This page is part of the Web Communications Guide to Getting Your Home Page on the Web. It provides information on the most common errors people make when formatting documents in HTML, and on recognizing which problems are caused by which errors.

The errors documented on this page are the product of miss-typed and missing tags. More subtle errors of style and technique are not covered by this page, but are instead addressed in the the Web Communications HTML Guide.

To display your page, enter http://webcom.com/~webcom/youruserid/ into your browser. This is your default URL, the address visitors will use to access your site in most cases. Many graphical Web browsers will allow you to enter this where the URL of the current page (this page) is displayed. Others (for example WinWeb) may require you to enter a new URL into a menu item. "youruserid" should be replaced by the account name you use to log onto WebCom.

If you are using a text mode browser to view this page, most likely you are using Lynx from a dial up Unix shell session.

Enter "lynx http://webcom.com/~webcom/youruserid/" at the shell prompt to load your page, or if already in Lynx (such as when viewing this page), hit "g" and enter "http://webcom.com/~webcom/youruserid/" at the prompt to view your home page. "youruserid" should be replaced by the account name you use to log onto WebCom. This is your default URL, the address visitors will use to access your site in most cases.

Other text mode browsers should work similiarly, since in most cases they are based on a common design.

Hopefully, your page will appear correctly. If not, the following tips should help you locate the errors causing it.

First, choose the "Document Source" option in your graphical browser (if you are using lynx, hit the backslash "\" key) to view the plain text document (or source) you edited to create your home page. Move to the area where the problem appears to be, and check for the following common errors:

A missing < or > around a tag.
Example Code: <STRONG>We guarantee it!STRONG> (the leading < is missing from the second tag) and example page.
A missing forward slash "/" in the closing tag.
Example Code: <STRONG>We're Number One!<STRONG> (the "/" at the beginning of the closing tag is missing) and example page.
A missing closing tag.
Example Code: <ADDRESS>joe@acme.com (no closing tag at all!) and example page.
A typo in the tag.
Example Code: <ADRESS>joe@acme.com</ADDRESS> (the first ADDRESS is missing a D) and example page.

These can cause any number of strange things, from missing sections of text, to sections of text which are improperly formatted (bolded, in all capitals, in extremely large fonts), to pages which are completely blank! Once you've debugged a few pages, you'll be able to spot errors and recognize their causes almost as soon as you see a page. Most errors occur when you go back and change a page, and forget to change both the opening and closing tags, or through simple typos.

If all else fails, go back and compare your edited file with the template. The tags must all appear exactly as they do in the template, there must be quotes surrounding all the filenames, and every < should be matched by a >.

There are tools available which will check your HTML code and list any errors they locate. See the Web Communications Checking Your HTML Code page for more information on them.

When everything shows up all right, then you've successfully installed your new home page. If you wish to go on further, lesson two discusses how to create a more complex page, with a list and an address section and strongly and normally emphasized text.

If you feel you understand the basic concepts, you may want to look at the HTML Overview and/or the HTML Guide before going further.