How do you HTML?

You may well have noticed that the clients sometimes have certain additional requests in terms of the formatting of an article. As we often receive emails requesting further information on this topic, rather than dedicating this academy page to the written word, we are going to concentrate on its presentation.

HTML is what is used to format articles in a reader-friendly way. HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is a markup language. It shows the webpage the format in which the different parts of an article have to be displayed. Everyone who has ever sat in front of a 1000-word web document without paragraphs and subheadings knows exactly how important a readable structure is.

Clarity for the reader and for Google

HTML formatting is not just important for the reader; it also has a special role to play for the search engine. For Google, a well-formatted text is also one which can be more easily read, which leads directly to better positioning in the search engine rankings.

A clearly structured article enables the reader (and also Google) to quickly recognise how relevant the content is, making this, consequently, vital in convincing the reader whether or not to stay on the page.

HTML tags always follow the same principles

<Instruction>Here is the text to be formatted</End of instruction>

At the start and end of the text you need to format, there has to be a tag. The tags form a frame around the text and are contained in pointy brackets. The instruction within these brackets is normally shortened to just one or two letters.

The following HTML tags could prove useful for the current orders in the Textbroker System.

1. Size and importance

The size of the font and its importance to the article runs from H1 through to H6:

<h1>The most important title of the text. H as in Headline</h1>

<h2>Second most important title in the text, for example, the subtitle. H as in headline</h2>

2. Emphasis

<strong>bolded text</strong>

<i>italics</i>

3. Organisation

<ul>(introduces a list)

<li>List item with bulletpoint</li>

<li>List item 2 with bulletpoint</li>

</ul>(end of the list)

4. Spacing

<p>This text is in the same paragraph and will be separated from the next with a space.</p>

Following this sentence, there is a space between the paragraphs (as if you clicked the ‘enter’ button)

<br/> or <br> (br stands as a single character ONLY AT THE END – never at the start)

Conclusion

It goes without saying that HTML formatting is not an obligation and will never be a requirement for the writers at Textbroker unless it is specifically requested in the order briefing. As the majority of articles today are to be published online, such requests come more frequently in the order descriptions. The HTML coding does, however, work in your favour since each HTML tag counts as a word in your Textbroker order submission field.

We hope that this short introduction to the language of computers was helpful and that you will be able to put this information to some use when deciding whether to take on an order which requires HTML formatting. To learn more about the world of HTML, you can find a more detailed explanation in our Glossary.