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Before you actually begin to write some html there are a couple of things to consider.
Make sure that your PC has enough free memory (RAM) to run the text editor or WYSIWYG and the browser simultaneously.
So that you can switch quickly between the text editor or WYSIWYG and the browser to view your handy work, and to repair any errors in your html code.
Many people resize the text editor and browser windows, so that they have the text editor in the top half of the monitor and the browser filling the bottom half.
So that they dont need to switch windows to look at the document after making changes to it.
Some people have the windows as large as possible so that there is just a sliver of the other window visible, just enough to click on to bring it into view.
If you like to work with both of the windows maximised (at full screen) you can click on the buttons on the task bar to switch between windows.
This is a great technique to use, I found it in a book by Danny Goodman on JavaScript, and the typical workflow entails the following steps.
Windows OS:
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Enter html code into your source document in the text editor.
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Save the document to disk (HDD).
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Switchto the browser.
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If this is a new document open the file via the browser's menu, ie File/Open
If the document is already loaded then just reload the document, by using the browser’s reload/refresh button, or press F5 on the keyboard.
The steps 2 to 4 are the key one in the process you will follow frequently when your writing html code.
Danny Goodman calls this three–step sequence the save–switch–reload sequence.
Once you have got comfortable with the arrangement of the application windows you will perform the sequence so often it will soon become second nature.
Using the Windows Alt+Tab task–switching keyboard shortcut makes the save–switch–reload steps outlined above a breeze.
If you run a Windows PC and the text editor you are using is Windows–compatible you can use the Ctrl+S file–saving keyboard shortcut, and Ctrl+R will reload the page in the browser or press F5.
It is possible to effect the save–switch–reload sequence from the keyboard with just your left hand with a little bit of practice.
By using this technique as long as you keep switching between the browser and the text editor via the Alt+Tab task–switching keyboard shortcut, either program will always be just an Alt+Tab away.
Mac OS:
On a computer that runs the MacOSX you can change between the text editor and browser, via the Dock.
This can be done more easily by typing - Tab.
As long as you only have these two applications open, then the other program is always
one - Tab away.
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Press
- S ( save source file).
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Press
- Tab (switch to the browser).
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Press
- R (reload the saved source file).
To return to the text editor and the source file, press - Tab again.
On the whole the simple page reload is enough to let you test a revised version of an html document, but some times the browser’s cache may preserve parts of the previous pages attributes when you refresh/reload the page, even though you have changed the source code.
It is possible to make a more thorough reload by simply holding down the shift key whilst you click the reload/refresh button on the browser.
You could disable the browser’s cache in the preferences, but this may have a negative effect on performance when you are browsing the web later, if you forget to enable the browser’s cache again.
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