by Kyle Getson

Created on: March 06, 2009

1. Realize a '15 minute a day' attitude will not work. Learning HTML is not difficult, but it will require effort and time.

2. Don't buy a book, or pay for an expensive class at a community college. There are literally hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of free resources out there.

3. Realize that the best way to learn is through practice. So get a text editor, a WYSIWYG editor, or an HTML editor and start practicing.

If your OK with #1 and #2 above, than give yourself some time to sit down and start practicing. Heres some steps to follow once you're willing to get into it.

4. Pick one task at a time and complete it. For example, if you want to learn how to make a really cool website with videos, drop down menus and forms, start small and work your way up. For example, start with the structure, a narrow column on the left, a wide column in the middle, and a narrow column on the left. Once you've got the structure, then move on to the next task. One at a time, the website will start to resemble what you envisioned.

5. Be Patient. HTML will take time to master.

6. Obey the rules. HTML has specific rules, be sure you follow them, there is a reason for them. You may not always get caught breaking the rules, but it does make a difference, especially in different browsers. Firefox, Internet Explorer and safari all act different, and what displays one way in one browser may not display the same in the others, sticking to the rules will help you avoid these problems.

7. Separate Content from design. Though this isn't really an 'HTML' tip, it will help you keep your code clean, portable, and easier to maintain. What this means is keep things like 'style="color:#f8f8f8;"' out of your HTML and use a stylesheet (CSS) for style and things that make your website look pretty.

8. Google is your friend, I will list some resources below, but if you're having a specific problem, google it, you'll probably get the results you are looking for within a few minutes.

9. Look at the source of websites you visit for examples. The HTML of any website is readily available, right click the background of a page and click 'View Source', or 'View Page Source'. It is also under the View menu in Firefox or the Page button in Internet Explorer 7.

10. Don't give up, and don't think you can quit your day job because you know HTML. It's a good think to know, but it's only the first piece of what makes a website. You'll also want to look into CSS, Javascript, maybe some AJAX, PHP or ASP.

Resources:

http://www.w3schools.com/html/DEFAULT. asp

http://www.html.net/tutorials/html/

http://www.htm lgoodies.com/primers/html/article.php/3478131

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