The majority of bloggers don't know any HTML - which is fine, you don't really need to know any since most blog engines work in the same way as Word does eg. if you want a word to be in bold, you just highlight it and click on the 'B' button. But there are times when a little HTML can be really useful.
For example, you want to include a link in your blog entry to another site, but you don't want that link to take people away from your site. You see, unless you place an additional command in the link 'mark up' code, anyone clicking on a link will leave your site and go to the new one. I am now going to teach you how to get round that in plain English and a few pictures to help!
So, let's start with an example. Say I want to write:
"Yesterday, I met my friend Fiona Parashar at Regents Park." and I want to include a link to Fiona's book on Amazon.
So I...
1 Highlight her name
2 Click on the Insert Link button (the little chain link icon) above the area where I'm typing
3 Paste or type in the Amazon link and
4 Click OK
see image left (click to enlarge)
So now clicking on Fiona's name will take surfers to her book on Amazon, which is ok, except that I've lost them from my site!
So this is what I do next...
I click on the Edit HTML tab (look at the above image again and you'll see it at the top right of the box with the typing in) and insert a teeny little string of code which will mean that anyone clicking on the link will still go to Amazon, but in a NEW window. This means that even if I do lose them for a few minutes, the chances of their coming back and continuing to browse at my site are far greater.
So what is that code?
target="blank"
So where do you insert it?
Well, when you click on the HTML view, you will see that the short sentence
"Yesterday, I met my friend Fiona Parashar at Regents Park."
requires a fair amount of HTML code to create. In fact in HTML, it reads like this (click image to enlarge)...
Put simply, HTML is a code or mark up language which turns ordinary text into what we see when we browse the web or read emails. It does this by using universally accepted text 'tags' which command the content, in this case text, to behave in a certain way. The code command for a text link is made up of several parts, but I want to keep this simple, so all you need to know is that every letter or digit has a purpose, so careful positioning of the code is crucial.
You will see in the image above, that after the word friend, there is a 'less than' symbol ie. < . That is the beginning of the command. Run your eye along the digits and letters until you see the > symbol which is the end of the first part of the command. You will find it just before the words Fiona Parashar. You need to insert the magic code, target="blank" , before the > and right after the quote mark ("). So you end up with this (click image below)...
You have just commanded the link to open in a new window, so you won't lose your visitor! Try clicking on Fiona's name below to see what I'm talking about...
"Yesterday, I met my friend Fiona Parashar at Regents Park."
To do it again in another example, just remember to place the string (target="blank") right before the end of the first command symbol, which is > . Don't be scared, practice. If it doesn't work, you've just put it in the wrong place or accidentally deleted something. So, just correct it!
It is so worth learning this little trick - Good luck!
