okay, now, trying to make my personal website as my assignment.

so, i went on and look around the net for samples, and saw that the majority of the sites have navigation bars, be it on top, or sides. so, i tried opening the source codes, but couldn't understand a thing...

let's take this site for an example, http://www.littlewebpages.net/emporium/index.php
is it really just using simple tables ? how do i make the color of the box changes when the mouse hover on top of it?

another thing is that, since it's the navigation bar, i'm gonna have it in all my sites, do i just copy and paste the codes, or is there any other way than that ?

btw, i'll be frank, i'm a true beginner in making websites, and what is the tag <class> used for?

The <class> tag is used for css elements, and is bit advanced, at least until you can understand the basics behind html. There are many tutorial sites that can show how to do it. For simplicity sake, you may just want to stick with a menu bar at the top as it is much easier to do.

The effect you are talking about (hover0 can be achieved in several different ways, either through css or javascript. Again, they are going to needlessly confuse you. Stick with the basics for now, otherwise you are going to get extremely frustrated. Since it is your first 'homepage', keep it simple. Once you have a solid HTML foundation, you can always add css and javascript to your page to enhance it.

I'm reasonably sure you are going to do exactly the opposite of what I am suggesting, so don't say I didn't warn you.

To add to what groovicus said..

In the hover of an image that changes to whatever requires 2 images. It's not hard to do. All you need is the on and off image.

Because this can be so in depth, it would be a good idea to search for html tutorials.

As far as navigations are concerned, you could just copy/paste the code and make it work, but you need to know the structure of the links involved. you will need to have the same directories, in the same structure as the original site in order for it to work like that. If not, then you will have to change the links from within the navigational links.

But again.... reading what groovicus said is the best advise to follow. HTML can be complicated, but if you understand it, then the rest will follow.

Get to do a basic page first, then add another page,,, then another... and so on,, and you'll have a better understanding of what you need and want to do. Until then,,,,.. don't get involved with hover buttons, css and other advanced html tecniques until you understand what you're doing with the HTML.

so, basically i should just use the basic menu bar,

then, how should i make the basic menu bar ? should i just use tables ?

and how do i move on after learning html ? what else should i learn? php? css? java scripts?

thanks, any help is greatly appreciated

Tables is one way to make a menu bar, but so is simply having a row of links. I guess the real answer is, do it how ever you want.Once you are able to create your simple page, then thera re many other html things youcan do, whether it be frames (which is one way of doing the side menu) or forms, or any other number of things.

CSS is a natural step from html because CSS extends HTML. In short, HTML tells the browser what to display and where. It can also tell how to display something in crude terms, but nothing like CSS can. CSS is one way to really make your web pages shine.

Javascript is a way of making your web pages do something; ie slideshow, make a calendar, calculator, Ajax, etc.

Almost nobody does straight HTML web pages because they are pretty bland. Most pages are a mix and match of all three technologies (plus others).