1. Studio 2: HTML
Prof. Alvarado
MDST 3703/7703
6 September 2012

2. Review
• The concept of hypertext is as old as the
computer
– Although the memex was not a computer, Bush was
one of the “fathers” of the computer
• Bush’s and Nelson’s visions remain unrealized
– We still don’t have a system for capturing trails
– Our systems our built on the metaphor of the “file”
• Tim Berners-Lee revolutionized hypertext by
inventing the social link
– The World Wide Web connect lexia across the
network
– This was a brand new idea not envisioned by
hypertext theorists

3. Hypertext is the first big idea of
the digital liberal arts
It represents a rethinking of
knowledge through the critical and
practical investigation of text

4. Hypertext as an idea is based on the
premise that text shapes knowledge
See media determinism and the
rationalization effect

5. Concepts
• Rationalization Effect
– The condition of having to rethink assumptions
and tacit knowledge as a result of technological
disruption
– ‘Rationalization’ in the sense defined by Max
Weber
• Media Determinism
– The view that media forms determine, or at least
strongly shape, cognitive and social forms
– E.g. literacy  hierarchy  logical rationality

6. HTML and the WorldWideWeb

7. How it Works
• The World Wide Web is a system that sits on
top of the Internet
– The Internet is the global network of computers
that began in 1969 between UCLA and Stanford
• The system consists of HTML and HTTP
– HTML is a language used to write documents and
is interpreted by browsers on clients
– HTTP is a protocol that servers use to connect and
transfer documents across the network

8. The Internet as ARPANET in 1970

9. GLOBAL HYPERTEXT

10. Some more vocabulary
Network
A spatially distributed set of computers that can
communicate with each other
Server
A computer or a program that exchanges information with
other computers
Client
A computer or a program that receives information from a
server for humans to consume
Protocol
The language that servers use to communicate (e.g.
HTTP, FTP, NNTP, SMTP, etc.)

11. Internet Communication
SERVERS TALKING TO
EACH OTHER

12. Basic HTML
The document mark-up language of
the World Wide Web
An example of “source code” that is
“interpreted” by browsers

13. Break up into groups
Help each other with small
questions

14. Exercise 1: View Source
• Find a web page …
– http//faculty.vassar.edu/mijoyce/Ted_sed.html
• Open “View Source” on your browser
– Chrome: View > Developer > View Source
– Firefox: Tools > Web Developer > Page Source
• Notice the pattern
– Lots of angle brackets
– What do they look like they are doing there?
– What is the difference between “source” and the
rendered view of the page?

15. Angle brackets are called tags
Tags are used to define elements
of text
Start tags can have attributes
We will discuss the significance of
these next Tuesday

16. In general, tags produce effects on
elements
Effects include: position and style,
but also behaviors, like linking

17. Exercise 2: Hello, World!
• Download JEdit (a decent, cross-platform
text editor)
– See blog post on course site
• Create a new file
• Save the file
– Call it “index.html”
• Write the following string
<p>Hello, World!</p>
• Open the file in your browser

18. Some Basic Elements
• Paragraphs: <p>…</p>
• Headers: <h1>…</h1>, <h2>…</h2>
• Format: <b>…</b>, <i>…</i>, <u>…</u>
• Images:
<img src=“http://foo.com/img.gif”></img>
• Links =
<a href=“http://foo.com/page.html”>Label of
link</a>
• Other elements
– Lists, tables, etc.
– See http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

19. Exercise 3: Add More Elements
• Create some headers and add some
paragraphs with formatted text
• Add an image
• Add a link
• You can grab text from a “lorem ipsum”
generator on the web
– http://www.lipsum.com/
– http://slipsum.com/ (EXPLICIT)

20. The Prime Directive: Tags must
always nest
NO OVERLAPPING TAGS

21. Nesting Tags
<p>This is <b>OK</b></p>
<p>This is <b>NOT OK</p></b>

22. Anatomy of a URL
• All web addresses are expressed as URLs
– Uniform Resource Locators
• Everything on the web has to have a URL
• URLs have the following parts:
http:// THE PROTOCOL
www.virginia.edu THE SERVER
/someresource.html THE PAGE (DEFAULT index.html)
#some_place THE ANCHOR (OPTIONAL)
?key=value THE PARAMETERS (OPTIONAL)

23. Exercise 4: Put the file on the web
• Install the Home Directory Service tool
– See blog post for URL
• Drag the file into the public_html directory
– Create it if it is not there
• Look at the page in your browswer
– http://www.people.virginia.edu/~rca2t
• Replace rca2t with your netid

24. Exercise 5: Link to your page from WP
• Create a new post
• Create a link to your newly created home
page