The Analytical Engine Online: Structured Information

Labs

Lab 4.5: Structured Information

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Even with text, images, sounds, and hyperlinked¹ elements, our home page is still just a linear set of elements, at least from a display standpoint. That is, the words, links, and images are constrained to follow one another in order - indeed in the same order in which they're described in the HTML² code - on our page. It is often useful to organize information in other ways, for example, as hierarchical lists and as two-dimensional tables of data.	¹pp. 69, 100–104 ²pp. 29, 70, 82, 89, 90-91
In the course of your surfing, and in the course of using these online materials, you have already seen many examples of lists and tables - which means, of course, that these types of structured information can be described in HTML. In fact, it's pretty easy to do so once you familiarize yourself with the appropriate HTML elements, and that's what we'll do in this lab. Look first at the HTML code to find the unordered list describing sites of interest near the end of Rick & Stu's Home Page. It is, in effect, a list of lines, each with some accompanying text. Find the section of the HTML source code that describes the list, and review it now. Click on the code now to see how the list is displayed by your browser. Add a similar list of links - this one pointing to favorites of yours on the Web - to your home page. Add another unordered list to your home page. This one can contain text items describing your hobbies, your favorite musical groups, or your favorite places to visit. Add an ordered list near the top of your home page to serve as a "table of contents" (even though it's not formally a table!) for your page. That is, like on may pages you've seen, let this be a list of links to the sub-sections of your page. Find evidence of a table that we've developed, both on Rick & Stu's Home Page and in the HTML code. Review the code carefully so that you see the effects of each tag and attribute. After doing so, you should be able to answer the following questions: How many rows are in our table of courses? How many cells are in each row of that table? With what text are the columns (or the cells) of the course table labelled? How many tables are there in the page? Define a table that shows your current course and extracurricular schedule for a typical week, and add it wherever you see fit to your home page. As described in the text, it is a good idea to sketch the table out on a piece of paper. This will give you an idea of how to organize your HTML code.

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References

Even with text, images, sounds, and hyperlinked¹ elements, our home page is still just a linear set of elements, at least from a display standpoint. That is, the words, links, and images are constrained to follow one another in order - indeed in the same order in which they're described in the HTML² code - on our page. It is often useful to organize information in other ways, for example, as hierarchical lists and as two-dimensional tables of data.

¹pp. 69, 100–104
²pp. 29, 70, 82, 89, 90-91

In the course of your surfing, and in the course of using these online materials, you have already seen many examples of lists and tables - which means, of course, that these types of structured information can be described in HTML. In fact, it's pretty easy to do so once you familiarize yourself with the appropriate HTML elements, and that's what we'll do in this lab.

Look first at the HTML code to find the unordered list describing sites of interest near the end of Rick & Stu's Home Page. It is, in effect, a list of lines, each with some accompanying text. Find the section of the HTML source code that describes the list, and review it now. Click on the code now to see how the list is displayed by your browser.

Add a similar list of links - this one pointing to favorites of yours on the Web - to your home page.

Add another unordered list to your home page. This one can contain text items describing your hobbies, your favorite musical groups, or your favorite places to visit.

Add an ordered list near the top of your home page to serve as a "table of contents" (even though it's not formally a table!) for your page. That is, like on may pages you've seen, let this be a list of links to the sub-sections of your page.

Find evidence of a table that we've developed, both on Rick & Stu's Home Page and in the HTML code. Review the code carefully so that you see the effects of each tag and attribute. After doing so, you should be able to answer the following questions:

How many rows are in our table of courses?
How many cells are in each row of that table?
With what text are the columns (or the cells) of the course table labelled?
How many tables are there in the page?

Define a table that shows your current course and extracurricular schedule for a typical week, and add it wherever you see fit to your home page. As described in the text, it is a good idea to sketch the table out on a piece of paper. This will give you an idea of how to organize your HTML code.

Labs

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