HTML poll

MacAllister · Apr 12, 2009

How much html do you know? Are you interested in learning a little? Do you understand (if you DON'T know, or don't know as much as you think you might) how much understanding the principles of very basic html will help you, blogging and web-writing in general?

Poll about to follow.

Cassiopeia · Apr 12, 2009

I've been using HTML for some time now but I find if I don't use it, I lose it. Things come back to me quickly but I wouldn't mind having some way to brush up and learn more about it.

CACTUSWENDY · Apr 12, 2009

Could always use more info. I have this brain that things slip out of real easyly. lol.

I think this is a fine idea. Thanks for offering it.

TheRightEyedDeer · Apr 12, 2009

It's like most things, really. If I don't use it frequently, the tags get rusty.

Crystal Lewis · Apr 12, 2009

While I'm not ready to start writing code from scratch, I am ok with editing HTML, especially now that I have blogs that require minor programming ability. (FYI, if you ever switch from a standard blogger template to a custom template, you'll pull all of your hair out. The whole HTML thing can be a real beast when it comes to designing or manipulating a blog template).

For the record, if you ever need a good website to consult for html tips, try these...

Color Codes: http://html-color-codes.com/
Functions: http://www.w3schools.com/tags/default.asp

Great poll. Can't wait to see the other responses.

Cranky · Apr 12, 2009

Oh boy. I *used* to be somewhat proficient with FrontPage back in the Dark Ages, but I've found that almost anything beyond really basic stuff like , etc, has totally escaped me.

Thanks, Crystal, for those lists...I could really use a list of color and function codes. :Thumbs:

So, yeah. Any help that I could get would be fan-freaking-tastic.

Deleted member 42 · Apr 12, 2009

I dream in HTML.

I do CSS on the fly.

MacAllister · Apr 12, 2009

Crystal Lewis said:
While I'm not ready to start writing code from scratch, I am ok with editing HTML, especially now that I have blogs that require minor programming ability. (FYI, if you ever switch from a standard blogger template to a custom template, you'll pull all of your hair out. The whole HTML thing can be a real beast when it comes to designing or manipulating a blog template).

The CSS was actually a lot harder for me, on blogger templates. There's an elegance to it, though, once you get the hang of how it goes together.

Nice links, btw.

Cassiopeia · Apr 12, 2009

MacAllister said:
The CSS was actually a lot harder for me, on blogger templates. There's an elegance to it, though, once you get the hang of how it goes together.

Nice links, btw.

Oh, now I'd like to get the hang of CSS better and how it all ties in with HTML. I'm out of the loop now for way too long.

I also use w3schools as a reference.

MacAllister · Apr 12, 2009

It's weird. I consider myself fairly proficient, but every time I look at a page of code, I learn something new about how to use stuff -- especially for layout. Like tables being largely obsolete, but divs being fairly crucial.

Deleted member 42 · Apr 12, 2009

Just remember wrt to CSS and IDs . . .

There Can Be Only One (of each ID type).

Deleted member 42 · Apr 12, 2009

Crystal Lewis said:
(FYI, if you ever switch from a standard blogger template to a custom template, you'll pull all of your hair out. The whole HTML thing can be a real beast when it comes to designing or manipulating a blog template).

Oh yeah. MacCannister likes the new front page design I used on her site, and on the Absolutewrite site.

So she asked me to convert it to a Blogger template . ..

ask. ptui ack ack ack

I've got a div that's Just Not Working. I've sent it on to a true geek.

Bartholomew · Apr 12, 2009

MacAllister said:
How much html do you know? Are you interested in learning a little? Do you understand (if you DON'T know, or don't know as much as you think you might) how much understanding the principles of very basic html will help you, blogging and web-writing in general?

Poll about to follow.

I know all the basics, but I have no idea how to make my HTML clean and efficient. I also have issues with tables. x_x

Deleted member 42 · Apr 12, 2009

Bartholomew said:
I know all the basics, but I have no idea how to make my HTML clean and efficient. I also have issues with tables. x_x

Don't use tables for anything except tabular data. Don't use them for layout, for example.

dpaterso · Apr 12, 2009

...Whoa, hold on, there's an alternative to tables? Why wasn't I informed?! My tickertape machine hasn't moved in weeks.

-Derek

Cassiopeia · Apr 12, 2009

Am I right in the understanding that a search engine's bot does not read what is inside a table?

Deleted member 42 · Apr 12, 2009

Cassiopeia said:
Am I right in the understanding that a search engine's bot does not read what is inside a table?

That's not true of any of the bots I'm familiar with.

It might be true for others, but honestly, it's not very sensible for a bot to do that; tables are old, I think HTML 1.1, in fact.

And there are times when you should use tables.

MacAllister · Apr 12, 2009

Cassi, I think you're confusing tables with frames - which is a different problem, but yeah. The bots won't search inside frames unless you very specifically tell them to in the code itself.

Cassiopeia · Apr 12, 2009

thank you, I wondered about that. I had heard that about 3 years ago in a digital media class from the instructor but a very close friend of mine who is a programmer said "bullocks".

Cassiopeia · Apr 12, 2009

MacAllister said:
Cassi, I think you're confusing tables with frames - which is a different problem, but yeah. The bots won't search inside frames unless you very specifically tell them to in the code itself.

oh boy, what are frames? And let me say, thank you so very much ahead of time for clearing up some misconceptions.

Deleted member 42 · Apr 12, 2009

Cassiopeia said:
oh boy, what are frames? And let me say, thank you so very much ahead of time for clearing up some misconceptions.

Urp.

Frames are Eeeeviiiilllll.

Here's a site with frames:

http://www.dakim.com

This is a site I use to talk about poorly constructed sites. It's a good company, with a super product, but the site sucks in just about every way possible.

Frames are ways of creating multiple pages on a single screen; mostly frames, if they're used at all these days, are uses to create a navigation bar.

But there are better ways to do that now.

This site:

http://www.rhetoricainc.com

Also uses frames; that means, for one thing, that it's very hard to give a URL for a specific page or "thing" on the site. Which means it's hard for a bot to spider it; bots don't keep trying, like humans. This site sucks much much less, but it's still very hard for the average /naive user to figure out how to get a URL for a specific book, for instance. (This is Richard Lanham's site; he's a mentor, and I love his books. Mostly

.)

I'm not trying to be difficult; but honestly, the only way to understand frames is to experience the horror.

MacAllister · Apr 13, 2009

Can I ask a question? I've had people submit stuff that was supposedly coded, but they didn't close tags. Who on earth is out there teaching that stuff? That is - they do the My paragraph begins here, yadda yadda yadda. It should end any time now.

But then they don't use the tag -- which is...non standard. Instead, they just use a new tag with the next paragraph. What's UP with that, anyone?

Cassiopeia · Apr 13, 2009

I just went to w3schools to try some coding without ending tags, it didn't work all that well.

Deleted member 42 · Apr 13, 2009

MacAllister said:
Can I ask a question? I've had people submit stuff that was supposedly coded

Don't say "code" -- say "tagged," if you're really a PiTA, or "HTML'd" or "in HTML."

Actual programmers will snicker at us if we refer to HTML as "code."

MacAllister · Apr 13, 2009

Heh...oooooohhhh! Can't have the Real Geeks snickering at us. Roger Wilco, and thank you.

Honestly, better than half my trouble with all of this is that I'm almost entirely self-taught, which makes it really hard to talk about, because I fumble with the vocabulary--so I always really appreciate it when I get a chance to have stuff explained to me, too. Otherwise, it's all trial and error. (Hmmm. The entire board is insisting on centering in IE. Weird. I wonder which div I forgot to close?)

HTML poll

HTML?

I totally got it covered. I don't need any help with this.

Umm, I have a few questions, but I use <p> and <i> pretty comfortably

I sort of know what html looks like, but I really just don't get it

....you're scaring me. It sounds all technical and stuff, and I'm a ARTIST, dammit!

Tired and worried.

Otherwise Occupied

An old, sappy, and happy one.

the land of black flies

Courageous Dreamer

Deleted member 42

Tired and worried.

Otherwise Occupied

Tired and worried.

Deleted member 42

Deleted member 42

Comic guy

Deleted member 42

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

Otherwise Occupied

Deleted member 42

Tired and worried.

Otherwise Occupied

Otherwise Occupied

Deleted member 42

Tired and worried.

Otherwise Occupied

Deleted member 42

Tired and worried.