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Starhugger -> RE: Changing my name or Design ? (3/5/2006 15:04:53)
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Hi Susu,
The H-tags are "Heading 1", "Heading 2", and so on, in the dropdown menu of available styles in FP. They create <h1>blahblah</h> in your code (or whatever number of heading you're using for that line). They apply to a whole paragraph at a time (not to individual words or phrases). Each one typically has a built-in format (e.g., 24pt, red, etc.), although the format can be changed while still keeping the H-tag designation.
When I first started out (like you are) I thought these were just a convenience to put in the default formatting, so I thought "Why go to the trouble of using them if I'm only going to change the formatting?" So I used <p> tags that specified the formatting I wanted. But later I went through and changed the section headings to H-tags (with modifications that use the visual formatting I wanted), my SE traffic went way up. So the H-tags apparently also act as an emphasis to the SEs, drawing attention to their content and essentially saying, "This is important."
To use the H-tags in FP, you can click the cursor anywhere in the heading's text and then select the Heading number you want from the dropdown list in the toolbar at the top. It will automatically surround that entire paragraph (the heading line, in this case) with the H-tag of that number.
If more than the heading line gets changed, then you probably have <br> at the end of your heading line (a manual line break, rather than a paragraph break) instead of </p> (a formal end code to a paragraph) or instead of <p> (indicating the start of a new paragraph, if the </p> isn't used). I too wound up with a whole slew of <br>'s in my code when I first started out with FP and wasn't sure what I was doing. I was never quite sure how most of them got there!
If you see that your heading line extends to include the next paragraph below it: First UNDO the change you just made to the H-tag (to avoid more complications). Then place the cursor at the start of what should be the end of the heading line. Press DELETE until the start of the next line comes back to the cursor (to take out all the extra <br>'s). Then press ENTER to put in an end-of-paragraph mark. Then place the cursor back in the heading line again, and select the Heading you want. (Note: If you just press ENTER at the end of the line without undoing the H-tag first, it will create a new paragraph that is also a Heading, which you don't want.)
You can then restyle each heading the way you want. The "cleanest" way is to redefine your heading styles in the document HEAD section, using CSS (check out the articles here on this site for more about CSS). Or, you could also just highlighting the line you want to change and then select the colour, font-size, bold/italic, etc., that you want from the FP toolbar. That might be the easier way until you learn more about CSS, but it also produces "dirtier" code. You'll also have to redefine the attributes for each heading line separately (i.e., changing one H2 line will not change all H2 lines, whereas the CSS method will change all H2 lines). You could benefit in the long run by learning more about CSS for future changes, when you're ready.
If you can't get your line to change the way you want, you might have to remove your <span> tags and any other formatting tags for that line. First try highlighting the whole paragraph; then select FORMAT in the menu and then REMOVE FORMATTING. If that doesn't do the trick, you may need to go into the code and remove the formatting tags manually.
As for using Headings in general: It's a good idea to use H1 only for the page title. Then H2 for the first level of sub-headings, H-3 for the next level, and so on. Each is valued as more or less important by the SEs according to which number you give it.
As for the keyword stuff, it sounds like you'll have enough on your plate for now just getting your code a little cleaner. The keyword stuff is just another step in a longer process, but I think the H-tags are more important for now.
I hope that helps! The more you learn about HTML, the more you'll be able to see when your code has gone a little wonky and you'll know how to change it and how to use the codes. Hang in there! It's a process that you'll get through in time. [:)]
Starhugger
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