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What is HTML?

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is not a programming language, but a markup language. This means it uses "marks" or "tags" to define the structure and meaning of content on a web page.

Imagine you are writing a newspaper. You need headlines, paragraphs, images, and lists. HTML gives you the tools to identify each of these parts so the browser knows how to display them.

Hypertext and Markup​

  • HyperText: Refers to the links that connect web pages to each other, forming what we know as the "Web" (Spiderweb).
  • Markup Language: Is the system of tags that wrap the content to structure it logically.

How does it work?​

When you visit a web page, your web browser (like Chrome, Firefox, or Safari) requests an HTML file from a server. The browser reads the HTML file from top to bottom and uses the tags to render the page visually.

For example, if the browser finds:

<h1>This is a main title</h1>
<p>This is an explanatory text paragraph.</p>

It will know that it should display the first text in a large and prominent size (like a title) and the second as a normal block of text.

HTML vs. CSS and JavaScript​

In modern web development, HTML rarely works alone. It is part of an essential trio:

  1. HTML (Structure): Defines "what" each thing is (a title, a paragraph, an image).
  2. CSS (Presentation): Defines "how it looks" (colors, fonts, design).
  3. JavaScript (Behavior): Defines "what it does" (interactivity, animations, calculations).

Together, they allow the creation of rich and dynamic web experiences.