A webpage (or indeed, any text) has two parts: content and the presentation of content. For example, in a newspaper the content is all the words, the formatting is the different font styles and layout applied to headings, paragraph and images. Formatting provides important (non textual) visual clues to a reader about how to read an article, what bits are important, what themes are being discussed etc. For example, in this help I use a blue background to indicate a heading.
Like a newspaper, a webpage needs to use formatting on various bits of text to guide readers through the process of understanding its content.
ASIDE |
Even plain text in book contains formatting, such as spaces between words and a regular line size (usually dicated by the physical size of the page :-) |
There are two ways that text can be formatted in a webpage:
Using HTML Tags.
Using Style Sheets.
For a discussion on the relative benefits of each, see the discussion about Using Styles. There are three ways of using styles in HotDog:
Inline Styles: Inline style definitions store the style information in the tag to which it applies - it will affect no other tags.
External Style Sheets: External style sheets store all the style information in a separate file - that is, linked to by each webpage.
Document Styles: Document style definitions store the style information in its entirety at the top of each webpage.
If you are new to styles, try using the Format Font and Format Paragraph dialogs (instructions below) until you are familiar with the syntax.
Using the Format Character Dialog.
Using the Format Paragraph Dialog.