All Web pages are constructed in HTML (HyperText Markup Language), a language that tells the user's browser how to display the page and what to do with certain user input -- mouse-clicks, for example, or text entered into a form.

HTML can be straightforward or relatively complicated. At its simplest, it consists of text that includes codes for formatting instructions, indicating where, for example a paragraph begins and ends, or where bolface text begins and ends. It also includes codes that indicate which text should act as a hyperlink and the page to which a user is directed when that text is clicked.

We will discuss tools for creating Web pages in the next session. You can learn about HTML on your own by examining the code for pages you admire. On your browser's View menu, look for "View Page Source," "Page Source," or "Source" and select that option to open a window displaying the HTML code of whatever page you are currently browsing. Try it now!

You can also buy books detailing HTML code, or you can visit any number of excellent references Online. online references are likely to reflect recent updates to HTML specifications.

Four particularly good ones are:

• The Yale Style Manual
• NCSA: A Beginner's Guide to HTML
• The W3C [World Wide Web Consortium]'s HTML Home Page
• The HTML Writers' Guild Guide to HTML Resources