If you’re new to web development, you might be wondering what tools you need to get started. One essential tool is a good text editor. While there are many options out there, Mac users have one built right into their operating system: TextEdit.
In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through how to use TextEdit for HTML. First, open up your Applications folder and find TextEdit. When you open TextEdit for the first time, you may need to go into Preferences, then Open/Save, and turn on “Display HTML files as HTML code.” If you don’t have this turned on, your TextEdit window will appear differently.
Next, when you go into a new document and preferences, make sure to turn on “Plain Text” if you have “Rich” setup. If you don’t, you’ll get a different type of TextEdit window with a ruler setup.
After setting up your preferences, you can begin typing your HTML code. As you work, you’ll notice that TextEdit tries to help by adding formatting to the font. However, this can cause problems when you try to open your HTML file in a web browser. To avoid this, make sure to save your file as plain text and with the HTML extension.
To see the difference between rich text and plain text, save two versions of your file: one as “index rich text.html” and the other as “index plain.html.” Then, open both files in a web browser. You’ll notice that the rich text file displays the code in an undesirable way, while the plain text file displays only what you want it to.
It’s important to note that when you save web pages, you should always call them “index.html” and save them in HTML format. This is the standard for web pages.
In conclusion, TextEdit is a simple but effective tool for creating HTML files. Just make sure to set your preferences to plain text and HTML format, and you’ll be on your way to creating beautiful web pages.