HTML Basics for the New Millennium!

📅 Published: Monday, November 15, 1999 📖 3 min read 📊 429 words 👤 By WebMaster3000 📂 Categories: web-design , tutorials 🏷️ Tags: html , beginner , tutorial , web-development 📚 Part of series: html-mastery

Learn the essential HTML tags every webmaster needs to know

📋 Table of Contents

HTML Basics for the New Millennium! 🌐

Welcome to the most comprehensive HTML tutorial on the World Wide Web! By the end of this guide, you’ll be creating websites that would make even the pros at Netscape jealous!

What is HTML? 🤔

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language - it’s the backbone of every website on the Internet! Think of it as the skeleton that holds your web page together.

Essential HTML Tags 🏷️

Here are the tags every webmaster MUST know:

Basic Structure

<html>
<head>
    <title>My Awesome Website</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Welcome to My Homepage!</h1>
    <p>This is a paragraph of text.</p>
</body>
</html>

Text Formatting

Make your text STAND OUT with these cool tags:

Bold text - Makes text bold
Italic text - Makes text italic
Underlined text - Underlines text
<blink>Blinking text</blink> - Makes text blink (SO COOL!)
<marquee>Scrolling text</marquee> - Text that scrolls across the screen

Links and Images

<!-- Create a link -->
<a href="http://www.yahoo.com">Visit Yahoo!</a>

<!-- Insert an image -->
<img src="myimage.gif" alt="Cool Image" width="100" height="100">

<!-- Image with a link -->
<a href="http://www.geocities.com">
    <img src="geocities-logo.gif" alt="GeoCities">
</a>

Lists

Create organized lists:

<!-- Unordered list -->
<ul>
    <li>Netscape Navigator</li>
    <li>Internet Explorer</li>
    <li>Opera</li>
</ul>

<!-- Ordered list -->
<ol>
    <li>Plan your website</li>
    <li>Write the HTML</li>
    <li>Upload to your web host</li>
    <li>Become famous!</li>
</ol>

Advanced Techniques 🚀

Tables (The Future of Layout!)

Tables aren’t just for data - they’re the SECRET to professional layouts:

<table border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0">
    <tr>
        <td bgcolor="#FF0000">Red Cell</td>
        <td bgcolor="#00FF00">Green Cell</td>
        <td bgcolor="#0000FF">Blue Cell</td>
    </tr>
</table>

Frames (Multiple Pages in One!)

<frameset cols="200,*">
    <frame src="navigation.html" name="nav">
    <frame src="content.html" name="main">
</frameset>

Cool Background Effects

<body bgcolor="#000000" text="#00FF00" 
      background="stars.gif" bgmusic="midi/song.mid">

Pro Tips 💡

Always use <blink> tags for important announcements
Animated GIFs make your site more exciting
Comic Sans MS is the most professional font
More colors = better website
Under construction GIFs show you’re actively updating

Browser Compatibility 🌐

Make sure your site works in:

Netscape Navigator 4.0+ ✅
Internet Explorer 4.0+ ✅
Opera 3.6+ ✅
WebTV (for the future!)

Common Mistakes to Avoid ❌

Forgetting closing tags (your page will break!)
Not using enough  tags
Making text too small (remember, some people have 14" monitors!)
Not including a visitor counter

What’s Next? 🔮

In our next tutorial, we’ll cover:

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) - The future of web design!
JavaScript - Make your pages interactive!
CGI Scripts - Add a guestbook to your site!

Remember: The best websites are those that work in 800x600 resolution and load quickly on a 28.8k modem!

Happy coding, and welcome to the World Wide Web! 🎉