H-T-M-L stands for Hypertext Markup Language, and it's the basic language used by computers to write pages that can be displayed on the Web. It uses a series of codes imbedded in the text that the computer reads, then uses when it shows the page. These codes are put into the text using the 'more than' and 'less than' symbols on your keyboard, the ones just over the comma and period. The computer recognizes these as instructions, rather than text, and doesn't show them on the finished page. If you have any of the recent browsers, you can see exactly what the computer sees when it's deciding how to display a Web page. On the top toolbar, choose 'View,' then 'Source.' If you compare the source code with what you see on the screen, you'll get an idea of what H-T-M-L looks like. Unless you're an experienced programmer who wants to create a page with sounds and animations, you can write H-T-M-L without learning the programming. Most current word processing programs allow you to save your document in H-T-M-L format with all the bold face type, italics, and other printing tricks intact. Web page design tools are another good way to add H-T-M-L codes without having to learn the programming language. If you really want to learn H-T-M-L, there are a number of tutorials available on the Web, or you could visit your local library or bookstore.
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