What is HTML?

What You'll Learn

What HTML stands for and its purpose
Brief history of HTML
Basic structure of an HTML document

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the standard language for creating web pages. It describes the structure of a webpage using a series of elements that tell the browser how to display content.

Think of HTML as the skeleton of a website - it defines where headings, paragraphs, images, and links appear on the page.

Brief History

HTML was created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991 at CERN. The latest version is HTML5, which introduced:

Semantic elements (<header>, <nav>, <footer>)
Audio and video support
Canvas for graphics
Local storage

Basic Structure

Every HTML document follows this structure:

index.htmlHTML

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

Key Parts:

<!DOCTYPE html> - Tells browser this is HTML5
<html> - Root element
<head> - Contains metadata (title, styles, scripts)
<body> - Contains visible content

Why HTML Matters

Universal - Every browser understands HTML
Foundation - CSS and JavaScript build on HTML
SEO - Search engines read HTML to index pages
Accessibility - Screen readers use HTML structure