Let me state here at the beginning that it is assumed that you possess enough computer literacy and knowledge to do the following:

• create a directory/folder on your hard drive;
• use a text editor;
• use a web browser;
• open, name, and save files;
• and copy & paste text from one document to another.

We will be using two software tools for this workshop:

1. A text editor
2. A web browser

The use of a text editor to manually create XHTML documents may seem primitive and passé, considering what today's commercial XHTML editors can do, but an understanding of basic manual procedures will make you a true “power user” with the ability to “work under the hood”. The majority of Web designers today will tell you that they need to work manually in XHTML in just about every job they do.

XHTML document file names should not contain any spaces and should always end in .html or .htm (.html is the preferred format). Mac users should pay particular attention to this as the MacOS does not require the addition of a file extension.

Examples:
index.html
tableofcontents.html
march_2000.html

The XHTML file that will serve as the opening page of your Web site should be named index.html. 99% of Web servers are configured to understand index.html to be the default “home page”. So, in other words, the first page you want your visitors to see on your Web site should be named index.html.

For example, if you type in this Web address:
     http://www.yahoo.com
it is equivalent to typing in this Web address:
     http://www.yahoo.com/index.html

It is highly recommended that you have a copy of both browsers (MS Internet Explorer and Netscape) on your computer so that you can preview your work in both. The latest versions are resonably equivalent but they both have small differences in their respective interpretations of XHTML code.

You will need a standard place to store your XHTML documents, and graphics. Create a new directory/folder on your hard drive and name it something logical like “Web Projects”:

Once you've created this directory/folder, save all of your XHTML documents and graphics there. It will make life easier when linking these files together, but more about that later.

• keep all of your Web documents in the same directory;
• name all of your filenames in lowercase characters for consistency;
• use the proper file extension (.html or .htm);
  
• name your files logically with respect to their content;
• do not use characters other than letters, numbers, and the occasional _ ;
  
• NEVER USE SPACES IN YOUR FILENAMES!

Have your text editor and browser at the ready while we take a look at the basic structure of XHTML documents with The Basic XHTML Template.

HTML Basics

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XHTML Template