Preserved Topic: Another newbie needing different advice, pleeeeeease? (Page 1 of 1)

I got my first URL and a page and so far I've learned from the very beginning how to download, upload, saving pictures, all this very basic stuff, however, I would need to know more about HTML language and was wondering if anybody could recommend a site that can teach me HTML in laymen's terms that are easy to understand for very, very, beginners!!! <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/rolleyes.gif">
So far I've been using the web shell provided by angelfire in the basic editor mode. Sure I don't have to learn HTML it composes it for me!!! But I'm restricted to templates and that doesn't go very far if you want to get creative!
Any advice would be more than welcome.
Thanks!

welcome to the forum freya. see if this one helps:
http://htmlgoodies.earthweb.com/primers/basics.html

I know a few people that learned from this tut. seems to have taught them well......

Tymothymcnulty
Thanks a lot, learning HTML makes me anxious a bit and I'll probably learn Java also, this may seem like an odd question but I haven't figured it out yet, but how do upload a banner and link it to the concerned site? The only way i figured it is with Netscape Page composer I've been able to download the banner but I don't know how to create the link!!! After composing the page, then I'll have to opload it to my site. I feel ignorant of the most basic knowledge, but then when I decided to get the page at angelfire I felt that way also, I've outgrown the feeling of inadequacy a little bit as I'm getting used to edit my pages on the site.
If you could give me this piece of info? Would be grateful, because when I conduct searches for clip art, pics and such more often than not I have to link or mention whom it's from!

timothymcnulty,
I just got on the site you recommended and for now I can say I'm giggling like a school girl!
That's a good sign, if I can laugh that means I won't be so tense that my shoulders won't jack up!!!!
Thanks again, but I'll keep you posted on my first trial and errors, can't scream VICTORY too soon!

That site should cover just about everything you need to get started. I noticed a section on links, that should get you started. My advice is, don't get too ahead of yourself(although there will be exceptions) when you go through tutorials like this. Make sure that you undertand everything before you move on to the next section. HTML is just the beginning. There is A WHOLE LOT of other things to learn if you ever feel like it. You seem pretty excited about this, and I am excited to see your progression. If you have any questions, this is the place to go, we may all be a bit loony, but we will be glad to help! Let me know how things are coming along.....

It's 6.12p.m. here in Montreal and I'm wondering what's the time in Sweden?
Is there anybody around? <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/biggrin.gif"> <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/biggrin.gif"> <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/biggrin.gif">

It was 12:12 a.m when you posted your last message, all of the times posted in the foum are in Sweden time.

btw, How are you doing with you HTML studies??

The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity, and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because philosophy is an exalted activity, will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water. John W. Gardnern

timothymcnulty
I'm struggling with the sequences like <B> freya </B> .
I feel like it's taking forever to remember opening tags and mostly closing tags with the slash.
It just seems like it's not sinking in right away I'm constantly reffering to the examples. Or maybe I'm being overly demanding of myself!!!
Dunno, at the same time I'm "learning" photoshop and can't seem to find in the Help how to create a refraction of a picture to create a mirror effect on water at the bottom of the picture. I feel lost and frustrated!
HELP!!! Please.

timothymcnulty
I forgot to ask you something, could it be first of all that I need to remove the "frame" around the pic? If so how do you remove it, is it important?

This is the site that tough me HTML basics. It is simple to follow and easy to use and reference.

http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/teachingtool/

I also recommend these sights as well....

http://members.tripod.com/~chrismartin2/
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html

~Anything with wheels, chips or tits is going to cause you trouble sooner or later~

[This message has been edited by The Jackal (edited 28-06-2000).]


[This message has been edited by The Jackal (edited 28-06-2000).]

Jackal
Thanks for the info, a couple of tutorials from different sources just might clear up the confusion I feel. Or I'm just plain nervous! In that case that would explain a lot. Memory blanks come a dime a dozen for me, due to a high level of anxiety!

No problem, I can relate. I can design anything for anyone, but whenever I design something for my own site or for my family, mind blocks are like a constant disease. Good luck and hang in there, it's not as hard as it seems.


~Anything with wheels, chips or tits is going to cause you trouble sooner or later~

freya, I wouldn't worry too much, it's going to take a little time. And don't worry about remembering everything, I've been doing HTML for at least 2 years and still have to look up stuff in my reference book! Most people do. So just enjoy the ride, before you know it you'll find yourself saying, "Wow, I know a hell of a lot more than I did 6 months ago!"

Hey Everybody,
I feel like celebrating!
I've succesfully written my first HTML page with the right flags in the right sequence!!!!!!
I admit to feeling like an overgrown kid who wants a pat on the back and hear "that's very good, Freya" *giggles* <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/biggrin.gif">
But it is very exciting when you find out that you can do it!

good job freya, i remember how bloody excited i was when i finished my first page.

though to tell you the truth, i was more excited today when i finished all but 1 section of my new web page....

so do you have your stuff posted? i haven't seen a url, but i'm sure we could all comment on it (except for me, since i'm mean).

cheers.mikey.milker

Mikey M
Nope, not posting it yet!!! I've only learned <B> and <I> and <HTML> and <P> and <TT>. I'm excited because the end results are there! IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!! Not about the type of fonts! I want to learn how to write some really nifty fonts, but I don't know the code or flag for them (like Old English or Uncial ) where could I find the codes or do you need one?
But seriously, i better wait until I finish every step of the tutorial wich will show me how to put a pic and background at the very least, to liven up the overall look!
BTW I know you're mean!!! <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/biggrin.gif"> <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/biggrin.gif"> <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/biggrin.gif">

Mikey M or anybody who can help?
Are you still around? Any tips where I can find the commands for different type of fonts???????? Please?

[This message has been edited by freya (edited 30-06-2000).]

It goes like this freya -- anywhere in your page you can specify a font face like this:

<FONT FACE="unical">
your text blah blah blah or even your whole page goes here...
</FONT>

What you have to keep in mind though is that if the person viewing the page doesn't have that font on their computer, they won't see it in that font. You can also provide a 2nd, 3rd, 4rth etc. choice of fonts, like this:

<FONT FACE="unical, verdana, arial">

Does that help?

DL-44's got the key there: you can specify wacky fonts if you want, but the VIEWER has to have that font on their computer for it to display in that font. Think there are many folks out there with Old English on their systems? Plus, with the tons of free fonts out there, chances are good you just love a font only 1/2% of the world has. Best thing to do for decorative effects using something like your flavor of Olde English for a headline would be to make it into a GIF graphic, and place it on the page like a picture. Search engines can't index it and it's a pain to update, but it's all you can reliably do.

When you place the <FONT FACE="xxx"></FONT> tag inline, try to put at least one option per platform, plus generic ones as well. By that I mean that if you want sans serif body copy your FONT FACE tag might include arial for PCs, helvetica for Macs, verdana (designed for web browsers) and just plain "sans serif" if all else fails. The browser will display the text in whatever is the first match it finds on the client computer.

I actually once went so far as to BUY a typeface just so I could see a page the way the designer intended it. Sheesh - compulsive! DO NOT expect anyone else to be that wierd! It's a real limitation in design, felt most keenly by folks who come from the print world, who have 100 fonts on their system for good reason. Those who went straight into web design seem to take the limitations more in stride. Fact of life for current technology, though there are rumors of "the next big thing" being the ability to embed font outlines in pages. That will give tons more opportunities for visual richness, but for the time being we're stuck with the least common denominator - simply calling for bland system fonts.

Steve
I like the idea of transforming a headline (will all the bells and whistles!) into a GIF graphic. I don't have a clue how to go about it though, what do I use, Photoshop? Would the "Typing" option be the thing (I have some really nifty fonts I've downloaded like "Ogilvy" from Skinny Puppy).
Another question totally off the subject, do you or anybody else, know what option to use to cut and paste parts of a scanned picture?
I'd like to create some mountains with photoshop but have been told that it's done with bryce but have no clue how to do it with photoshop unless you cut and paste some mountains from a scanned picture!
I've tryed it with the lasso effect and layers but it looks very South Park like it's very much "child like" (if you can picture South Park being childish!!!)

Two questions: one easy, one hard.
Type: I'd use Photoshop, 'cause that's what I have. Most any paint program will do it I suppose. First you figure how big you want it to be (not a trivial issue, so figure it out ahead of time), what color the background should be (should be as close as possible to the background of the page the headline will display in), and what color you want the type. Make a new document that conforms to that size, and set your foreground color to what you want the type to be (this also takes some forethought - are you going to stick with "Web Safe" colors or go for broke with whatever you find pleasing?). Select the type tool (there are choices in the tool palette - select the first, solid,"T") and click in the doc window. In the dialog that opens, select the type face, size, tracking, whatever, click in the big box at the bottom, and type! I'd select anti-aliased for a big headline, which I gather you're doing). Photoshop gives a preview in the doc. window. When you're happy, click okay. Photoshop DOESN'T have spell-check!! Unless you are going to do any spiffy effects on the type, flatten the document (easiest is to use the pop-out menu at the top right of the layers palette). I don't know what version of PS you use. If 5.5, there's a Save For Web choice. Otherwise, from the menus at the top, choose image>mode>indexed color and accept the choice it defaults to (probably). Now, from the File menu, select File>Export>GIF something or other. In the dialog, click on the background color to define it as transparent (allows it to blend with your page's background smoothly), and then okay (I probably would not opt for interlaced - I find that annoying); name it and treat it just like any picture in your HTML.

Best advice: buy one of Lynda Wyman's outstanding books on Web graphics. Almost nothing she doesn't cover in great depth. She's great. Very thorough. (You know, the PS manual is sort of helpful too!)

Mountains: We don't have much of an idea what you're tryng to do. If you can draw, I'd use Photoshop's paint tools, gradients whatever, and draw 'em. Personally I can't draw for beans, so that leaves .. what? Depends on how realistic you want I guess. If you have a source image you like, and a way to get it into your computer (scanner? stock image?) I don't know how much of your image is mountain and how much is something else. If the mountain component is more than half the image, and if you already have a mountain image, I wouldn't cut and paste the mountains - I'd start with the mountains and add to that. Open the montain image; choose Image>Canvas Size. I'm assuming the mountains are at the bottom and you need more sky? The Canvas Size dialog displays a 9 square grid; click the bottom center square and change the nuumbers for height. That will make your canvas bigger by adding to the top. The color of what it adds will be defined by what you have selected as the background in the tool palette. Now you have room to add whatever you want above the mountains. Chances are you're not going to like the abrupt transition between what the top of the image had been and what the new canvas is, so you'd want to make a gradient going from the color of your choice to the color just above the mountain tops. With the eyedropper tool, set the foreground color by clicking above the mountains, type "x", which swaps foregound/background color chips in the tool palette; click the foreground chip and, from the color picker dialog, select your new color. With the lasso or rectangular marquee. select from the top left of the image to the right, just above the mountains. Select>Feather something like 8 (? - up to you). Choose the gradient tool, select foreground to background from the tool options palette, and drag it straight down from top of image to bottom of selection. Deselect and hopefully you don't have much blending to do. Now you have room to add whatever you want.

Helpful? IF not, more info will be a while coming - July 4 weekend is pretty packed!

Good luck. Get books. Read magazines. Dig deep. There's always 4 ways to do any effect in PS (more or less). Show us what you've done. Visual aids make answering questions a lot easier!

Happy weekend.

Steve

[This message has been edited by Steve (edited 01-07-2000).]