HTML and Web Design Basics for Computer Operator: Tags, Tables, Forms and CSS

Web design is one of the practical-test topics for Computer Operator, and HTML questions also appear in Paper I and Paper II. This note covers the structure of an HTML page, common tags, lists, tables, links, images, forms and the basics of CSS.

1. Basic terms

2. Structure of an HTML page

<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>My Page</title> </head> <body> ... </body> </html>

• <html> is the root element.
• <head> holds the title, meta information and links to CSS.
• <title> text appears on the browser tab.
• <body> holds everything visible on the page.
• HTML files are saved with the extension .html or .htm.

3. Common tags

4. Lists and tables

• <ul> unordered (bulleted) list; <ol> ordered (numbered) list; <li> each list item.
• <dl> description list with <dt> (term) and <dd> (description).
• <table> creates a table; <tr> row; <td> data cell; <th> header cell.
• colspan merges cells across columns; rowspan merges cells down rows.
• The border, cellpadding and cellspacing attributes control table spacing.

5. Links, images and forms

• <a href="page.html" target="_blank"> opens the link in a new tab.
• <a href="mailto:..."> creates an email link.
• The alt attribute of <img> gives alternate text if the image cannot load.
• <form> collects user input; action sets where data goes; method is GET or POST.
• Input types: text, password, radio, checkbox, submit, reset, email, date, file.
• <select> with <option> creates a drop-down list; <textarea> creates a multi-line text box.

6. CSS basics

• A CSS rule has a selector and a declaration (property: value).
• #id selects one element by id; .class selects all elements with that class.
• Common properties: color, background-color, font-size, font-family, margin, padding, border, text-align.

7. Web terms often asked

• URL: address of a web page; domain name: e.g. loksewapathsala.com.
• Web server: computer that stores and serves websites.
• Static website: same content for everyone; dynamic website: content generated by programs and databases.
• Web hosting: renting server space to publish a website.
• WWW was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989.

8. Common tags at a glance