HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. It is the language used to make those exciting pages you see on that part of the Internet known as the World Wide Web. Or, maybe you've seen Web pages on your corporate intranet.
If you were to make a Web page the old-fashioned way, by hand (like we did, as long ago as last year!) you would type the text in a simple text editor such as Notepad, then "mark up" that text with "tags" that tell the Web browser (like Netscape Navigator) how to display the text and images on your Web page. For instance, to make the words "Web Factory" bold, you would put a bold tag, which looks like "<b>" before the word Web and an end bold tag, which looks like "</b>" after the word Factory. Any text after Factory would not be bold. The HTML result would look like:
To format text and add other elements such as hypertext links, images, and horizontal rules all require special HTML tags. Even to indent a paragraph in HTML requires a tag. Pressing the Tab key, as you would in a word processor, simply does not work.
In the past, Web authors had to learn dozens of tags and their proper placement in relation to other tags. They also had to go through contortions that those of you familiar with word processors and desktop publishing programs would not believe, just to overcome the limitations of HTML and achieve an attractive page layout.
Fortunately, Web Factory has made the process of creating Web pages much easier. You don't have to know any HTML tags or how to properly place them in the text. We at Thunder & Lightning Company assume that you know how to use a simple word processor, and have designed Web Factory to be as easy to use as a word processor. You just type in your text and format it as you would in a word processor, and insert images, movies, sound and more through easy-to-use menus. Web Factory supplies the appropriate HTML tags in the "source code", which is the *.htm or *.html file that you will post to a Web server, and that millions of Web surfers will see in their Web browsers. You work in a "WYSIWYG" (what you see is what you get) window, and never have to see the HTML tags, if you don't want to.
Web Factory supports versions 2.x of the Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer browser tags, and displays a preview window of your HTML based on their respective 2.x versions.
The preview window allows you to type text and insert elements using the menus and toolbar buttons. The preview window displays your text and elements just as a Web browser will, allowing you to see the results of your work immediately.
Examples:
For a basic Web page, type text and add hypertext links.
You can improve the appearance by changing the background color and text colors.
For a fancier Web page, add images and other elements. Try using a table for a sophisticated arrangement of text and images.
You can use any of the following methods to format selected text or paragraphs. Click the links below for more information. Also, see keyboard shortcuts for tips on quickly moving the cursor, selecting text, and editing text.
Hint: When assigning text and link colors, make sure the link color is contrasting to the regular text color, so that it stands out as obviously different from regular text. Also, make sure the visited link color is sufficiently different from the link color, so the user can easily see which links have already been visited.
Note: Web Factory supports the tags of versions 2.x of Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Viola! You have made your first Web page in Web Factory. Best wishes in your career as a Web page author.