Many people have said to me "how do build a website" or "what is HTML" so here I set out to explain the basics. This is HTML for Absolute Beginners. If you already have some experience then this site is not really for you. There are plenty of other sites that have what you are look for.

After I had been using the Internet for a few months and seen lots of other peoples "personal pages", I decided to have a go at my own. Where do I start was the big question? Everywhere I looked seemed to assume at least some knowledge, so here I have tried to explain enough to get you started.

What do you want to do?

People build Websites for different reasons. You might want to share your work with like minded people or have a hobby or sport you want to tell everyone about. Or you might be the biggest fan of a great band. What ever you want to do.. you need a plan. You should also think about what information you put onto your site. Be careful with personal information such as your adddress or phone number.

Draw up a plan and think about how the pages will link together, even if there are only two to start with. The plan will help avoid drastic changes as you site grows and you add further pages.

What do you need?

If you are reading this the you already have a Web Browser and an Internet Connection. You will also need an basic text editor such as note pad..

Once you have understood enough of the basics, I would recommend a good book such as the excellent "HTML for Dummies" from IDG books. Alternatively, you could get a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) HTML Editor, produce the pages and then look at the raw HTML code to see how it’s done.

Looking the source code of other peoples pages is also another good way to learn. In Internet Explorer, click on view source and it will load the code into notepad for you.

Don't worry if you get lost or don't understand, just keep refering back to these lessons and it will begin to make sense.