HTML
What is HTML?
HTML is a language for describing web pages.
HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language
HTML is a markup language
A markup language is a set of markup tags
The tags describe document content
HTML documents contain HTML tags and plain text
HTML documents are also called web pages
HTML Tags
HTML markup tags are usually called HTML tags.
HTML tags are keywords (tag names) surrounded by angle brackets like <html>
HTML tags normally come in pairs like <p> and </p>
The first tag in a pair is the start tag, the second tag is the end tag
The end tag is written like the start tag, with a slash before the tag name
Start and end tags are also called opening tags and closing tags
<tagname>content</tagname>
HTML Elements
In HTML, most elements are written with a start tag (e.g. <p>) and an end tag (e.g. </p>), with
the content in between:
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
Web Browsers
The purpose of a web browser (such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) is to
read HTML documents and display them as web pages.
The browser does not display the HTML tags, but uses the tags to determine how the content of
the HTML page is to be presented/displayed to the user:
HTML Page Structure
Below is a visualization of an HTML page structure:
<html>
<body>
<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
<p>This is another paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
HTML Versions
Since the early days of the web, there have been many versions of HTML:
Version Year
HTML 1991
HTML+ 1993
HTML 2.0 1995
HTML 3.2 1997
HTML 4.01 1999
XHTML 2000
HTML5 2012
The <!DOCTYPE> Declaration
The <!DOCTYPE> declaration helps the browser to display a web page correctly.
There are many different documents on the web, and a browser can only display an HTML page
100% correctly if it knows the HTML version and type used.
HTML Editors
Write HTML Using Notepad or TextEdit
HTML can be edited by using a professional HTML editor like:
Adobe Dreamweaver
Microsoft Expression Web
CoffeeCup HTML Editor
However, for learning HTML we recommend a text editor like Notepad (PC) or TextEdit (Mac).
We believe using a simple text editor is a good way to learn HTML.
Follow the 4 steps below to create your first web page with Notepad.
Step 1: Open Notepad
To open Notepad in Windows 7 or earlier:
Click Start (bottom left on your screen). Click All Programs. Click Accessories.
Click Notepad.
To open Notepad in Windows 8 or later:
Open the Start Screen (the window symbol at the bottom left on your screen). Type Notepad.
Step 2: Write Some HTML
Write or copy some HTML into Notepad.
Example
<!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.
When saving an HTML file, use either the .htm or the .html file extension. There is no
difference, it is entirely up to you.
Step 4: View HTML Page in Your Browser
Double-click your saved HTML file, and the result will look much like this:
