Saving a Starting Template

The top-level elements you have added so far are included in every HTML document you will create. You can save your current document so you can re-use it later as a template, if you like.

Note

In the following, you are instructed to save your file in your MyHTML folder. This folder is automatically created for you when you extract the contents of the zip file containing the example files for this book. If you have not yet downloaded and extracted the example files, return to "Downloading the Example Files" in the Friday Evening session.

Windows: To save your document as a template in Windows, just do the following:

1. Select File, Save.

2. In the My Documents folder, double-click the MyHTML folder to open it. (This assumes that you extracted the example files to your My Documents folder. If you extracted them to another location, first navigate and open that folder, and then open the MyHTML folder.)

3. Select All Files (*.*) from the Save as type list.

4. Type startpage.html in the File name box and click the Save button.

   Tip

   Earlier, under "Running Your Text Editor," I recommended that you turn on display of file extensions in Windows. If you have done that, you can skip Step 3 when saving an HTML file. If you have left display of file extensions turned off and do not select All files (*.*) as the file type, however, Windows will tack a .txt extension onto the end of the file name (for example, startpage.html.txt).This may fool you later into thinking it is an HTML file, since the .txt extension will not be displayed, but many Web browsers will not display it (displaying the raw HTML codes or opening the file in a Notepad window, for instance).

5. Select File, Save As, to resave your file under a different name, so you can continue to work with it in this session, without overwriting the template file you just saved.

6. Type tutor1.html as the file name and click the Save button.

Macintosh: If using SimpleText on the Macintosh, do the following to save a starting template:

1. Select File, Save.

2. If not already selected, select the Desktop. Double-click the MyHTML folder to open it. (This assumes that you extracted the example files to your Desktop. If you extracted them to another location, first navigate and open that folder, and then open the MyHTML folder.)

3. Type startpage.html as the document name and click the Save button.

4. Select File, Save As, to resave your file under a different name, so you can continue to work with it in this session, without overwriting the template file you just saved.

5. Type tutor1.html as the file name and click the Save button.

Note

If you are using a text editor other than Windows Notepad or SimpleText on the Macintosh, the steps for saving and resaving an HTML file should be very similar to the steps detailed above. Just open the MyHTML folder (created when you extracted the example files), save your file as startpage.html, and then resave it as tutor1.html. (This session is the first HTML tutorial, which is why you are saving the example file here as tutor1.html.)