It will be ignored by the browser. -->

How do browsers treat "white space" in HTML documents? In general, browsers will ignore line breaks, tabs, and multiple spaces. So, if you type:
these             far             apart              words
in your HTML document, they'll appear in the browser as:
these far apart words

This is a GOOD feature! It means that you can improve the readability of your HTML code by inserting extra carriage returns, and spreading things out.
Browsers will also ignore tags that they don't understand.

Printable version of Index Card 5a

Printable version of Index Card 5b

WORKSHEET #5:

ASSIGNMENT #5:

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