Using HTML in D2L

Desire2Learn has its own built-in HTML editor which you can use while creating your courses. You can also write the HTML code yourself if you want to. Here are a few keys to writing your own HTML code so that you can format text, insert images, and put websites and email links into your text.

• All HTML code is enclosed between brackets that look like this < >. For example, <b> is the code for making text bold.

• HTML code wants to know when an instruction begins and ends. This is done with a slash mark. For example, <b> means you want something to begin in bold type, and </b> means you are finished with the bold type. So if you wanted your course name in bold type, you would use HTML like this: <b>PSY1113</b>

Here are some basic codes:

<i> creates italicized text

<H1> and <H2> are header codes for big and bold text

<p> defines a paragraph

<blockquote> is for indenting a block quotation

<center> is for centering a line on the page

<u> is for underlining

For each of these use the brackets and slash marks to begin and end your codes.

NOTE:A few basic codes do not require an ending slashmark code. These are <br> which causes a line break, and <img> to display an image.

• Attributes are special instructions to go with certain codes. If you want to change the color of a font, you need to say which color you want. For example, <font color=“red”>followed by text you want to appear in red followed by</font> to end the red color. Instead of just naming colors, you can code them. Follow this link to find color codes. http://www.accessv.com/~email/webpages/colorcodes.html.

You can also change the font size; <font size =“+3”>followed by what you want enlarged followed by </font>.

Codes can be combined so that, for example, something can be both bolded and enlarged at the same time. Here is an example: <b><fontsize=“+2”>example</font></b>. The only thing you need to remember here is to make sure that you end your instructions in reverse order to the way you started them. If you began with bolding and then enlarged the font size, you must stop the font size and then stop the bolding in the HTML code.

• The HTML tag for a link is <a>. The “a” stands for Anchor Tag. The Anchor Tag needs a reference (HREF) for where to find the link. That might be a URL from a web page or an email address followed by the link displaying text. Here are some examples of what your link might look like: <a href=http://www.ou.edu>OU Website</a> <a href=mailto:casonline@ou.edu>Contact us!</a>

• The HTML tag for putting up an image is <img> with a source for the image (src). The source is its address on the internet; most end with .gif or .jpg. You can locate an image’s source by right-clicking on it and scrolling down to properties. Then copy the URL from there and paste it right into your code. Here is an example: <img src=“http://www.ou.edu/pubaff/images/home.jpg”>

• Make sure you preview your HTML code by using the Preview feature available in Desire2Learn. That way you can see how it will display and make corrections if necessary before you post your work. Some common errors include forgetting to close your brackets < > or quotation marks “ ” or forgetting stop tags <b> </b>.