HTML is the standard markup language for creating Web pages.
What is HTML?
HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language
HTML is the standard markup language for creating Web pages
HTML describes the structure of a Web page
HTML consists of a series of elements
HTML elements tell the browser how to display the content
HTML elements label pieces of content such as "this is a heading", "this is a paragraph", "this is a link", etc.
A Simple HTML Document
Example
`<!DOCTYPE html>
Page Title
My First Heading
My first paragraph.
`
Example Explained
The <!DOCTYPE html> declaration defines that this document is an HTML5 document
The element is the root element of an HTML page
The
The element specifies a title for the HTML page (which is shown in the browser's title bar or in the page's tab)
The element defines the document's body, and is a container for all the visible contents, such as headings, paragraphs, images, hyperlinks, tables, lists, etc.
The
element defines a large heading
The
element defines a paragraph
What is an HTML Element?
An HTML element is defined by a start tag, some content, and an end tag:
Content goes here...
The HTML element is everything from the start tag to the end tag:
My First Heading
My first paragraph.
Start tag Element content End tag
My First Heading
My first paragraph.
none none
Note: Some HTML elements have no content (like the
element). These elements are called empty elements. Empty elements do not have an end tag!
Web Browsers
The purpose of a web browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) is to read HTML documents and display them correctly.
A browser does not display the HTML tags, but uses them to determine how to display the document:
View in Browser
HTML Page Structure
Below is a visualization of an HTML page structure:
<html>
<head>
<title>Page title</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
<p>This is another paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
Note: The content inside the
section (the white area above) will be displayed in a browser. The content inside the element will be shown in the browser's title bar or in the page's tab.HTML History
Since the early days of the World Wide Web, there have been many versions of HTML:
Year Version
1989 Tim Berners-Lee invented www
1991 Tim Berners-Lee invented HTML
1993 Dave Raggett drafted HTML+
1995 HTML Working Group defined HTML 2.0
1997 W3C Recommendation: HTML 3.2
1999 W3C Recommendation: HTML 4.01
2000 W3C Recommendation: XHTML 1.0
2008 WHATWG HTML5 First Public Draft
2012 WHATWG HTML5 Living Standard
2014 W3C Recommendation: HTML5
2016 W3C Candidate Recommendation: HTML 5.1
2017 W3C Recommendation: HTML5.1 2nd Edition
2017 W3C Recommendation: HTML5.2
This tutorial follows the latest HTML5 standard.
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