Lesson 2 - The Hows and Whys of HTML

Objective: To learn a short history of HTML along with why it is so important to write valid HTML documents.

From the very beginning, the Internet has been a way to share information between people. The original Internet (called ARPANET) was intended to promote the sharing of super-computers amongst researchers in the United States. In 1969 the ARPANET connects only 4 universities, all in the United States. Researchers at four US campuses create the first hosts of the ARPANET, connecting Stanford Research Institute, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah.

In the beginning every computer on the 'net had to be the same. Each computer had to have the same programs and the same operation system or else they would not be able to share information. Since that time the world has seen the growth of different Operating Systems, (Windows, Macintosh, DOS, Linux, Unix and OS/2 to name a few) not to mention all the software that goes with each OS.

The development of Hyper Text Mark-up Language (or HTML for short) is what made the Internet the way we see it today. Using HTML, different people, with different computers can share information all over the world. The W3C (a kind of governing body for the web) defines HTML as follows:

HTML is the lingua franca for publishing hyper-text on the World Wide Web. It is a non-proprietary format based upon SGML, and can be created and processed by a wide range of tools, from simple plain text editors - you type it in from scratch- to sophisticated WYSIWYG authoring tools. HTML uses tags such as <h1> and </h1> to structure text into headings, paragraphs, lists, hyper-text links etc.

What this means is that HTML is the common tongue for publishing to the web. It does not matter if one person in England is using an old DOS 486MHz PC, a second person is in China using a Linux 1GHz PC and you are at home on your iBook, everyone can look at and edit the same document.

I would like you to take a moment now and check out The Importance of Valid HTML. Although this page is found on the web site of a commercial HTML Editor (HotMetal Pro), it does a much better job of explaining the "hows and whys of HTML" then I just did.

This why I think it is so important to be able to write a Web page that adheres to the W3C standards. Anyone, anywhere, with any kind of computer and any kind of connection should be able to view my web page. If you want some other peoples opinion on this topic check out some of these pages:

Text-friendly Authoring Great reading and lots of links. A MUST READ Don't try to follow every link, you'll be here all day. Just browse and read what catches your attention.
Top 3 HTML Straw Man Arguments A MUST READ This is part of the site noted above, but worthy of looking at to dispell some common myths.
Selfish Reasons for Accessible Web Authoring A MUST READ Why else would someone what to take the time to right good code?!
Rentmeister Article A MUST READ Don't worry, it's not that long.
W3C site LOTS of good information

Now lets check how much you have learned, it's time to take a quiz, or if you do not have time right now, you may return to the lesson index page

Note Before Taking Quiz: To take the quiz you need to have Java enabled. If you are running Internet Explorer 4 or Netscape 4.75 you'll be just fine. This quiz is one of two ways I will be able to verify that you have completed the course. There are 5 questions, and you must get 4 right. When you get 4 right, you will be able to e-mail me a special note saying that you have completed the quiz. The ten questions are taken from the The Importance of Valid HTML page mentioned above, and the four links above labeled A MUST READ.