Questions

What is a tag?

• A tag is an instruction that you give to a web browser, so it knows what to show on the screen. For example, do you want bold text? italic? a new line?
• Try this link: Google's definition links
• Here's a short explanation (source: http://www.jqjacobs.net/edu/cis105/concepts/CIS105_concepts_8.html)

  HTML Tag.

  A markup inserted into an HTML document to provide information about a unit of content. All HTML tags are enclosed in brackets (ie. <table>). Some tags require closing tags (ie. </table>).

Are tags < >? Why do you need the codes/tags? What is their purpose?

• HTML puts tags inside the bracks < >, so it knows you are putting in an instruction, or command, and not just typing. For example, I can type the letter b anywhere on my page. But if I put the command <b>my text </b>, the web browser knows to display the words my text in bold.

How to put pictures/photos on a web page and add background colors

• We're getting there -- definitely by Monday

Why do we only use notepad?

• Notepad is a simple text editing program that doesn't add extra coding to the file. In Word, for example, the program stores all kinds of information you can't see, about margins, font size, borders, page numbers, etc. Web browsers don't use this info, so we want to use a "clean" program that only stores our text and our tags. We'll use other programs later -- stay tuned.

How long would it take to make the CNN web page?

• Eek! I have no idea. My best guess is that there is a large team of web designers, programmers, and content managers (people who write the news, edit videos, etc.) working for CNN. Extra credit: See if you can contact them and find out!

What are nested tags?

• That's when you use a tag inside, or combined with another tag. Think of the Russian dolls. When you open one, there's another one inside. A nested tag is the same. If I'm going to make something bold and italic, I might write the code like this:
  
  <i><b>my text</b> </i>
• You can see that the bold tag is nested (included) INSIDE of the italic tags.

Can you edit your web site by going to view, source?

• Only if you control the page
• So, if you have it stored on your Z: drive, yes you can. If it is CNN's site, NOPE. They're smart enough to limit who can update their pages, and to my knowledge, they haven't given YOU permission.

A good site for color codes?

• We're getting there -- if you can't wait, there's some info on my web site.

Can you put information between the head and body sections?

• I don't think so, but browsers get smarter all the time. Why don't you try and see what happens?