Computer Tutorials

HTML Programming

HTML <!DOCTYPE> tag

The <!DOCTYPE> tag tells the browser which HTML or XHTML specification is used by the document. It goes before the <HTML> tag. Using DOCTYPE is essential if you want your web site to render correctly in different browsers. There are no attributes for this tag. There are three variations for HTML 4.01:

HTML 4.01 Strict
HTML 4.01 Transitional
HTML 4.01 Frameset

<body>

The body is where you put all the information that is going to be visible on the screen.

text
images
colors
graphics

All "presentation attributes" of the body element were deprecated in HTML 4.01 and are not supported in XHTML 1.0 strict DTD.

At this point other tutorials and books begin to tell you how to use presentation attributes in the body tag after they just told you it's been deprecated. Well if you don't know how to use the body tag and you're here to learn how to use it, why begin by learning the wrong way to use it? It doesn't make any sense to me. Use Cascading Style Sheets (css) for presentation attributes.

Speed Up Your Web Site

Speed is one of the most important factors for a successful web site. In this day and age, people have high expectations. They demand that a web site load fast. If they have to wait more than a few seconds, they either get frustrated or they leave.

So how do you speed your web site up? One way is to use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) wherever possible. Pages with stylesheets load faster than straight HTML sites using font tags and tables. With CSS you also get the added advantage of being able to make changes faster and easier.

Reduce the number of images you're using wherever possible. Images are the most common cause of slow web pages. Try to avoid using images for words unless you absolutely have to. It slows the download time and spiders can't read them. Reduce the size of the images you have to use. Convert them to JPEG if they're not already in that format.

Reduce all unnecessary multimedia. Get rid of the video, audio, flash and animation unless it's absolutely necessary. Quit using it to show off. You aren't showing off to people who aren't waiting around for the page to load.

Remove unnecessary scripts. Some script codes can slow down a site.

Make sure you're getting enough bandwidth from your hosting company. It's a good idea to have a little more than you need in case you have a sudden rise in traffic. If your web site in getting close to it's limit, the speed of your web site can decrease significantly.