So You Want to Learn HTML?

So you want to learn the actual HTML elements and attributes. Great! We've created this page with advice for students and anyone else who would like to start learning html and creating web pages. This page is for those who want to learn the "old fashioned" way, by learning what HTML elements like "html", "head", "meta", "p", etc. are for. It's not for those who want to use an HTML editing program that hides the actual HTML source from you (also called a WYSIWYG editor for What You See Is What You Get).

Did you know? You don't need a web server or web hosting service to learn and create HTML pages. When you want to publish your pages to the world, then you will need to find a web server to upload your pages to, but before then, there's no need for a web server or web host. You can work right from your own hard drive.

Getting Started with HTML

To get started learning HTML, we recommend a good HTML editor. You can use just a regular text editor, but we highly recommend our product, CSE HTML Validator. It's not only an HTML editor, it will also check your HTML for problems. It's a great learning tool and there's even a free edition available. However, if you're really serious about learning HTML and/or you're learning for a business website, then the standard or professional edition is best.

You'll also want to get one or more HTML tutorials. There are plenty on the web. Just search Google (new window) for "HTML tutorial". You might also want to consider getting a book or two. Amazon.com (new window) is a great place to shop for any kind of book because of the excellent user reviews they have. It's hard to go wrong if you choose an HTML or CSS book that is highly rated by many people.

Here are a couple of HTML and CSS tutorials we've come across:

HTML Tutorial at HTML.net (new window) - This HTML tutorial will give you an easy, yet thorough and correct introduction on how to make websites. The tutorial starts from scratch and requires absolutely no prior knowledge of programming.
CSS Tutorial at HTML.net (new window) - This easy to understand CSS tutorial will get you started with CSS in just a few minutes.
HTML Tutorial from w3schools.com (new window)
HTML Tutorial at davesite.com (new window)

If you run into a question learning, and just about everyone will, then you may post it in the appropriate discussion forum in our CSE HTML Validator Forums. There are forums for HTML, CSS, search engine optimization, scripting, and more.

Along with HTML, you should definitely learn CSS as well as the two languages go hand-in-hand. Using CSS (cascading style sheets), you can control the layout of the page as well as things like colors, borders, margins, backgrounds, styles, fonts, and more. The good HTML tutorials should mix learning CSS with HTML. As with HTML, you can search Google and Amazon.com for CSS tutorials and books. Our favorite CSS book is written by Eric Meyer, so consider purchasing a CSS book written by Eric Meyer.

Then, just start reading the HTML material you've found and start creating your first HTML pages! Don't forget about checking your work, either with our program or another HTML validator or syntax checker. By checking your work, you'll already be way ahead of most HTML writers who will often completely ignore the problem of badly written HTML.

Getting HTML Help

While you're learning HTML and CSS, there are some Internet newsgroups that you may find helpful. You can post your questions there and get answers from other people. Some of the newsgroups you may want to try are alt.html, alt.html.critique, and comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html.