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Webpage Design and Development, CPST-240-10
Fall 2008

Strategy for editing HTML

strategy
strategy (as in "scheme") n. : an elaborate and systematic plan of action


Editing web pages requires a not so elaborate, but very systematic plan. Below is the strategy I use when editing Web Pages.
  1. Open an existing web page with your Text Editor. Even if I'm starting a new page ... using an existing page similar to my new page will mean I wont have to type everything from scratch.
  2. Save As ... -- if its a new page, give it a new name
  3. Make small changes
  4. Save
  5. Open page in a Web Browser ... yes, you can use your Browser to open a web page on your own computer. Does it look right?
  6. Back to your Text Editor, make small changes.
  7. Save.
  8. Back to your Browser, Refresh (or Reload) your page. Does it look right?
  9. Use W3C Markup Validation Service to verify that your HTML coding is correct.
  10. Repeat steps 6, 7, 8 and 9 ... until done

The BEST advice in the above strategy is to "make small changes." When you make lots of changes, then view the page in your Browser, and check it using W3C Markup Validation Service ... if things don't go as you expect, it may be difficult to find what you did wrong.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you REALLY can't be certain how your page looks to the rest of the world until you view it the same way the world will view it. This means that you will need to FTP (upload) your page to Tulane's Student Web Server, then browse to it ... just like the rest of the world will. If you are truly concerned with how your page looks to the world, you will eventually need to view your page using several different browsers, on several computers.


Comments (Documentation or Decoration)

Top of every webpage will look something like this: 

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<!-- 
New Perspectives on HTML and XHTML
Assignment: 
Author:
Date:
Text Editor: 
Filename: something_or_the_other.html 
-->

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
	<title>something_or_the_other.html</title>
	<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
</head>

Please note that it is important that the very first line of your HTML be the <!DOCTYPE ... declaration, as demonstrated above. W3C Markup Validation Service will NOT work properly if <!DOCTYPE ... declaration is not the first line. For an explanation of doctype declarations see this website ... and this one too. You may also want an understanding of "Content-Type" (charset=utf-8) here and here, and Wikipedia too.

In-line comments included in your HTML are also called documentation, and decoration. When I ask you to decorate your HMTL, I am asking that you include in-line comments. Comments remind you what your HTML code is supposed to accomplish. Comments allow others to more easily understand your HTML. Most importantly for our class, comments make it possible for George to grade your work. The grading rubric for most every assignment will require you to include in-line comments that document the graded elements of the assignment.

In-line comments like this: 
<!-- below demonstrates the use of inLine style -->
<h1>style="text-align: center">Chemistry Class</h1>

Hope this HELPS ... Remember, ask early, ask often.