Reading Notes for Unit 8

HTML Tutorial: This website is extremely straightforward and very helpful. It really breaks things down to a simple level (such as when explaining what HTML and markup language is) that makes a previously daunting concept somewhat more approachable. I appreciate that it explains the examples (like how the syntax works) instead of just throwing out codes and hoping you know what to do with them. Plus, the "try it yourself" tool is good for experimenting!

HTML Cheatsheet: A great companion site to use after going through the aforementioned tutorial. This lays out the really common attributes and text tags, so that it shouldn't be too hard to lay out a simple website. The information on frames seems a little beyond my skills at the moment; I think text seems straightforward enough, as are images and links. I am a little confused about how under the "forms" section, it says that you need to run a CGI script to create a form- I'm not entirely sure what that is.

W3 School Cascading Style Sheet Tutorial: I WAS wondering if HTML markup got really extensive and confusing. CSS defines how the elements of HTML are displayed, so it makes it easier to build upon basic elements of HTML for better-looking sites. Unfortunately, this is starting to look ridiculously complicated to me. I understand the basic concept of linking a style sheet into the HTML markup to avoid having to do a lot more work, but the actual mechanics of the process seem a little daunting; the syntax seems a little more difficult. To me (and this may be totally off base), this reminds me of databases, where keys linked information in one spot to another to save space and time.

"Beyond HTML": A Content Management System (CMS) allows users to create sites while focusing on the content rather than the HTML markups of designing the web pages; it provides standards and a framework for editing pages, which is helpful particularly at the institution described because too many people were editing in different styles. This article helpfully describes the entire process of the library trying to establish a CMS system, from deciding what software to use, to identifying templates. The article notes that not all libraries are moving to adopt CMS, but it makes a compelling case that it helps standardize and clean up websites, while helping people who are not as familiar with HTML get used to the editing process. I think this is definitely a field that we should be paying attention to; HTML editing is a useful tool in any situation.