[Chapter 2] 2.2 A First HTML Document

2.2 A First HTML Document

It seems every programming language book ever written starts off with a simple example on how to display the message, ``Hello, World!'' Well, you won't see a ``Hello, World!'' example in this book. After all, this is a style guide for the next millennium. Instead, ours sends greetings to the World Wide Web:

<html>
<head>
<title>My first HTML document</title>
</head>
<body>
<h2>My first HTML document</h2>
Hello, <i>World Wide Web!</i>
 <!-- No "Hello, World" for us -->
<p>
               Greetings from<br>
<a href="http://www.ora.com">O'Reilly & Associates</a>
<p>
Composed with care by: 
<cite>(insert your name here)</cite>
<br>&copy;2000 and beyond
</body>
</html>

Go ahead: Type in the example HTML source on a fresh word-processing page and save it on your local disk as myfirst.html. Make sure you select to save it in ASCII format; word processor-specific file formats like Microsoft Word's ``.doc'' files save hidden characters that can confuse the browser software and disrupt your HTML document's display.

After saving myfirst.html (or just myfirst.htm if you are using a DOS- or Windows-based computer) onto disk, start up your browser, locate, and then open the document from the program's File menu. Your screen should look like Figure 2-1.

Figure 2-1: A very simple HTML document

[Graphic: Figure 2-1]


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