Introduction to HTML5, First Steps to Modern Web Design

If you are reading this post on our blog, you are already using the Internet just as billions of people and companies around the world do every day. Many users are completely dependent on the Internet. The first thing you did was turn on your computer, tablet, or mobile phone, launch a browser, type in a valid URL, and our blog appeared on your browser. Or you clicked on one of the numerous links that brought you to this blog post. This means you already know the basics of how to use the Internet. We assume you are even familiar with some technical terms.

However, just using the Internet and what others publish is not always enough. There comes a time when you too will want to learn what the Internet is, how it works, and how you can become a person who codes, designs web pages, and publishes your creativity on the Internet. In that case, perhaps you should first ask yourself what the Internet really is and how it works?

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks. As early as 1940, instructions were transmitted between computing machines, i.e., tele-typewriters; in 1964, researchers first invented the mainframe computer accessed via terminals that utilized the resources of the main computer. However, the birth of the Internet is considered to be in 1969 when the U.S. Department of Defense approved the ARPANET project Advanced Research Project Agency Network for the research and development of a communication and command network that would survive a nuclear attack.

Modern Web Design starts with HTML5

This project was the precursor to today’s Internet because, unlike the Internet you are using right now, ARPANET was definitely limited. The first Internet network was created for the new year, on January 1, 1983, when the technology of the time transitioned from the NCP protocol - Network Control Protocol to the TCP/IP protocol – Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, which is still used today. The Internet had its first public introduction in the 1990s with the creation of the HTML protocol in Switzerland. Here are the basic components that make up the Internet:

• Devices: This includes everything from smartphones to servers, which are categorized as clients or endpoints.

• Servers: These devices store and process information and host the websites we visit.

• Telecommunications networks: These include technologies such as mobile phone towers, satellites, optical fibers or cables, and routers that connect all devices.

• Protocols: TCP/IP protocols allow devices to communicate with each other and exchange information.

• Internet Service Providers (ISP): They connect devices to the Internet and assign them unique IP addresses.

What you first need to know about the Internet is that it is a hypertextual information system, cross-platform, distributed, dynamic, and most importantly, interactive. No one owns or controls the Internet, but there are institutions like the W3C and large global corporations like Google that have a significant influence on its ever-growing growth and development.

First steps on the Internet: How to start using the Internet?

When you connect to the Internet, let’s say when you are online; you use a browser like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, or another. Your browser works by connecting to web servers upon your request, when you type in a web address; it downloads content, properly formats everything it has downloaded, and serves and displays it to you as a web page. Your browser can 
display files, download files even when it doesn’t display them, or simply enable you to send and receive emails.

Google Chrome is the most popular Internet browser in the world

 

Every web page is essentially written in HTML – Hypertext Markup Language, and as such, it mostly consists of the web content of the page which is usually textual, descriptions of its structure, links to other pages or documents; images or other media. However, different browsers may display the same page in various ways. That’s why you should always use multiple browsers, especially if you are creating and publishing web pages. It is then necessary to test your pages on as many browsers as possible.

The most popular browsers are definitely Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge. That's why you should always test your serious web projects from them. And only then test on other, less common ones. Some of them you get already installed in your operating system, while others you can install yourself. Watch videos of how some of them are installed:

Windows - 18. How to install Google Chrome Web Browser?

Linux - 16. How to install Google Chrome Web Browser?

Windows - 22. How to install Mozilla Firefox Web Browser ?

Windows - 23. How to install Opera Web Browser ?

Linux - 18. How to Install Opera Web Browser ?

Windows - 24. How to Install Very Old Version Safari for Test Web Pages ?

Linux - 19. How to Install Very Old Version Safari for Test Web Pages ?

Linux - 20. How to Install Microsoft Edge Web Browser ?

Web Servers as the Foundations of Web Sites: What are Web Servers?

To browse content on the Internet, you don’t need a web server, just a browser. But if you want to publish content, then you need space on a web server, which you can rent from a provider or find some free space on the Internet, which we don’t recommend if you’re serious about your web project. A web server is essentially a computer where web pages are located. It is responsible for responding to requests from each browser through a specific port; an entry point.

Web servers do much more than serve files. They also execute code intended to run on the server, manage input forms, and access databases that are also executed on the server. The port for accessing a web server is 80. Each port has its number and IP address, and each IP address is represented by a number. You don’t have to remember these numbers because you see them written as a web address in letters.

12.34.56.789:80 - the number 80 indicates that it is a web server.

You can make your personal server from an ordinary computer. That computer must be constantly turned on, have a constant electrical voltage even when you lose power, and must be online. If you ask us, it’s best to rent hosting from a local provider where you can personally intervene if there are any complications.

Data centers always offer more hosting packages and more security for your website

In addition to a web server, you also need to have a static IP address in order to register a domain. For example, our domain on this blog is manuelradovanovic.com, and it is specially leased in advance for a year or two. You also need to keep in mind that different web servers operate on different platforms. This means that you cannot host your ASP.Net project with a provider that does not offer hosting for ASP.Net.

Even though today you can create web pages with various services like WordPress without knowing and writing HTML, learning and writing HTML must be known, just as you learn the alphabet to be able to read and write. Along with learning HTML, you definitely learn to create CSS styles, and without knowing these things, it is pointless to later learn, for example, the programming language JavaScript.

That would be a terrible oversight, to which you would constantly have to return. The good news is that all these things are easily learned because of their simplicity. Therefore, from the next lesson of this tutorial, we start with practical learning of HTML5 and CSS3. Be sure to catch it!