HTML Tutorial

[Enilette]

I am following the HTML tutorial but have become stuck. It says to find VIEW in my web browser so that I can view the source code of a web page. I cannot find VIEW on the browser toolbar. I use AOL

[justsomeguy]

Yeah, not all browsers have a VIEW menu, and not all of those that do have a View Source entry under it. The instructions should just say to view the source, and should probably give examples for several different browsers.That being said, the AOL browser is a terrible browser, as browsers go. It would definately be better for you to use a different browser for learning HTML, even if the only time you ever use that browser is to learn HTML. Among other things, the AOL browser is a pretty non-standard browser, it would be better from a learning perspective to use a browser that pays more attention to standards. A fairly lightweight browser that is a good tool to learn HTML would be Firefox, you can download that here:http://www.getfirefox.com/So my recommendation would be to download Firefox and install that, then use that from here on out.As for being able to view the page source, try right-clicking on the page and see if you see anything in the right-click menu about the source. I don't use the AOL browser so I wouldn't be able to give any more specific details then that, but I know the AOL browser is made for people who don't have internet development on the top of their minds, so it might be better if you use a browser that does.

[Enilette]

Yeah, not all browsers have a VIEW menu, and not all of those that do have a View Source entry under it. The instructions should just say to view the source, and should probably give examples for several different browsers.That being said, the AOL browser is a terrible browser, as browsers go. It would definately be better for you to use a different browser for learning HTML, even if the only time you ever use that browser is to learn HTML. Among other things, the AOL browser is a pretty non-standard browser, it would be better from a learning perspective to use a browser that pays more attention to standards. A fairly lightweight browser that is a good tool to learn HTML would be Firefox, you can download that here:http://www.getfirefox.com/So my recommendation would be to download Firefox and install that, then use that from here on out.As for being able to view the page source, try right-clicking on the page and see if you see anything in the right-click menu about the source. I don't use the AOL browser so I wouldn't be able to give any more specific details then that, but I know the AOL browser is made for people who don't have internet development on the top of their minds, so it might be better if you use a browser that does.

[Enilette]

Yeah, not all browsers have a VIEW menu, and not all of those that do have a View Source entry under it. The instructions should just say to view the source, and should probably give examples for several different browsers.That being said, the AOL browser is a terrible browser, as browsers go. It would definately be better for you to use a different browser for learning HTML, even if the only time you ever use that browser is to learn HTML. Among other things, the AOL browser is a pretty non-standard browser, it would be better from a learning perspective to use a browser that pays more attention to standards. A fairly lightweight browser that is a good tool to learn HTML would be Firefox, you can download that here:http://www.getfirefox.com/So my recommendation would be to download Firefox and install that, then use that from here on out.As for being able to view the page source, try right-clicking on the page and see if you see anything in the right-click menu about the source. I don't use the AOL browser so I wouldn't be able to give any more specific details then that, but I know the AOL browser is made for people who don't have internet development on the top of their minds, so it might be better if you use a browser that does.

[Enilette]

Thanks for that. I'm very new to all this HTML stuff and don't really know what I'm doing. I've been thinking about changing from AOL for some time now. There are a couple of websites I need to access which will not allow access via AOL. And you are the third person to recomendation I change! But AOL is my server. If I download Firefox as you suggest, AOL will still be acting as my server. YES? So won't there be some incompatibility between Firefox and AOL? Forgive me. I don't even know enough to know what questions to ask

[justsomeguy]

AOL used to have a marketing phrase, where they said "AOL *IS* the internet!". Nothing could be farther from the truth. AOL is only an internet service provider, the same as Cox Communications, or Sprint, or Qwest, or Roadrunner, or Netzero, or whatever. AOL just happens to also have their own branded version of Internet Explorer, and some extra services that they ship their AOL software to access. But all AOL does for your computer is provide a connection to the internet in general, not specifically to an AOL network or server. So, you can go through whatever you do normally to sign on to the AOL service, and once you are online you can use anything else. You can open up a Microsoft email program and check email, you can open up another web browser or another type of internet-enabled software, like MSN or Yahoo Chat, and use it just fine. AOL just sets up the connection to the internet the same way any other internet service provider would. So, if you downloaded Firefox, you could still use AOL to get online in general, and then once you're online you would start up Firefox and use that as your internet browser instead of using the AOL browser. Since AOL is providing the internet connection, when Firefox starts up it should be able to find and use the AOL connection. That alone would probably let you access all of the sites you were having problems with before, even though your internet connection is still using the AOL service. And once you're done online, you would close Firefox, and then sign off of the AOL service the way you normally do. If you use the internet like this for a while and decide that you aren't using enough of the AOL-only services to justify the cost that AOL charges, you might consider switching to a different ISP. If you did, the only thing that would change is that you would lose the AOL-only services, like the aol.com email address, and whatever else AOL offers. Your new ISP would give you a new email address, or you can also buy your own domain (maybe enilette.com is available) for about $5/year and use an email address of your own, that way when you switch ISPs your email address stays the same because you own the domain. But for about a total of maybe $25/year, you can buy your own domain like enilette.com and have plenty of space to store all of your emails and files. Then even if you changed ISPs or moved to an entirely different country, all of your emails and files would still be online for you, no matter which ISP you use to connect to the internet.

[Enilette]

...... or you can also buy your own domain (maybe enilette.com is available) for about $5/year and use an email address of your own, that way when you switch ISPs your email address stays the same because you own the domain. Hi JSGI keep coming back to your answer and trying to digest a bit more of what you are telling meThe above is very interesting. It's all beginning to dawn on me now. You explain it very well (like explaining to a 5 yr old which is exactly how I wanted it). I've bought my own domain for one year. But I ignored the suggestion for email services becasue I was stupid. I'll have to go back into it and change it. I'm also in the process of buying Microsoft WEb Expression to help me to build a website. Then my next step will be to find a host? Would I be able to ask AOL, my ISP to host it? I've been with AOL for many years and only pay £10 per month for unlimited broadband use so I don't think I will be able to find another ISP who could give me as good a deal as that. Sorry to keep mithering you but you DO seem to know what you are talking about! and you have helped me very much in my basic understanding so far!

[justsomeguy]

First, you need to understand the distinction between an ISP and a host. An ISP is a service that allows people or businesses (computers in general) to connect to the internet. The ISP is the computer's "gateway" to the internet. A host is an internet-connected service that provides a place to put your internet content. People *could* host their own content, making a host obsolete, but then you are opening your computer up to internet attacks, and your site's bandwidth would be limited by your ISP's connection. Also, if you shut down your computer then your website goes offline.With a host, the host takes on the task of running, administering, and securing a group of dedicated servers and the network infrastructure required to run them. For example, I work for one company that does a lot of stuff online. We have a small web server onsite where we host our own website and a few other things. However, for the gigabytes of data that our customers require access to, for that we rent a server at a very large host. Our host keeps our server running all the time, controls the network and firewalls, and provides the bandwidth. The server that we rent at the host is sitting on a massive network, the bandwidth that the server has available to it is more then we have here at the office by several orders of magnitude. More specifically, the host we use is the #1 privately held host in the world (after publicly-held IBM), they own 6 data centers containing over 40,000 servers, and they get their bandwidth from 8 different ISPs, providing 100GB/s of bandwidth. Compare that with our T1 connection here in the office, which provides 1.5MB/s of bandwidth. That is 66,666 times more bandwidth for our hosted server, and not only that, but the hardware itself is faster. We pay them several hundred dollars per month to run our high-performance server, but we also charge our customers to host their content, so we end up making a profit on the server. This server requires this much power and speed because of all the traffic it gets, the server gets tens of thousands of hits per day from all over the world of people downloading large files, so it needs some power behind it to make sure everyone gets their files in a timely manner.For my own personal sites, I use a much smaller host, there's no reason to spend that much money on a private site. There is a thread here in the General forum all about hosts where people list the ones they use, but for example I use a host called geekhosting.com for my stuff where I pay under $5/month to host. I don't get as much speed or space as the other server, but it's still plenty for what I need, and it saves me the headache of trying to run my own server (which, believe me, is worth a lot more then $5/month alone). I *could* use my home ISP as my host, but it turns out that my ISP charges way more money to host, and they give way fewer features (less space, less bandwidth, less support, etc). I definately prefer to use a dedicated ISP and a dedicated host then a ISP/host combination. I get better support from someone who only does hosting and nothing else. If my internet connection goes down, I call Cox Communications. If my website goes down, I make a call to geekhosting or ICDsoft (another host I use). If I ever have to deal with Cox tech support over a hosting issue, I get the distinct feeling that I know more about hosting then the people I'm talking to.So, if you do a little research (start in the host thread in the general forum), you can probably find yourself a good host for less money then you would pay AOL, and you would end up getting more space, more speed, and better support then you would from AOL (have you ever dealt with AOL tech support before?). I would recommend a host, but if you're in the UK then you would probably want to find a host there, just so that it is faster for you. I'm not sure of any UK hosts, but I know there are several listed in the thread.

[richardgerbino]

Just a few general things:1. What you're terming as AOL = a browser - you don't need it (In fact, if your going to be designing a website you might want to get rid of it)2. ISP = ISP stands for Internet Service Provider. AOL's basic function is to connect you to the internet. But it also gives you a browser (this browse is what most people confuse as 'AOL') If you're running at a dial up connection you might want to upgrade to a faster ISP (either a cable or broadband will do nicely - I'm not sure exactly what companies provide that in the UK but I'd stay away from AOL )3. Getting a Server - you seem pretty new to web design so it might be best to start on a free server - you can google those. Once you get more advanced I'd reccomend you get your own. But I don't think you'll be doing much advanced scripting where a server you would pay for becomes nessacary - these can get expensive and are often confusing.4. Domain - Your domain name (www.yoursite.com) is entirely seperate from your server. Having a domain name does not enable you to upload files or anything - its just a link to a space. When you purchase hosting (another name for a remote server which is what you're looking at) that space becomes filled and the website functions.Justsomeguy posted alot of solid information for you which you will probably want to refer to in the future as your needs become more complex, so I'm sure your on your way!Good luck!

[richardgerbino]

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[holmedwa04]

I dont know whether you are still looking to look at the source of pages, but this is a way that I use when I am at school. (Reaosn being the ICT technicians dont like you messing around with things that your not supposed to, bbut I ask, how can writting and looking at HTML be a problem? It is not as if I can change the HTML then go and upload it again? If I wanted to do that I would do it at home!) Anyway, enough of me babbaling, if there is a file menu, click it and you should be able to save the page, once you have done that, find the page on your computer, wherever you saved it and then right click and open it in notepad. Now you should be abe to view the source of it! Also just to add, at school they have disabeld right click, and so I have to open notepad and then find the file!