Basic HTML for us Techless Bloggers
Fortunately for those that may be techless like me, WordPress has a built in visual editor. Even with that tool it helps to be able to refer to some very basic HTML. Sure we have the luxury of pre-made themes, templates, plugins, etc. or I wouldn’t even attempt to build a blog on my own. Still there are times such as when a posts looks messed up that we can straighten up the mess by know just a tiny bit of code. if you are techless like me just looking at the code can be scary. With a bit of practice and references to help us even us non-technical people can survive in the world of blogging.
What is HTML
Some of you may be asking what is HTML. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. I know, that is a mouthful in itself but don’t fret. To push our brains a bit further HTML is a subset of SGML (Standard General Markup Language), which is the language that is used to define the layout and attributes of a World Wide Web document along with the creation of links between web documents. Documents are basically text, sound and graphics. Okay, I am sure we could have gotten by without knowing that but oh well!!!
As intimidating as HTML appears to us nubbies there are just a few coding commands that will take care of most of our needs. Luckily for us there is and html editor built into WordPress that handles most of the functions for us. Once in a while though we get tormented by such thins as a paragraph or line that doesn’t want to break or one that breaks when we don’t want it to and in situations like this the basics will help us to correct the situation.
Basic HTML Formatting
Heading Tags:
Headings are defined with the <h1> to <h6> tags. <h1> defines the largest heading. <h6> defines the smallest heading.
Note: HTML automatically adds an extra blank line before and after a heading.
<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<h2>This is a heading</h2>
<h3>This is a heading</h3>
<h4>This is a heading</h4>
<h5>This is a heading</h5>
<h6>This is a heading</h6>
Paragraph Tag:
Use the paragraph tag <P> between paragraphs.
If you use the <P> tag you don’t need to also use a line break tag (<BR>) – as the paragraph break tag will place a blank line between the two paragraphs.
p><p>This is a paragraph</p>
<p>This is another paragraph</p>
Line Break Tag:
To place a skip in a new line but not start a new paragraph, use a line break tag <br>.
<p>This <br> is a para<br>graph with line breaks</p>
Italics Tag:
To italicize a word, use <em> and </em> (eg. <em>jazz</em>)
Bold Tag:
To bold a word, use <strong> and </strong> (eg. <strong>jazz</strong>)
Hot Link Tags:
To hot link a URL: <A HREF=http://milesdavis.com TARGET=_blank>Terry Lile</A>
To hot link an email address: <A HREF=mailto:brunus@gmail.com>Big Brunus</A>
Comment Tag:
You will usually see comments when you look at the HTML coding of your theme for example. Comment tags are ignored by the browser and therefore they are often used to explain things to the user or even remind the person that wrote the code what they wrote.
<!-Techless Terry knows just enough HTML to be a danger to himself and others. Warning: be careful. –>
While the above are a few of the basics North Carolina State University has a good online reference guide that you may want to check out further information on HTML.
