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3. HTML Editors and Browsers
3.1 The Browser
3.2 The Editor

[ The Browser ]

The Web is based on client/server architecture. Simply put, a server holds documents and returns them to a Web client when requested. On the Web, the client is called a browser. Web browsers allow the user to specify an Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and connect to a document or ressource. A graphical Web browser, such as Netscape or Microsofts Internet Explorer, can display text and graphics to the user. The appearance of a document will vary from one browser to the next according to the capabilities of each system and the user's preferences. For this reason, it's important to write and publish Web pages that will look good on several browsers. The best known graphical Web browsers are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

My pages have been composed to look good on Netscape browsers version 3.0. But all pages are looking also good on Microsoft browsers version 3.0. On some other browsers the graphics pages may not look right or the fonts will be all the same size.

If you are a CompuServe member and use Spry's Air Mosaic browser, you should change to Netscape. Spry's Air Mosaic is very slow and you can't see many of the special backgrounds, textures, lettering styles and formats that some web authors use. Netscape is several times faster and you will still be able to enjoy the scenery of the beautiful homepages which you are currently missing.

For more information read the excellent FAQ from Steven M. Chomicz. This FAQ may be found in Compuserve in the Internet Resources Forum [GO Internet Ressources Forum] in the section "PC Internet s/w". The file named "NETFAQ". This FAQ may also be found in HTML on the world wide web.

[ The Editor ]

Several programs exist to help you create HTML documents or to convert existing documents into HTML format. There are two basic types of HTML editing packages available: stand alone editors and word processor templates. Typically stand-alone editors like the Homepage Wizard don't require support from other software in order to work. If you're a going to be working with an existing document your best bet would be a word processor template. It's also possible to create complex HTML documents with nothing more than a plain text editor like Windows "Write" or "Word Pad".

My first Homepage was created with the Homepage Wizard. The Wizard is an extremly handy way to create your first HTML page. The Wizard doesn't support "Frames", "Tables" and other HTML3 features. If you want to use HTML3 features on your site you have to enter your HTML code with an other HTML editing package or a plain text editor.

You will find an accumulation of the best sites for editors and primers for producing documents in HTML in my HTML link-section. This section is also great for experienced HTML'ers.

Thomas Kuhn 100046.1437@compuserve.com
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