As I’d mentioned in the last post, we’re going to take a more WordPress and website-specific approach over the next little while.
A website, WordPress or otherwise, is composed of a minimum of three technologies that work cooperatively to generate what you see and interact with in your web browser.
These three are HTML, CSS and PHP. I’ve mentioned HTML and CSS in a previous post. To recap HTML is Hypertext Markup Language and it is used to give structure to a web page. It defines what will be on the page. CSS or Cascading Style Sheets on the other hand define the look and feel of the page (where elements are placed, what colour they are, etc.). PHP is Hypertext Preprocessor and it is used to tell the server what to display on the page and when. Because it works on the server, the PHP code is not visible in browser (because browsers are on the website viewer’s computer).
In reading (or re-reading) that last paragraph you may have felt like you were back in school, which brings us to today’s subject…w3schools.com.
w3Schools is a fantastic resource if you want to learn more about HTML, CSS or PHP (and a variety of other web-related topics). It’s completely free to use and each topic is set out in a lesson by lesson format with lots of practice exercises thrown in to help you get comfortable with the material covered.
Why would you want to make use of this site? Every now and then when working on a website we all wonder if there was a way to do something. For me w3schools is the first place I go when I come across something I don’t understand and want to get a basic grounding in it.
Ever wondered how you can add a horizontal line on a web page to add emphasis or delineate a section on the page? Try the <hr> HTML tag on w3schools.
Or have you ever wanted to know what the code was for a particular shade of blue or any other colour? Check out the colour tutorial.
Or have you seen the <h1>, <h2>, <h3> tags on other webpages and wanted to know exactly what they were? Look up HTML Headings lesson.
The great thing about w3schools is that there are a lot of things that you can learn about the web and the technologies that under pin it. And it can all be done at your own pace and at absolutely no cost.
Rewards Continue
I’m continuing my efforts to build up the viewership of the IT4Worship Facebook page. If those of you with Facebook accounts will “Like” the page (https://facebook.com/it4worship), I will be able to reach a threshold where Facebook actually provides reader statistics.
Let me know that you have liked the page via email and I’ll send you a set of 4 landscape images that are perfect for displaying on your websites or in graphics for sermons, slides, etc. The images are royalty- and attribution-free so you can use them however you like.
Please let me know in the comments below if you’ve found this post useful (or not) and if you have any follow up questions.
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