4.3 Meta data

Meta attributes, also known as  head tags , are used to convey information about the 

web page to the server that hosts the web page, and consequently, the user's computer 

that displays the web page.  This information appears only in the page's HMTL and is 

not displayed to the viewer on the web page.  Content set for popular meta name val 

ues such as Description and Keywords are often used by web search engines to index 

and categorize web pages for which users may be searching.  To show ownership, 

there is also a meta name value for the page's author.

For html users, each meta data is an attribute of the head element that appears 

between the opening  and closing  head tags.  Each meta attribute is 

listed separately and is composed of a pair of name and content values.

Page description

Although the meta description value is  in the background  of sorts because it is part 

of the HTML and not the page displayed to the viewer.  Consider that users may 

choose to view the page's source to read the description for themselves.

Descriptions are often short, and include keywords that web surfers may enter into a 

search engine to try and locate information contained on your web page.

1.

Choose Insert > Head tags > Description, 

OR display the Head tab on the Insert toolbar and click the Description icon.  

2.

Type the appropriate text in the Description dialog box.

3.

Click OK.

Figure 4 7 Entering a description in the meta data

Seattle University Information Technology Computer Training

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Macromedia Dreamweaver MX

Creating a New Page