HTML - Getting Started

What You Need

You don't need any tools to learn HTML at W3Schools.

• You don't need any HTML editor
• You don't need a web server
• You don't need a web site

Editing HTML

In this tutorial we use a plain text editor (like Notepad) to edit HTML. We believe this is the best way to learn HTML.

However, professional web developers often prefer HTML editors like FrontPage or Dreamweaver, instead of writing plain text.

Create Your Own Test Web

If you just want to learn HTML, skip the rest of this chapter.

If you want to create a test web on your own computer, just copy the 3 files below to your desktop.

(Right click on each link, and select "save target as" or "save link as")

mainpage.htm

page1.htm

page2.htm

After you have copied the files, you can double-click on the file called "mainpage.htm" and see your first web site in action.

Use Your Test Web For Learning

We suggest you experiment with everything you learn at W3Schools by editing your web files with a text editor (like Notepad).

Note: If your test web contains HTML markup tags you have not learned, don't panic. You will learn all about it in the next chapters.

HTM or HTML Extension?

When you save an HTML file, you can use either the .htm or the .html extension. We use .htm in our examples. It is a habit from the past, when the software only allowed three letters in file extensions.

With new software it is perfectly safe to use .html.

Altova® MapForce®
Graphical XML Mapping Tool from the Developers of XMLSpy®

Need an easy way to get data into XML, or transform XML to another format? MapForce lets you map XML data to/from any combination of XML, database, flat file, Excel 2007, XBRL, or Web services data. Then it transforms data instantly or auto-generates royalty-free data integration code for recurrent conversions. New features in Version 2010!

Download a free, fully functional 30-day trial to experience the following features: Easy-to-use, graphical data mapping interface Instant data transformation XSLT 1.0/2.0 and XQuery code generation Java, C#, and C++ code generation Advanced data processing functions Support for all major relational databases including SQL Server, IBM DB2, Oracle, and more Visual Studio & Eclipse integration Download a fully-functional trial today!