HTML
HTML
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.
Example Explained
The <!DOCTYPE html> declaration defines that this document is an HTML5 document.
The <html> element is the root element of an HTML page.
The <head> element contains meta information about the HTML page.
The <title> element specifies a title for the HTML page (which is shown in the browser's title bar or in the page's tab)
The <body> 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 <h1> element defines a large heading.
The <p> element defines a paragraph.
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:
HTML Page Structure
Below is a visualization of an HTML page structure:
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 |
HTML Editors
A simple text editor is all you need to learn HTML.
Learn HTML Using Notepad or TextEdit
Web pages can be created and modified by using professional HTML editors.
However, for learning HTML we recommend a simple text editor like Notepad (PC) or TextEdit (Mac).
We believe that using a simple text editor is a good way to learn HTML.
Follow the steps below to create your first web page with Notepad or TextEdit.
Step 1: Open Notepad (PC)
Windows 8 or later:
Open the Start Screen (the window symbol at the bottom left on your screen). Type Notepad.
Windows 7 or earlier:
Open Start > Programs > Accessories > Notepad
Step 1: Open TextEdit (Mac)
Open Finder > Applications > TextEdit
Also change some preferences to get the application to save files correctly. In Preferences > Format > choose "Plain Text"
Then under "Open and Save", check the box that says, "Display HTML files as HTML code instead of formatted text".
Then open a new document to place the code.
Step 2: Write Some HTML
Write or copy the following HTML code into Notepad:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph. </p>
</body>
</html>
Step 3: Save the HTML Page
Save the file on your computer. Select File > Save as in the Notepad menu.
Name the file "index.htm" and set the encoding to UTF-8 (which is the preferred encoding for HTML files).
Tip: You can use either .htm or .html as file extension. There is no difference; it is up to you.
Step 4: View the HTML Page in Your Browser
Open the saved HTML file in your favorite browser (double click on the file, or right-click - and choose "Open with").
The result will look much like this:
HTML Basic Examples
In this chapter we will show some basic HTML examples.
Don't worry if we use tags, you have not learned about yet.
HTML Documents
All HTML documents must start with a document type declaration: <!DOCTYPE html>
.
The HTML document itself begins with <html>
and ends with </html>
.
The visible part of the HTML document is between <body>
and </body>
.
Example:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph. </p>
</body>
</html>
The <!DOCTYPE> Declaration
The <!DOCTYPE>
declaration represents the document type and helps browsers to display web pages correctly.
It must only appear once, at the top of the page (before any HTML tags).
The <!DOCTYPE>
declaration is not case sensitive.
The <!DOCTYPE>
declaration for HTML5 is:
<!DOCTYPE html>
HTML Headings
HTML headings are defined with the <h1>
to <h6>
tags.
<h1>
defines the most important heading. <h6>
defines the least important heading:
Example:
<h2>This is heading 2</h2>
<h3>This is heading 3</h3>
HTML paragraphs are defined with the <p>
tag:
Example:
<p>This is a paragraph. </p>
<p>This is another paragraph. </p>
HTML Links
HTML links are defined with the <a>
tag:
Example
<a href="https://www.google.com">This is a link</a>
The link's destination is specified in the href
attribute.
Attributes are used to provide additional information about HTML elements.
You will learn more about attributes in a later chapter.
HTML Images
HTML images are defined with the <img>
tag.
The source file (src
), alternative text (alt
), width
, and height
are provided as attributes:
Example
<img src="google.jpg" alt="google.com" width="104" height="142">
How to View HTML Source
Have you ever seen a Web page and wondered "Hey! How did they do that?"
View HTML Source Code:
Click CTRL + U in an HTML page, or right-click on the page and select "View Page Source". This will open a new tab containing the HTML source code of the page.
Inspect an HTML Element:
Right-click on an element (or a blank area) and choose "Inspect" to see what elements are made up of (you will see both the HTML and the CSS). You can also edit the HTML or CSS on-the-fly in the Elements or Styles panel that opens.
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