Introduction to HTML
What is HTML?
HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language and allows you, the author of the page, to tell the web browser how to display the page. Using a markup language means the page you create contains both what you want to display (the text) and the directions (html tags) for how to display it.
Remember: An HTML file is just a text file.
Although web pages often have pictures, or even sound and movies, HTML is
plain text. This means you can create an HTML page in any simple text editor.
We will be using a text editor called
TextWrangler.
What are tags?
Remember: A tag starts with a
An HTML tag is
how you give the browser information about the text
you are sending it. A tag always appears inside a < and ends with a >
< and a >.
Stand-alone Tags
Note: A lot of older HTML may not include a
Some tags stand alone on their own, such as / in
stand-alone tags, e.g. <br> or even omit some end tags
entirely, e.g.
</p>. However,
the best web authors
write code that is XHTML
compliant. XHTML is
a stricter version of HTML that makes certain types of automation
easier (X is for Extensible).
<br />,
and indicate to the browser something should happen right where the tag is in the text.
For example, the <br /> tag adds a line break, which
means starting a new line. The "/" indicates that this tag stands alone and does not
have an end tag (see below).
Container Tags
However, most tags are container tags and have three parts: the start
tag, the end tag and the text you put in between. For example,
the <strong> tag might be used like this:
<strong>You should read this!</strong>
Remember: End tags begin with
Notice that the end tag looks just like the start tag, only the first character
after the </
< is a /. This is what tells the browser
that this tag should end whatever the first tag began. Whatever the tag does
is applied to the text in between the start tag and the end tag. The <strong> tag
usually makes text appear bold, so the result of the line above is:
You should read this!
End of Overview