Chapter 2, Exercise

If you don't need the practice excercise, you can advance.

Nothing solidifies learning like practice. That's all this exercise is for. Try doing the exercise without help from the lessons, and see how you make out. Then consult the lessons as required to make your page come out correctly. If you really get stuck, go to the example solution. And when you're done, compare your solution to ours. (But don't presume that because you did it differently than our example that it's wrong; rather, compare so as to see different ways of doing the same thing; it can be quite educational).

Finally, you might consider submitting your page to a web page validation service. Two free services that I know of are Doctor HTML and TechWeb's HTML Validation Service. Doctor HTML will even check your spelling, but it's very liberal in it's interpretation of your source code, and may not catch all errors. These validation services require that your web page be loaded to a valid URL (internet address; i.e., it should be uploaded to your designated web space at your ISP), and the web page file should have an extension of ".htm" or ".html". The service will ask that you specify the compliance level. (If you check it against level 3.2, you'll be OK at most graphical browsers). The services will check your web page for possible discrepancies with the HTML specification you selected, then report those back to you. Where possible, enable the service to send the source (input) back to you. This way, the service will number your errors and you can find the line they're tagging as an error.

Keep in mind, just because an error exists from the HTML Validation Service, doesn't mean your web page won't work, but it may not work with some browsers if there are errors. If the validation service finds an error but it works on your machine, try to find the error, but don't give it too much energy. Every validation service I've tried occasionally behaves in ways I don't understand, but I still use them, because they do find stuff I missed. Sometimes the errors are just too obscure, or have no practical impact. If I can't identify the error they report, and it looks right to me, I ignore it. Hey, I'm just a wild and crazy guy, what can I say?

If you are interested in software for Windows 95 that will check your web page locally (without having to upload it to your ISP), check out Spyglass HTML Validator. It also less-than-perfect, but nevertheless useful.

It's nice to have another browser installed on your machine (an older version of Mosaic perhaps), other than your primary browser, so that you can check your page against at least two different browsers. This may give some insights into compatibility issues that may arise. Remember, there are many types and versions of browsers out on the internet, old and new alike, and ideally you'd like your web page to function on as many as possible.

Here's the game plan, sports fans:

Build a web page called "My Favorite Things" and do the following:

• start with a large headline and call it "Stuff I like to Do" (or whatever)
• center the large headline in the step above, but don't center anything else.
• next, build a horizontal text divider line (Hint: use a long string of dashes, and prevent line breaks)
• create two different medium-sized headlines and call it them "Stuff I Like to Do Before Lunch" and "Stuff I like to do after Lunch"
• Under the "before lunch" heading, write TWO (2) short paragraphs of prose (at least three sentences each). Indent the first word of the first sentence of each paragraph by five (5) spaces.
• Under the "after lunch" heading, form a text list, with at least three items, numbered (1., 2., 3.) each on a separate line, single spaced.
• Don't forget things like the html, head, body, and title tags

If you find the instructions difficult to follow, you can look at an example of the working web page in action, and try to duplicate it's behavior by writing your own HTML file. Have fun with it! Try out different things, to see what works and what doesn't, but try to end up with something that pretty much complies with the HTML guidelines. If you get stuck, check out our example solution.

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Overseer: Monty Northrup ... ... leave e-mail ...

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