HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It's the code that forms the foundation of web pages. Think of it as the skeleton that provides structure and organization to the content you see on a web browser.
Here's a breakdown of what HTML does:
- Structure: HTML defines different parts of a web page, like headings, paragraphs, images, and lists. It separates the content into these building blocks.
- Formatting (to an extent): HTML uses tags to indicate how content should be formatted, like bold or italics, but for more advanced visual design, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) come into play.
- Hypertext: HTML enables hyperlinks, which is what allows you to click on text or images and be directed to a new web page. That's what makes the web an interconnected web of information!
While HTML provides the structure, it's like a blueprint for a house. CSS is like the interior design, adding visual flourishes. JavaScript adds interactivity, making the house come alive with features.
Certainly! Diving deeper into HTML:
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Tags and Attributes: HTML uses tags to define content and its purpose. For instance,
<p>tags indicate a paragraph, and<b>tags make text bold. Tags come in pairs, like<p>and</p>to mark the beginning and end of a paragraph. Attributes provide additional information to tags, like specifying the size of an image or the link destination for a hyperlink. -
Basic Structure: An HTML document has a specific structure. It starts with a DOCTYPE declaration, followed by an
<html>tag which contains the head and body sections. The<head>section holds information not displayed on the page, like the title and meta descriptions. The<body>section contains the visible content of the web page. -
Common Tags: There are many HTML tags, but some of the most frequently used ones include:
- Headings (
<h1>to<h6>) for structuring titles and subtitles. - Paragraph (
<p>) for defining paragraphs of text. - Images (
<img>) to embed images. - Lists (
<ul>for unordered lists and<ol>for ordered lists) - Links (
<a>) to create hyperlinks.
- Headings (
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Sample HTML: Here's a simple example of an HTML document:
Types of HTML:
There isn't really a concept of different "types" of HTML in the traditional sense. HTML itself is a single language, but it has evolved over time with different versions.
Here's a breakdown of the main HTML version you'll encounter:
HTML5: This is the current standard and most widely used version. It introduced many new features for multimedia, improved structure and semantics, and aimed for better compatibility across devices. It's the recommended version to learn and use for web development today.
Older Versions (HTML 4, XHTML): Earlier versions of HTML like HTML 4 and XHTML (a stricter variant of HTML) are still around in some legacy code, but HTML5 has become the dominant force. Unless you're working on maintaining older websites, you'll primarily focus on HTML5.
