Basic HTML For Bloggers

Everything is so automated these days it can seem like you have no reason to learn any HTML. Blogger, Wordpress and all the other platforms have nice clean interfaces for uploading pictures, formatting your text, and anything else you might want to do in your day-to-day blogging. But sometimes they're not working, or perhaps they just seem to be messing up for no apparent reason. That's when a little HTML comes in handy.

What is HTML?

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, which is the standard markup language for creating web pages. As Wikipedia puts it: web browsers use HTML to interpret and compose text, images, and other material into visual or audible web pages.

It started life way back in 1989 when Tim Berners Lee, computer scientist extraordinaire, had the idea of conjoining hypertext and the internet. The result was the World Wide Web! HTML is still constantly evolving; we're currently on the fifth version of the language, HTML5.

How does HTML work?

HTML uses tags to create elements, which come together to form a document.

Or, to put it another way, HTML uses commands written in angle brackets to create an individual component of a web page. Put together, these components will form a - hopefully! - aesthetically pleasing web page when viewed via your web browser.

To give you a quick example of how it works in practice, here are a couple of sentences I wrote using HTML:

Check out this ^AWESOME guide to Pinterest.

- a blogging guide by Babi a Fi.
And here they are without any:

Check out this AWESOME guide to interest. - a blogging guide by Babi a Fi.

Big difference, huh?

What HTML should I know?

As a blogger you won't really use any structural tags - commands which tell the browser about the basics of the page - with, perhaps, the exception of meta tags. They're the ones aimed at search engines, and so are often used for SEO (search engine optimisation) purposes.

This post will focus on giving you a grounding in three areas: Text Formatting, Links and Images.

Text Formatting

There are lots of cool things you can do to your text with HTML. You can make it bold, you can make it italicised, and you can underline it. You can make it _subscript, ^superscript, or strike it through. You can change the font size, colour and even the actual font itself.


To make your text a specific colour, you can use hex codes. Black is #000000, for example, while red is #FF0000. Wiki has a great article on web colours HERE. When you're choosing a font, you can select a back up in case the browser can't display it. Read more about it - and the fonts available - HERE.

Images

Blogging and pretty pictures tend to go hand in hand - and HTML can have almost as big an impact as the effort you took in creating the image in the first place.

Please note that this uses the CSS (cascading style sheets) based 'style' property. CSS helps user interfaces with the presentation of documents in markup language and, although pure HTML attributes are simpler, HTML5 no longer supports them.

Links

We all know how important they are! Here are some of the extra things you can do with them:

Review: The Ashbridge Inn

I was so pleased this week to be asked to review The Ashbridge Inn in Pontrhydyrun, Cwmbran, part of the Table Table restaurant brand. I have lots of memories of visiting The Ashbridge growing up, back when it was part of a different chain - many moments of sibling rivalry were played out to their natural conclusion amidst the organised chaos that was Charlie Chalks' Fun Factory...

When you walk into The Ashbridge today it's like a different world. Gone is the acrid tang of sweaty feet emanating from said Fun Factory and the accompanying screeching, in its place is modern decor, comfy seating, and an atmosphere of cheerful calm.

We - my Mum, Anthony, Marianna and I - went for a late lunch, with the table booked for 1:30pm. As soon as we arrived we were shown to our table, a swanky leather half-moon booth with a view out to the bar, and provided with a highchair for Marianna. She was grouchy and clingy, whingy and loud, but there were lots of other families eating, and the layout of the restaurant gives each table enough privacy that you don't feel as stressed as you otherwise might with a screaming baby.

There were Easter activities available: some awesome looking face painting (which sadly I knew Marianna would not keep still for), and some easter egg colouring sheets with little packs of crayons. We went for the latter which kept her amused while we ordered our drinks and looked through the menu.

No colouring, but the crayons were fascinating enough...
There was such a fab choice of food though, in the end, my Mum and I still opted for our usual gammon steak and chips (£8.79). Anthony had the cauliflower and asparagus macaroni cheese (£7.99). Our food arrived really quickly, and tasted absolutely gorgeous. I find gammon can often be a bit dry when eating out but this wasn't dry at all, something my Mum commented on too. Even Anthony cleared his plate!

I knew Marianna wouldn't eat much, but we decided to order her something from the kids menu and see how she went. I was so impressed with it! You can get two courses from the main kids' menu for £1.99 before 5pm, Mon - Sat, or £3.99 in the evening - even better you can pick and choose from a selection of mains and sides. We settled on poppin' chicken nuggets, skinny cut fries and baked beans. True to form she just picked at it (and threw some chips on the floor *sigh*), but for that value I didn't really mind!

The kids' menu - awesome value for money, and on the back they have a selection of junior meals, smaller versions of adult meals, perfect for youngsters (or oldsters) who can't manage an adult sized portion but feel too grown up for the main kids' range.  You can check the menus out online.
After the main course the staff were around really quickly to clear the plates, and refill the drinks. They were wearing bunny ears in readiness for Easter, and some had gone the full hog and sat for a face painting session. Marianna was most impressed with a minion on one waiter's forehead! The staff were so friendly throughout our entire visit, and I never once felt like Marianna's fussing and grouching was an imposition.

For dessert I chose vanilla dairy ice cream with raspberry sauce (£3.59), Anthony had a scrummy looking chocolate and caramel tart (£4.99), while my mum went for apple and blueberry crumble (£4.49). Marianna had the best dessert of all: the scary face sundae! All the kids' desserts are really cool; my favourite was the 'Graveyard Horror', a wafer coffin filled with chocolate mousse soil, gummy bones and skulls! Other options include a design your own iced biscuit, and lime slime jelly.

I had way too much fun making the face for Marianna.
Again, the desserts were gorgeous, and Marianna forgot her fussiness as soon as ice cream was involved...

It was so lovely to go out for lunch - it's been months since the last time we did - and, although it's a much different experience with a baby than without, the restaurant is so family friendly. The laid back atmosphere, cheerful staff, and the Easter activities going on combined to make us feel really welcome and at ease.


I've been writing about visiting as a family, but the restaurant covers a lot of floor space, and has plenty of private booths - if you visited as a couple, or a group of adults,  I definitely don't think you would feel overwhelmed by children and families, even in the day. There is a nice bar area too, if you're waiting to be seated, or just want a drink, and picnic style benches outside for when the weather is fine. Plus, if you're visiting from further afield, there's a very handy Premier Inn which is literally right next door.

A quick mention of the other amenities: the car park is large and doesn't require any walking, a bus stop on the main route through Torfaen (X24) is situated almost directly opposite, and it's only about a 25 minute walk from Cwmbran Shopping. The loos were spotless, and the dining area itself was really clean too. The value for money was fab. I really couldn't find anything to nitpick about.

In short, I'd recommend The Ashbridge Inn to anyone. I'm sure we'll be making many more visits over the next few years!

Review: One Third Stories

Languages open up a whole world of new opportunities and new experiences, and Anthony and I both determined that Marianna will buck the Welsh trend of rather dismal modern foreign language take up. Welsh is all well and good, of course, but unless you really want to live and work in Wales forever, or just love watching live coverage of Young Farmers' Conference, its use is somewhat limited.

The problem is, how do we introduce languages to young children in a way which makes them both accessible and fun? This is what One Third Stories have set out to accomplish and their approach is really something to get excited about!

Instead of throwing you in at the deep end, or just skirting the edges with a word followed by its translation, One Third Stories substitute English words for their counterparts, relying on the context of the surrounding sentence to clarify their meaning. >br />
This short story follows a little girl who has lost her voice - the first couple of pages are English only, then Spanish words begin to appear as you move through the tale. This is such a fab idea, and feels a very natural way of learning new vocabulary. Enabling children to pick up those key words of the story very quickly is essential, as it inspires them to keep going by proving that they can do it. It's so much better than endlessly reciting the same thing over and over again, the way so many forays into language learning begin.

We were sent a prototype story book before the kickstarter campaign. (You can read more about their journey at the One Third Stories website.) The story was unfinished as they were running a competition for children to write their own ending.

Marianna is obviously too young to come up with an ending for the story herself, so just for laughs I got my big kid (Anthony) to tell us what happens next:


The focus at the moment is on French and Spanish - if you sign up to the One Third Stories website newsletter you get a free introductory audiobook, to try out the method for yourself - but expansion into other languages isn't too far away. I'm going to be following their progress closely!

What do you think? Do you speak any other languages?

Follow vs. No Follow Links

When I started this blog I was completely mystified by the difference between follow and no follow links. Here is an explanation of what they are, and when you should use each.

What is a Follow Link?

Follow links are your bog standard, normal links. You create them in the usual way:


They tell the world that you like and trust the link, and aren't ashamed who knows it!

What is a No Follow Link?

No Follow links, as a concept, date back to 2005 when Matt Cutts of Google and Jason Shellen of Blogger joined forces to combat spam in blog comments. Blogger has a tick box to make a link no follow, or you can use the rel attribute like so:


No Follow links suggest to the world that you're not quite sure about the link. You're happy to send your readers there, but you're not happy for all the little search engine bots to connect the two of you - your page ranking won't have any impact on the ranking of the website you're linking to.

Think of it kind of like accepting a friend request on Facebook, but then altering your privacy settings so they can't see all of your posts. On the face of it you're best buddies, but scratch the surface and it's clear you're not happy to share everything them.

You can make all the links in a post no follow by using this html:

When Should You Use a No Follow Link?

Originally, making a link no follow was a way of reducing spam - Wordpress, for example, automatically makes all links in comments no follow. By 2010 however the no follow attribute was being repurposed as a way of marking a link as paid for, the idea being that you shouldn't be able to pay to increase your page rank.

Google has recently issued guidance for bloggers which states that any links which come about because of sponsored posts, or items sent in exchange for review should be no follow because 'these links didn’t come about organically (i.e., the links wouldn’t exist if the company hadn’t offered to provide a free good or service in exchange for a link).'

I had a great question in the comments about linky / blog party badges - general consensus is that they should be 'no follow' but, again, it raises questions. No money is changing hands, and you've chosen to join in with the linky.
The question marks represent instances where the decision comes down to your own judgement - would you have included this link off your own back? Google's own position can often be contradictory; you should add value to your article and link to relevant sites, but you shouldn't link to anything which might benefit you, irrespective of whether or not those sites are the same. In fact, Google's various websites have often fallen foul of their own no follow policies, although unsurprisingly it made little or no impact on their page ranking or position in search results...

Whatever you do, don't make all your outbound links no follow. You'll be penalised for that too!

What Happens If I Refuse to No Follow?

Making a paid link no follow is a guideline not a law - you're not going to find the police banging on your door because you haven't done it. Instead Google will sanction you if they discover you haven't followed their advice. This can happen to big companies - Interflora were removed from Google search results in 2013 after sending bloggers flowers in return for follow links - and small bloggers too.

The penalty placed on your website can last anywhere from 30 days to forever if you make no attempt to clean up your links. If you do go through and sort out your outbound links, and submit a reconsideration request, you can be back to normal in a matter of weeks.

Why Would I Follow Anyway?

If somebody contacts you and wants a link for PR (public relations) purposes, they're likely to be happy with it being no follow. The follow link would be a risk to them too (remember the Interflora example), and they're mostly interested in increasing their brand recognition and using your recommendation to encourage people to visit their website.

If they want the link for SEO (search engine optimisation) purposes, they're unlikely to settle for a no follow link. No follow won't give their site any benefit in terms of page rank or search engine results.

In this case, you really need to weigh up how big of a threat a Google penalty is to your blog. Where does your traffic come from? If the bulk of it comes from Google, the risk of a penalty is big. If your traffic comes from elsewhere, it doesn't matter as much. Similarly, it depends what you're being offered in return for the follow link - follow links usually mean bigger payments, so if you need money that may well override any consideration of how Google will view the transaction.

Review: FabLittleBag

Let's talk about periods.

The average period lasts 6 days. The average woman will have 500 periods over her lifetime.

The first modern tampons hit shop shelves in the UK in 1938, and today some 60% of women in the UK use tampons during their period.

That's a lot of tampons to dispose of!

It may be tempting, but you should never flush a tampon down the toilet. They either block your pipework, or they build up further down the system and cause a blockage there. Plus, let's face it, most plumbing in the UK is so dire it will take about 20 flushes to get it into the pipework in the first place.

So, instead, you're left wrapping it in wads of toilet roll - incurring the wrath of those who are left paperless after you - and putting it in the bin. But no more!

Welcome to the FabLittleBag.

Remove the white plastic strip to reveal the adhesive.
The brainchild of Martha Silcott, FabLittleBag is such a clever invention. They are what they say on the tin - a little bag you put your used tampon in. But to say it like that really undersells what's so great about them.

They're designed to be used one handed, with built in finger loops which allow you to hold the bag open. You pop the soiled tampon in, then you press the bag closed - the adhesive strip doing the hard work - and put the bag in the bin. 

The bathroom pack contains 20 bags, perfect for keeping in your own little sanctuary, in the knowledge your bathroom bin will be ready and willing to receive them.

But what happens when you're out and about?

Let me introduce you to the Handbag Pack.


This is a plastic wallet which holds FabLittleBags. The design of the wallet, like the bags themselves, is so discreet. Unless you look really closely at the words 'tampon disposal' I don't think you would expect any relation to a sanitary product.

The wallet also has another use. We've all been there - usually somewhere we really want to make a good impression: school, a new girlfriend's flat, a boyfriend's nan's house... - mortified to find that there is no bathroom bin in which to dispose of your used sanitary product. With FabLittleBag you can first hygenically bag it, then store it in the plastic wallet until you can get to a bin. Sorted!

And, although marketed for tampon disposal, they can also be used for intimate wipes, pantyliners and even sanitary towels, provided they're rolled up tightly.

The back of the Handbag Pack.

When I first heard about FabLittleBag, they sounded too good to be true. But, having tried them out for myself, they lived up to and then surpassed my expectations. They are incredibly easy to use, the design is discreet and attractive and, most importantly for a cheapskate like myself, the price is really reasonable.

The Handbag Pack retails for £1.99, consisting of plastic wallet and five bags. The refill Bathroom Packs, containing 20 bags, cost £2.99. That's about 15p per bag. You can pick them up at Waitrose, Ocado, or directly from the website: www.fablittlebag.com.

Note: I was sent a bathroom pack and a handbag pack to review, but all thoughts and opinions are my own!

Taboo no longer!