HTML Basics

Introduction to HTML

⏱ 5 min read📖 Beginner

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It is the standard language used to create and structure content on the web.

Every web page you've ever visited — news articles, social media profiles, online shops — is built with HTML at its core. HTML is not a programming language; it's a markup language. That means it describes the structure and meaning of content, not logic or behavior.

What Does HTML Do?

HTML uses elements (also called tags) to wrap around content and give it meaning. For example, wrapping text in a <p> tag tells the browser "this is a paragraph." Wrapping text in an <h1> tag says "this is the main heading."

The browser reads your HTML and turns it into the visual page you see. It knows that a heading should look bigger than a paragraph, that a list should have bullet points, and that a link should be clickable.

Your First HTML Element

An HTML element has three parts: an opening tag, the content, and a closing tag.

<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

The <p> is the opening tag. The </p> is the closing tag (notice the forward slash). Everything in between is the content that will appear on the page.

A Minimal Web Page

Every HTML page follows a basic template. Here's the smallest valid page you can write:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>My First Page</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Hello, World!</h1>
    <p>This is my first web page.</p>
  </body>
</html>

Don't worry about memorizing every tag right now. You'll learn each part in the lessons ahead. For now, just understand that HTML is the starting point for everything on the web.

💡

You don't need any special software to write HTML. A plain text editor (like Notepad or TextEdit) and a web browser are all you need to get started.

Why Learn HTML?

HTML is the foundation of web development. Whether you want to build websites, learn CSS, or get into JavaScript — it all starts here. Once you understand how HTML structures a page, everything else becomes easier to learn.

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