Unit 11 – Web Authoring

Unit 11 – Web Authoring

• The aim of this unit is to introduce you to the purposes of web authoring and how websites are created.

• You will achieve this through a study of existing websites and through planning and producing a website and reflecting on your work.

Unit Introduction

Whatever the size of a business, whether a huge international business like News International or a family run hotel in the Scottish Highlands, it is more than likely to have a website. Websites are now the accepted way for businesses to communicate with their clients and customers – to advertise their existence, tell people what they have to offer, and to sell their products and services.

There is, consequently, a growing need for those with the skills to construct and maintain these sites.

This unit will develop initial skills in web authoring techniques. Learners will develop an understanding of the worldwide web and the appropriate skills to produce web pages. Learners will be able to undertake simple tasks relating to the design and implementation of web pages. They will learn about authoring techniques, how to compile websites and how to publish their material on the worldwide web.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this unit you should:

1. Know about web authoring principles and protocols

2. Be able to develop a plan for a website

3. Be able to use web authoring software to create a website

4. Be able to review own web authoring work.

Protocols

• Define the following and give examples

- URL

- domain name

- top level domain

- domain name registration

• In websites, how are pages named e.g. index.html for homepage,

Protocol

What does the word protocol mean? (reference made to the internet)

- A set of rules or controlling the format of messages that are exchanged between computers.

- universal standard that all software engineers and hardware manufacturers agree upon.

http://

What does http:// mean?

- Hypertext transfer protocol

- This is an industry standard method for transferring data from web servers e.g. www.amazon.co.uk to your PC.

smtp

What does smtp mean?

- Simple mail transfer protocol

- This protocol explains to the makers of email clients how to build their software to send and receive email message over the internet.

Without http or smtp

Without HTTP and SMTP, there would be no data transfer standards and everybody would be trying to come up with their own ways of moving data around the internet.

This would create havoc for hardware manufacturers who would have to make computer hardware and software that could accommodate the numerous different standards that would arise in a word without protocols.

Web browsers

• What is a web browser?

• Name 5 different browsers

- http://www.whatbrowser.org/

• What browser do you prefer and why?

ISP

• What is an ISP?

- Give 5 examples and create a table to compare their services offered, costs etc.

Short for Internet Service Provider, it refers to a company that provides Internet services, including personal and business access to the Internet for or a monthly fee.

Web hosting

• What is a Web-host?

- Give 3 examples of Web-host providers and create a table to compare their services offered, costs etc.

A Web host is in the business of providing server space, Web services and file maintenance for Web sites controlled by individuals or companies that do not have their own Web servers.

Domain names

Domain names are used to identify one or more IP addresses.

E.g. the domain name microsoft.com represents about a dozen IP addresses. Domain names are used in URLs to identify particular Web pages. For example, in the URL http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html, the domain name is pcwebopedia.com.

Top level domains

• Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top level domain (TLD) it belongs to e.g.

.gov - Government agencies

.edu - Educational institutions

.org - Organizations (nonprofit)

.mil - Military

.com - commercial business

.net - Network organizations

.ca - Canada

.th - Thailand

IP address

Just like a street address determines the recipient of a letter, an IP address (short for Internet Protocol address) is used to identify computers on the Internet.

When your computer sends a request, such as a Google query, it tags the request with its IP address in order for the response to be sent back to your computer -- just like a return address on a letter

An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label assigned to each device (e.g., computer, printer) participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication

e.g. 192.168.0.1

Domain names

A Domain Name is Not the Same as IP Address

A domain name is intended to be a friendly and memorable "nickname" only.

Domain name registration

The domain name industry is regulated and overseen by ICANN, the organization that is responsible for certifying companies as domain name registrars.

- www.whois.net

- www.nominet.com

URL – Uniform Resource Locator

A Domain Name is Not the Same as URLa domain name is commonly part of a larger Internet address called a URL

Example Uniform Resource Locator pages, with their domain names bolded:

http://horses.about.com/od/basiccare/a/healthcheck.htm http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/books/19potter.html http://www.nrl.navy.mill/content.php?P=MISSION http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hsdept/chsi.html http://jobsearch.monster.ca/jobsearch.asp?q=denver&fn=&lid=&re=&cy=CA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conradblack http://classified.japantimes.co.jp/miscellaneous.htm http://www.dublin.ie/visitors.htm http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=26858 http://www.spain.info/TourSpain/Destinos/ http://azureus.sourceforge.net/download.php

HTML

10 mins task

What does HTML stand for?

1. Give an explanation of what it is

2. List 10 common HTML codes and say what they do

Basic Tags

<h1>Largest Heading</h1>

<h2> . . . </h2>

<h3> . . . </h3>

<h4> . . . </h4>

<h5> . . . </h5>

<h6>Smallest Heading</h6>

<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

<br> (line break)

<hr> (horizontal rule)

<!-- This is a comment -->

HTML Basic Document

<!DOCTYPE html><html>

<head>

<title>Title of document goes here</title>

</head>

<body>Visible text goes here...</body>

</html>

HTML Basic Web Page

Formatting

<b>Bold text</b>

<em>Emphasized text</em>

<i>Italic text</i>

Colour (often spelt color)

• HTML colors are defined using a hexadecimal notation (HEX) for the combination of Red, Green, and Blue color values (RGB).

• The lowest value that can be given to one of the light sources is 0 (in HEX: 00). The highest value is 255 (in HEX: FF).

• HEX values are specified as 3 pairs of two-digit numbers, starting with a # sign.

16 Million Different Colors

• The combination of Red, Green, and Blue values from 0 to 255, gives more than 16 million different colors (256 x 256 x 256).

• If you look at the color table below, you will see the result of varying the red light from 0 to 255, while keeping the green and blue light at zero.

Web safe colours

Links

Ordinary link:

<a href="http://www.example.com/">Link-text goes here</a>

Image-link:

<a href="http://www.example.com/"><img src="URL" alt="Alternate Text"></a>

Mailto link:

<a href="mailto:webmaster@example.com">Send e-mail</a>

Tables

<table border="1">  <tr>    <th>table header</th>    <th>table header</th>  </tr>  <tr>    <td>table data</td>    <td>table data</td>  </tr></table>

Building a Webpage in HTML