What the heck is CSS? What every web site owner should know—part two

What the heck is CSS?

Cascading Style Sheets, better known as CSS allows web designers to add styles and other formatting to web pages by creating classes or modifying existing HTML tags.
OK, well then, what the heck does that mean?

Well, to really understand CSS it is important to understand at least the very most basic elements of HTML. HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. It is the basic language of the Internet. What HTML does in a nutshell is add links and pictures to, modify, and format simple text documents hence its name. For the purposes of this article I am going to assume that you already know a little bit about HTML. If not click here for a crash course in HTML.

But I have digressed…

CSS can be used in many different ways. It can be written and saved in a separate file that can be accessed by several pages, added to the head section of a web page, or written "in-line". How and where the CSS is written and attached to the web page determines how you can use it within the web site.

By attaching a stand-alone CSS file two one or more web pages, you can make changes directly to the CSS file and it will affect all the files that are attached to it. In other words; let's say that you have a CSS file that is attached to every page in your web site. If you have a CSS style that formats whenever text is applied to as bold, 14 point, red, with the verdana font in your CSS file and you would like to change it from red to black, all you need to do is change the style within the CSS file. The change that you made will change all of the text from every page in your web site that has that particular style applied to it, from red to black.

By adding the CSS styles to the head of an HTML file; any changes you make to the CSS will affect only that document. For clarity's sake; if you have a style named emphasisText that does the same thing as the above paragraph and you change the font color from red to black it will only affect all the text that has had that style applied to it within that particular document.

When you add a CSS style in-line it will only affect the text that is directly applied to. Therefore, CSS can be used both broadly and very precisely depending upon your needs.

As I said before CSS can be applied as a style, class, or modifier. When it is used in-line it is typically refer to as a style, otherwise it is either a class or modifier.

The easiest way to use it is as a simple HTML tag modifier.
When you define a CSS style that modifies an HTML tag; every time that HTML tag is used the CSS style is applied. For example; if you modified the bold tag to not only bold the enclosed text, but to also italicize it and make it red, then, every time the bold tag is used the text will appear bold, italic and red.

Are you still with me? OK, hang in there. Take a deep breath if you need to…

If you want to create a style that is not attached to any particular HTML tag than you would create a class. A class is a set of styles that can be applied to text are images accordingly.

Classes can be very simple or very complicated. They can be applied without having to modify an HTML tag across the entire document and/or web site.

Now I must admit that CSS can get pretty complicated. Not only is it more in depth then your standard HTML, styles are applied in a certain order. They can overlay one another. Sometimes, they can be hard to keep track of. A style applied directly to a text or image (or any other element for that matter) takes precedence over a class applied to an entire page, which in turn, takes precedence over a style applied to an attached style sheet.

To make matters worse… Many times styles may have the same name, but be located in different areas. This can have unexpected and undesired results. These and other issues can be difficult to track down. Even so, CSS provides an extraordinarily powerful tool that gives web developers are enormous amount of power over their code. Ultimately, despite any complicated issues they can create, it does help to simplify web design and when used properly saves a lot of time.

The actual mechanics of CSS are a little bit outside of the skill of this particular article, but if you subscribe to this blog or join as a member (it's free and easy) my website (click here) I will soon include; and in depth tutorial, a step by step walkthrough with images and some cool and useful CSS code snippets that you can cut copy and paste and your own site (the code snippets will be available only to members of my website).

As usual, if you have any questions or comments then please feel free to e-mail me or post into the comments section. Even better, if you post them to my community forum I will make an extra effort to take care of you.

A crash course in HTML

Unless you've spent the last 20 years under rock you've probably heard of HTML. However, in less your extremely tech-savvy or a web developer you may not have any idea what it is or what it does.

I'm here to fix all that… HTML is an acronym that stands for hypertext markup language. HTML is not really a programming language. All it does is format text. It accomplishes this by using special tags enclosed in angle brackets. Different tags do different things. I.e. The bold tag formats the enclosed text as bold. Not really rocket science huh?

Most (but not all) HTML tags will have an opening tag and a closing tag. The opening tag is placed at the start of the text that you would like formatted and the closing tag is placed at the end everything in between will be affected by that tag. For instance if you want to format a portion of text in Italics the HTML code would look like this;

The quick brown fox ‹I› jumped over ‹/I› the lazy dog.

In the above example the words " jumped over" would appear in Italics when viewed in a browser.

Easy cheesy see? Piece of cake right?

There is a handful of HTML tags that are used a lot and a few more that you don't see very often. So there really is not very much to learn to understand basic HTML. It does however get complicated when you start to add different elements such as cascading style sheets, scripting language and SQL amongst others. That however is beyond the scope of this humble blog posting… If you are interested in learning more be sure to check out my comprehensive HTML tutorial located here http://realestatetechonline.com/Tutorials/LearnHTML/tabid/96/Default.aspx

It can show you in far greater depth what you need to know and give you a thorough understanding of how HTML, browsers and web pages in general work. Armed with this knowledge, you can accomplish much. By understanding the basics you are sure to become a much more effective website owner.

Feel free to leave any comments or questions that you may have and I will do my best to answer them for you. Until next time; keep surfin'!

Choosing a Webmaster

Choosing a webmaster can be a challenging task. Creating a website is a big investment so naturally you want to find the best man/woman for the job. Hopefully this article will shed a little light on your quest.

Here are a few things that you should consider:

1.) Your budget. Know what it is before you begin to negotiate. Don't be afraid to share this information with your webmaster. You can perhaps start a little low and hold some of your budget in reserve when you're negotiating, but it is difficult for the webmaster to make an accurate estimate without a ballpark figure for budget. I don't recommend that you tell exactly how much you're willing to spend, just a round figure so your webmaster will know " the league hewill be playing in".With that said, if you want the moon and the stars, be willing to pay for them. Building a website is a time consuming venture and a good designer will want to be paid a fair price.


2.) Know what you want. Make sure you have a general idea regarding what you are looking for. The more information you can provide your webmaster at the start the easier, faster, better the results will turn out. Outline your ideas, sketch pictures, and provide a list of websites that you like with a notation of the features that you found particularly appealing. This will go long way to helping your webmaster understand your vision.

3.) Provide Content. What do you want your site to say. The more the better; as far as the search engines are concerned text is king. Search engines can’t “read” pictures or images and therefore they do not help your websites ranking.

It should be you that rights the original draft of your content. Regardless of your writing ability, if the original sentiment comes from you it will most likely convey your message. Your webmaster or other individuals can edit it and/or rewrite completely, but even if that’s the case the original sentiment should be yours.

4.) If you have a shoestring budget, then consider a template.
Template Monster is a good place to start. Their templates are priced fair and more importanly, they are retired after 10 downloads. This way you can be assured your site is relatively original. The have hundreds of real estate sites to choose from.

*I have used them with great results. I should tell you I am an affiliate.

5.) Time. The more time you can devote to upkeep and new content the better. You will only get as much out of your site as you are willing to put into it.

6.) Marketing. I have written a couple of articles re: marketing. You can find them scattered around this blog. Marketing your website is a wide ranging topic that I will get into here. However if you subscribe to my blog I will continue to reveal new tips, tricks and secrets about marketing online

How to make a few bucks online Part II

If you haven't been following along you can click here to see part one which talks about setting up a blog online.

I have included a free step by step How To Setup Your Blog tutorial complete with pictures containing big red arrows to help you out every step of the way. It's easy, it's free and it it will take less than 10 minutes to get started. Incidentally, if you're wondering, I'm not selling you anything.

Once you have your blog and have published a few posts, you will probably want to start using it to make money. The first thing that you will need to do is set up an account with Google AdSense. I know I mention this in part one of the series, but now will look at it in a little bit more depth.

The Google AdSense program is in outstanding affiliate ad program. What does is allow you to run advertisements on your website or blog. This is how they do it; and advertiser signs up for a Google AdWords account and selects some key words to bid on. Google will then display those ads on web sites or pages that are appropriate for whatever keyword the advertiser was bidding on.

Here's where you come in. Not only does Google run the ads on its own web sites and search engine, it allows affiliates (people such as yourself) to display the these ads on their own web sites and share in the profit. So every time one of your visitors clicks on an ad Google adds the appropriate amount of money to your account. At the end of the month Google sends you a check. There it is a $100 minimum though. If you do not have $100 in your account your balance will roll over into the next month and this will continue until you have $100.

There are few things that make this program stand apart. I've tried many other affiliate programs with little or no success. In my experience the Google AdSense program works. It works because it serves the ads that people want to see. Google generates the ads based on keywords that pertain to whatever it is your website or blog is all about.

While it is possible to earn a lot of money this way, most people will just earn a few hundred bucks every month or two. It might not make you rich, but it may just cover a car payment or give you a few extra bucks in your pocket. All it really takes is spending half an hour or so two or three times a week on your blog.

Your profits will take time to build up. First google will have to approve your application. Then, you will have to build your content. Finally, you will need to publicize and market your blog or website to build readership.

I will be covering all of the things in depth in future installments of this blog. If you subscribe to this blog I was in you an email every time it is updated with new info. If you stick with me through this there's a really good chance you can earn some serious money in your spare time. I will walk you through the whole process step by step with pictures, tutorials, walkthroughs and advice.

Subscribe to Marc Everlove's Tech Tips by Email

If you start a blog, leave a comment or email me, I would love to see it!

Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day. This will take some time to get rolling. However, once it gets up to speed, your blog can make you money while you sleep. People from all over the world can visit your blog anytime day or night. When they do come, some of them are bound to click on one of your ads.

You can make anywhere from 3¢ to 10 bucks on a single click! It all depends on how popular the keywords that are contained in your blog or to advertisers. When a key word is really popular advertisers will bid quite high for it. Regardless of whether you're ads make a lot of money per click or just a modest amount, you will be surprised how fast they add up.

I can tell you this; it is really nice to see that google check, the mail with the usual pile of bills. Think about it… Isn't it about time you got started?

How to create your own blog tutorial walkthrough...

As a follow up to my blog post: Heck with the economy; How to make a few bucks online, I have published a pictorial walkthrough on one of my websites...

Feel free to stop by and check it out.

RealEstateTechOnline.com How To Set Up A Blogger.com Blog Walkthrough.

Leave a comment if you have any questions, or I can help you out...

Enjoy!