The basic document of the World Wide Web is a page. Pages are written in an evolving language called HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). An HTML page contains text along with tags, embedded commands that supply information about the page’s structure, appearance, and contents.
Some HTML tags build structural descriptions of page items, such as tables and forms, which are made up of many elements. Web browsers (programs that display pages) use this information to determine how to display the page elements in relation to each other. For example, the HTML tags that describe a table specify the number of rows it has, the number of cells in a row, and so forth.
Along with describing the structural relationships among page elements, some HTML tags also contain attributes. Attributes provide details about a particular tag. For instance, the tag that inserts an image on a page has an attribute that supplies the name of the image to insert. Some attributes supply preferences about the layout of the page element. For example, a table has attributes that describe its border width and the padding between its cells.
Do I need to learn HTML to use FrontPage? No. The FrontPage Editor creates the HTML in the background, adding tags and filling in attributes based on your choices. You create and edit pages using a familiar, word-processor interface. You can add or edit HTML by hand, but only if you want to.
How do I change an element’s attributes in FrontPage? In FrontPage, every item that you can insert on a page has a dialog box displaying its properties. You can edit an item’s properties dialog box to change its attributes. When you close the properties dialog box, FrontPage translates your selections into HTML.
What is a home page? A home page is the top-level page on your Web site and usually contains an introduction to the site, along with hyperlinks to other pages. It is displayed by default when a user connects to your Web server. Some Web servers support multiple home pages.