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What is HTML?

What exactly is HTML?

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It is the standard language used across the internet to build and define the structure of web pages.

If you think of a website as a house, HTML is the foundational structure and the walls. Alternatively, you can think of it as the "skeleton" of a webpage. Before you add colors, layouts, or interactive features, you must first use HTML to organize the raw content into structural pieces like headings, paragraphs, images, and links.

How do Browsers Render HTML?

When you type a URL into your web browser (like Chrome, Firefox, or Safari), the browser receives an HTML document. The primary job of your browser is to read that HTML file and translate it into the visual website you see on your screen.

HTML relies on "tags" to label pieces of content. The browser uses these tags to understand exactly how to organize and display the document, but it does not display the tags themselves to the user.

Your First HTML Example

HTML content is built using elements, which generally consist of an opening tag, the content, and a closing tag.

Here is a short code snippet showing a basic HTML document structure:

Can edit
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Page Title</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Welcome to my website!</h1>
    <p>This is my first paragraph.</p>
  </body>
</html>

What is happening here?

  • <!DOCTYPE html> tells the browser that this is an HTML5 document.
  • <html> acts as the root container for the entire page.
  • <body> holds all of the visible content that the user will see on the screen.
  • <h1> is a tag used to define a large heading, while <p> creates a standard text paragraph.

The 'View Source' Demo

Fun fact: Every single website uses HTML, including the one you are looking at right now! Because the browser translates HTML behind the scenes, you can actually peek at the underlying code of any web page.

Try it yourself:

  1. Open any web page in your browser.
  2. Right-click on a blank area of the page.
  3. Select "View Page Source" (or "View Source" depending on your browser).

A new tab will open showing you the raw HTML skeleton that the browser used to render that specific page.