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HTML Writing Tips - Good Practice |
| This is for those old dogs like me, who still write using the old basic HTML. In future versions of HTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) will be used to define the layout and display properties of HTML elements. I wrote this tutorial for those who experience those dreaded tiny font problems in their listings when eBay is experiencing difficulties with their system, and who are not yet comfortable using CSS. The last time this happened, I looked at the source code of several listings of those affected. I felt that during this time, these listings which contained HTML errors, most notably was the use of the paragraph tag in tables and also errors in the font attributes, were the listings that were displaying the fonts either tiny or messed up. I use this old style basic HTML and feel I have pretty good practice methods, and I have never experienced any of our listings showing with tiny fonts. What I would like to suggest is that if you are having these problems, then re-write a couple of your listings using the tips below. The next time you notice your listings are being displayed with the tiny fonts, then check the listings you re-wrote to verify they are ok. If they are, then this is your problem and you should re-write all your listings. If you are not sure what the basic terms of HTML are, such as tags, element content, attributes, values, please refer to the What is HTML and A Few Basic Tags Tutorials. |
| NOT USING TABLES If you don't use tables, you should have your element content between paragraph tags. The order of attributes added to your font tag should be face, then size, then color. Always include a value for your size attribute, a value for your color attribute is only required if you need a color other than black. A bold tag always follows after the font tag, not before. Did you know that errors can be caused if you put the bold tag in front of the font tag? Be sure and close the tags, these are called the end tags, in the reverse order of the start tags. A typical string of start tags are the paragraph tag, the font tag and then the bold tag. After your element content, a typical string of end tags are the bold tag, the font tag and last is the paragraph tag. When using a color code, be sure to enter a # in front of the color code. Here is a list of color codes, and I recommend using the non-dithering codes up top. I also don't recommend using fancy font faces. I like to stick with a basic one. My standard font face I use is Arial. Be sure that all values of the attributes are in quotes, this is good practice. |
| You can see how I wrote the HTML for the above paragraphs in the text box below. If you copy and paste this code in a practice board, you will see the results. |
| USING A TABLE |
| When I was first learning how to write HTML, a few years back, I read that paragraph tags <p> should never be used within a table. If you use tables, then you would use the line break <br> tag. The line break tag forces a line break wherever you place it. Each time I require another "paragraph", I enter two line break tags, for two line breaks. If I decide to change my font attributes within my text, I would end the first tags with the end tags in the reverse order and then enter my new tags |
| Or start another row , either way is correct. You will see what I mean in the example below. |
| To center a section you should not use line break tags and then the center tags to center the text or image. You should start another row with that row centered, such as the code in this line, which you will see what I mean in the example below. |
| The same good practice tips above in the Not Using Tables are the same, with the exception of using a paragraph tag. |
| These are a few quick tips, and as I think of more, I will add to this page. |
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