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Common HTML Errors

While most aspects of HTML are relatively easy to understand with practice, the language is notoriously picky about even slight errors. If you find what appears to be a massive problem with your page, don't get frustrated. Even if nothing shows up at all, it could be as simple as one misplaced letter or punctuation!

The most frequent errors are simple spelling mistakes. Remember that <img src> is NOT the same as <img scr>; <a href> is NOT the same as <a hrf>.

Another easy mistake to make, especially if you type quickly, is forgotten punctuation and brackets. A missing quotation mark or bracket (> or <) will make things look very different. These are usually the mistakes that make whole pages seem to vanish. Also check to make certain all your statements have the proper closing tags. A missing </a> or </table> can have a seemingly catastropic effect on the layout of a page, while the mistake is actually really simple. This is especially true when using tables, as one missing </tr> can run two entire rows together and seem to really mess up your layout.

Likely the most sensitive part of HTML is file names; just like looking for a file on your Hard Drive, if even one letter or file extension is missing or incorrect, the file will not be found. For the most part, HTML is not case-sensitive; however file names are. <blockquote> is the same as <BLOCKQUOTE>, but "dog.gif" is NOT the same as "DOG.gif". If part of your page is loading incorrectly, or graphics are not showing up, check all the file names and extensions.

Along the same lines with the above spelling problems, remember that browser software written in English almost always uses American English, so a tag like <centre> or an attribute (like colour) would not work if spelled as shown. This took much getting used to for me; I have spelled many words using "Brittish English" my entire life. The habbit will break in time, however.

I cannot state enough that typing HTML correctly is essential. One slight typo, and all your work may be for naught if you can't identify the glitch. If you are having a problem you just can't seem to solve, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. I will do my best to answer all mail within 24 hours. There is a link in the sidebar of ever page in this site.

Browser-Specific Glitches

If you insert an extra </b> or </i> tag in your HTML, Netscape 4.0 will treat this as a </font> tag. This may not have any visible effect, but it just as easily could. Keep a close eye out for this.

One suggestion for avoiding Browser-Specific Errors:
I keep a copy of a dozen or so different web browsers on CD-Rs (If you don't have a burner, ZIP disks will work nicely). This way I can preview my pages in multiple browsers to see how they look. In many cases it is impossible to accomadate everyone, so as a general rule, keep your page looking good in the most current version of a given browser. Most webmasters don't feel like going to great lengths to support those who don't want to update. After all, the software is free; the only investment is download time.

The Most Important Warning in the World!!!

If you are using an online HTML editor, always back up your files on your hard drive or some sort of removable media. I have heard to many horror stories from people who have lost hundreds of hours of work because some little glitch in the HTML editor didn't save their work, or grossly modified it in some fashion. I use CoffeeCup HTML Editor, an offline editor by CoffeeCup Software, and I only use online editors to make minor changes. I would recommend you do this too, but if you must use an online editor, save yourself much woe and back up your work every time you edit your page(s).