What Is HTML?
HTML is the markup language used to describe the structure and meaning of content on web pages. It tells a web browser what elements exist on a page and how those elements relate to one another.
HTML means HyperText Markup Language
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language.
It is the standard markup language used to structure content on the World Wide Web.
HTML can describe headings, paragraphs, links, images, lists, tables, forms and many other parts of a web page.
What does HTML look like?
A very simple piece of HTML might look like this:
The browser interprets the first element as a main heading and the second as a paragraph.
HTML is built from elements
An HTML element usually consists of an opening tag, some content and a closing tag.
<p>
The opening tag marks the beginning of the paragraph.
</p>
The closing tag marks the end of the paragraph.
A tag and an element are not quite the same thing
People often use the words interchangeably, but there is a useful distinction.
<h2> is a tag.
The complete structure including the opening tag, content and closing tag is the HTML element.
Elements can have attributes
Attributes provide additional information about an HTML element.
The href attribute tells the browser where the link should go.
Here, src identifies the image file and alt provides alternative text.
A complete HTML document has a structure
The <head> contains information about the page
The head normally contains metadata and resources used by the document rather than the main visible page content.
The <body> contains the page content
Most of the content that users see and interact with appears inside the body element.
Some common HTML elements
| Element | Purpose |
|---|---|
| <h1> | Main heading |
| <p> | Paragraph |
| <a> | Link |
| <img> | Image |
| <ul> | Unordered list |
| <ol> | Ordered list |
| <table> | Tabular data |
| <form> | User input form |
HTML links pages together
The "HyperText" part of HTML refers to the ability to connect documents through hyperlinks.
Links are one of the fundamental ideas behind the web. They allow users to move between pages, websites and other resources.
HTML elements can contain other elements
This creates a hierarchical document structure.
The article contains both a heading and a paragraph.
HTML can describe meaning, not just appearance
Modern HTML includes semantic elements that describe the purpose of different sections of a page.
Semantic HTML can make documents easier for browsers, developers, search engines and assistive technologies to understand.
HTML, CSS and JavaScript have different jobs
HTML
Defines the structure and meaning of the content.
CSS
Controls presentation, layout, colours, spacing and visual design.
JavaScript
Adds behaviour, logic and interactive functionality.
Together
These technologies form much of the foundation of modern front-end web development.
HTML describes what something is
Consider:
HTML tells the browser that this text is the main heading.
CSS could then decide that the heading should be blue, large and centred.
Keeping structure and presentation separate is an important principle of web development.
HTML is a markup language
HTML is generally described as a markup language, rather than a programming language.
Its main purpose is to mark up and describe the structure and meaning of document content.
HTML structures content. It does not by itself provide the general-purpose programming logic associated with languages such as JavaScript, Python or PHP.
HTML and UTF-8
HTML is text, so character encoding matters.
Modern pages commonly declare UTF-8 using:
This helps browsers correctly interpret characters such as:
The browser interprets the HTML
When a browser receives an HTML document, it parses the markup and constructs an internal representation of the page.
The browser does not simply display the HTML source code. It interprets the markup and renders the corresponding document.
Good HTML also improves accessibility
Correctly structured HTML gives information about headings, navigation, images, forms and other content.
Assistive technologies such as screen readers can use this structure to help users understand and navigate a page.
The alternative text describes the image when the image itself cannot be seen.
Where is HTML used?
The structure of the web.
HTML is the markup language used to describe the structure and meaning of web content. It uses elements, tags and attributes to define headings, paragraphs, links, images, forms and other parts of a document, providing the structural foundation on which CSS and JavaScript can build.
