Basics of HTML

Basics of HTML

HTML

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2 min read

  • 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>
    <html>
    <head>
    <title>Page Title</title>
    </head>
    <body>

    <h1>My First Heading</h1>
    <p>My first paragraph.</p>

    </body>
    </html>

  • 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

What is an HTML Element?

An HTML element is defined by a start tag, some content, and an end tag:

<tagname> Content goes here... </tagname>

The HTML element is everything from the start tag to the end tag:

<h1>My First Heading</h1>

<p>My first paragraph.</p>

  • | Start tag | Element content | End tag | | --- | --- | --- | | <h1> | My First Heading | </h1> | | <p> | My first paragraph. | </p> | | <br> | 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!