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Getting Started

Most of the stuff on the web is no different than the stuff on your computer — it’s just a whole load of files sorted into a whole load of directories.

HTML files are nothing more than simple text files, so to start writing in HTML, you need nothing more than a simple text editor.

Notepad is a common text editor on Windows-based computers (usually found under the Programs > Accessories menu) and Mac OSX computers come bundled with TextEdit but any program that lets you fiddle with text will do.

Type this in to your text editor:


This is my first web page

Now create a folder called “html” wherever you like to save files on your computer and save the file as “myfirstpage.html”.

To look at HTML files, they don’t even need to be on the web. Open a web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer and in the address bar, where you usually type web addresses, type in the location of the file you just saved (for example, “c:\html\myfirstpage.html”) and hit return. Alternatively, go to the File menu of the browser, select Open, and browse for the file.

Pow. There it is. Your first web page. How exciting. And all it took was a few typed words.