Mark[-up] my wor[l]d
I asked my friends one time if they know what HTML means. Although all of them know that it has something to do with the internet or a website, only one out of nine (he took a course on website authoring) answered that it is a special language used in creating websites.
One semester ago I could have answered the same as with the majority of them. HTML sounds intimidating and very complicated that I never paid any attention to it until I enrolled in Professor Danilo Arao�s Online Journalism class.
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. Dave Raggett defined it as �a special kind of text document that is used by web browsers to present text and graphics�. HTML documents are often referred to as �web pages�.
To better understand what HTML is and what it does, Ross Shannon deconstructed the term:
- HyperText is the method by which you move around on the web � by clicking on special text called hyperlinks which bring you to the next page. The fact that it is hyper just means it is not linear � i.e. you can go to any place on the Internet whenever you want by clicking on links � there is no set order to do things in.
- Markup is what HTML tags do to the text inside them. They mark it as a certain type of text (italicised text, for example).
- HTML is a Language, as it has code-words and syntax like any other language.
Abby�s InSite was created by hand coding HTML using Window�s NotePad. Creating a website through this process seems complicated at first but once you get the hang of it, you�ll find that it�s not really that intimidating. Prof. Arao taught us the basics for only 6 hours (two class meetings), and after some practice, all of us in class were able to create our own personal websites. There are advantages to having a professional web author as a guide, but one really need not enrol in a class to learn web authoring, as there are quite a number of websites offering free HTML tutorial (like Raggett�s �Getting Started with HTML�).
Today there�s a lot of website software available in the market which makes web authoring far easier. There is Microsoft Publisher for example, which is included in all MS Office bundle. MS Publisher has a handful of templates that can readily be used for web authoring.
Unfortunately, there are down sides to relying on website software. There is the possibility that a website created using a software will not be rendered properly by some web browsers. The computer version, its programs� version, or its operating system can also affect the readability of the website�s content.
People should not be scared of exploring the possibilities offered by technology. The World Wide Web and everything in it are just products of the human mind. We should control it and not the other way around.
On web posting
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to posting on the web. Web users basically have the freedom to post whatever they want � from the profound to the profane. This caused for some people to say that the web gave everyone the license to become a journalist. Well, I beg to disagree with the anonymous person/s who claimed this, as the term journalist describes an individual who is guided by ethical standards in writing or reporting. Any one who calls himself/herself a journalist is expected to be responsible, i.e. he/she does not only make sure that his/her article is fair and balance and that it degrades no one, but also always makes sure that what he/she writes has value-added information.
But journalists should not be the only ones watching their words. Everyone is expected to be responsible citizens of the World Wide Web. We should always remember one word: respect.
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