~ Get a Good Editor: Probably the one thing that'll save you from
HTML headaches will be a good HTML editing program. This doesn't have to
cost you a fortune. In fact, there are a few good HTML editors out there
that you can get for free. (For info on those, go to the Free Services page
and look for the editors section.) A good editor has special features built
in that'll create most of the tags for you. HomeSite, an editor I just recently
became familiar with, color codes all of its HTML for easy reference, and
it'll even automatically end tags for you. AOL Press, a free editor, can
add links, anchors, text colors, etc, all with the click of one button. This,
however, doesn't mean you're exempt from learning HTML, oh no no no -- you'll
still need the HTML know-how to fix problems that may come up, tweak certain
features to give them a personal touch, and it'll help with the next tip.
At the same time, however, there are editors to avoid. I went to MIT in June
of 2001 for a special lecture taught by the "Father of Web-Services"
Philip Greenspun. I was a finalist in Mr. Greenspun's Contest for Young
Webmasters of Web-Services. When I first met two of the other finalists,
two lovely gentlemen - one from Japan the other from Denmark - we compared
what editors we used. (Yeah, so we're kinda geeky...) I made the mistake
of mentioning Dreamweaver. Unbeknownst to me, Dreamweaver apparantly has
a very bad reputation. I thought that since it was horrendously expensive
it must be better. However, Dreamweaver has a tendancy to enter
a bunch of nonsense code that doesn't even apply to what you're trying to
create. The moral of the story; research any editor before you use it. It
turns out Dreamweaver was responsible for the Daily Prophet crashing multiple
times, all because the extra code made the file size twice what it needed
to be. Don't take any short-cuts when choosing an editor. If it seems that
the editor does everything for you, it's probably too good to be true. Nothing
can beat the human mind when it comes to writing precise code, because you
know exactly what you need, where it needs to go, and what codes are just
superfluous. Or, at least, you'll know by the time you finish learning HTML.
:)
~ Keep it Clean: Occasionally, when adding stuff, realizing it looks
bad, then taking it out, you can leave HTML ickies in your HTML source (the
raw text of your site, where all the coding lives), for example, left over,
empty form tags, merged or split cells that don't need to be there, forgotten
table rows, etc. It's important that every now and then you go back through
and look at your HTML source and look for any loose ends. It'll help with
file size, and it'll prevent problems further on down the road. This is what
Dreamweaver failed to do - it left oodles of loose ends and made looking
at the source code an absolute nightmare.
~ Don't Get Ahead of Yourself: It's important that you don't try to
tackle too much when you first start out. A well done, more simplistic site
will look a whole lot more impressive than a site with java script errors
out the wazzo, too many graphics, and crashes a whole bunch of computers.
Advanced coding and multimedia is all well and good in its own place, but
don't try to take it on all at once. Take this one step at a time. Master
the three basics, get to know your HTML, and then you can have fun exploring
the world of java scripting, streaming audio/video, and so on. If for no
other reason, it can also get really expensive. (For example, Flash programs
can cost around $300 to $600USD. Definitely not pocket change.)
~ Have Fun With It: If you don't enjoy HTML, maybe web construction
isn't for you. But, try to remember that it's fun, enjoy the design aspect
of it, and it'll make the learning process go by much faster. Although, I
must admit, HTML isn't my favorite thing in the world, I do enjoy the design,
and it's great to look at the finished product when it's up on the web. Find
something out of the three basics that you like and you'll enjoy it. |
