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These instructions, called tags
, are embedded in every Web page, though you probably
won't see them.
Note: If you'd like to see
the HTML behind this Web page, choose Page Source or
Source from your browser's View menu.
Tags are used to change the
appearance of text (font, size, etc.), to arrange the
elements of a page, and to make the page functional (with
linking, motion, data processing, etc.).
And tags are used to include
images and sounds in a Web page. When your browser starts to
display a page, it sees those "image tags" and requests the
image files from the Web server. It then displays the images
in the appropriate places.
That explains why you'll often see
the text of a Web page before the images. And why,
occasionally, a Web page appears to be completely loaded,
but the browser will show that it's still loading because an
image file still hasn't arrived.
Of course there's more than one
Web browser out there, each with a slightly different take
on how to follow HTML instructions. And, HTML is evolving
day by day. So one browser may support an HTML tag that no
other supports, or it may just respond differently to that
tag than other browsers.
In general, Web designers test
their sites to ensure that you'll have a good experience
with any recent version of the most popular browsers,
Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. But occasionally,
you'll find a site where some of the pages, or some of the
site's features, can't be displayed correctly using your Web
browser.
What can you do? If it's important
enough to you, you can install both Navigator and Internet
Explorer. But when it comes to differences between Windows
and Mac OS versions of those browsers, unless you're willing
to fork over the cash for another computer, you may have to
settle for a complaint to the site's Webmaster (the
person tasked with maintaining the site).
A Web page can also link to files
that no browser, by itself, can display. Certain formats of
sound, video, or animation require browser plug-ins
—add-ons that allow your browser to display the file
format), or helper applications —separate programs
that will open and play a particular file format when it's
received.
You can configure your browser to
use a plug-in or helper application whenever it sees a file
it can't open. We'll learn more about plug-ins a little
later in Jazzing Up Your Web
Browser.
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