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What is HTML ?

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HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, which is the standard document format for web pages that is supported by all modern browsers. HyperText is the ability to turn a piece of text into a hyperlink (which we can call simply a “link”) that HTML makes so that viewers can visit any document. A Markup Language is a set of instructions that uses the opening & closing tags with having the content in it, which helps to render the content in the structured format.

HTML was invented by Tim Berners-Lee who was founded in 1990, a physicist at the CERN research institute in Switzerland. When working with HTML, we just use a simple code structure that contains tags and attributes to build the structure of a webpage, and it is displayed as such by the browser.

HTML Structure

HTML-Basic1

Basic Example of HTML code

HTML




<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  
<head>
    <title>HTML Web Page</title>
</head>
  
<body>
    <h1>GeeksforGeeks</h1>
    <p>A computer science portal for geeks</p>
</body>
  
</html>


Output:

The HTML basic structure with their descriptions are given below:

Components

Description

<!DOCTYPE html>

The declaration is not an HTML tag. This is an info to the browser about what document type to expect.

<html>

It means element is the root element of an HTML page.

<head>

It contains meta-information about the HTML page.

<title> 

The element give the information about the title of HTML page (which is shown in the browser’s title bar or in the page’s tab).

<body>

The element describes the document’s body, and it contains all the visible contents that you see in a webpage, such as headings, paragraphs, images, hyperlinks, tables, lists, etc of the web page.

Tags

They are the basic structure of an HTML document that surrounds the content and applies meaning to it. Tags are enclosed within angle braces <tag name>. Most of the tags have their corresponding closing tags except few tags.

Attributes

An attribute is used to define the characteristics of an HTML element that appears inside the opening tag and their values used inside the quotation marks.

Elements

It is a collection of start and end tags with the content inserted in between them.

Heading

It is used to define the headings of a page. There are six levels of headings defined by HTML. These 6 heading elements are h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, and h6; with h1 being the highest level and h6 being the least.

HTML Elements

Element List

Description

Tables

It is an arrangement of data in rows and columns in tabular format. Tables are useful for various tasks such as presenting text information and numerical data.

Lists

A list is a record of short pieces of related information or used to display the data or any information on web pages in the ordered or unordered form.

Images

The images are used to embed an image in a web page with the help of <img> tag

Paragraphs

A paragraph is a block-level element so a new paragraph always begins on a new line, and browsers naturally put some space before and after a paragraph to make it look neat and easy to read.

Buttons

It is utilized to create clickable buttons within a webpage. It is commonly employed to trigger actions or submit form data.

Links

It is connections from one web resource to another. A link has two ends, An anchor and a direction.

Features of HTML

  • As HTML is a markup language, it provides a flexible way to design web pages along with the text.
  • You can easily publish online documents with headings, photos, tables etc  and you can get it when ever you want.
  • HTML documents can be displayed on any platforms such as Windows and Linux etc.
  • Multiple windows can be created in a web page to display information from multiple sources in different windows.
  • HTML is a case-insensitive language, that means we can use its tags in lower-case as well as in upper-case.

Advantages and Disadvantages of HTML

Advantages of HTML

  • Every browser supports HTML and it is easy to learn, use and modify.
  • It supports a wide range of colors, formats, and layouts which helps in creating alluring web pages.
  • Due to the templates, it makes the website design easier.
  • FrontPage, Dreamweaver and multiple development tools support HTML.
  • HTML is the most search engine friendly.

Disadvantages of HTML

  • HTML can be used to create only plain or static pages. If one wants dynamic functionality pages then HTML is not useful. So, HTML cannot use for dynamic output.
  • Sometimes, the structuring of HTML is very difficult to understand.
  • To make a simple website multiple lines of code is written.
  • Due to multiple lines of code for simpler things, it increases the time complexity and takes more time.
  • Its error is costly because one small typing error could lead to non-functioning of webpages.

Why you should learn HTML?

  • HTML is the framework which is used to build websites and if you know how it works, it will be much better off when it comes to design, marketing, and several other professions.
  • For those of you who want to become professional Web developers, knowledge of HTML is required because it is a core element in any Development Course.
  • With the help of HTML you can easily earn money online only you will have to find dozens of available HTML freelance jobs. You can also earn more as you learn more by adding other skills, like JavaScript, PHP, Photoshop, and more to your resume.
  • HTML is just not for the making websites they are an open/accepted source where data is displayed correctly on all browsers which confirm to the standard and your content can be seen for long time.
  • HTML also helps document authors to apply typographical formatting, document structuring, and the inclusion of images without creating any difficulty to the user and without being dependent upon document preparation specialists to provide the markup.

FAQ’s on HTML

Q1. What is an HTML?

Ans: HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, which provides the standard way to create the structure of web pages. It also elements, tags, attributes that helps to define the  structure of web page.

Q2. What is the purpose of the <!DOCTYPE html> declaration?

Ans: It specifies the HTML 5 version which helps the browsers to render the page correctly.

Q3. What are different Markup Languages used by the modern web browsers ?

Ans: The Modern Web Browsers accepts the various lists of Markup Languages, such as, the XML (eXtensible Markup Language), XHTML (eXtensible HyperText Markup Language), MathML (Mathematical Markup Language), and Markdown.

Q4. What are the 3 essential parts of HTML 5 ?

Ans: The 3 most essential parts of the HTML 5 are <!DOCTYPE html>, which signifies the HTML 5 version ensuring the proper rendering in different browsers. The <html> element wraps the entire elements for rendering the content of the webpage. The <body> element contains the main content that are visible on the Browser.

Q5. What are the pre-requisite to learn the HTML 5?

Ans: There is no prior-knowledge required to learn the HTML & its Basics. You may start learning the HTML.



Last Updated : 31 Jan, 2024
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