HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It is the standard language used to create and structure content on the web. Every webpage you visit in a browser is built using HTML.
Below is the structure of a basic HTML document:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Page Title</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html><!DOCTYPE html> declaration defines that this document is an HTML5 document<html> element is the root element of an HTML page<head> element contains meta information about the HTML page<title> element specifies a title for the HTML page (which is shown in the browser's title bar or in the page's tab)<body> element defines the document's body, and is a container for all the visible contents, such as headings, paragraphs, images, hyperlinks, tables, lists, etc.<h1> element defines a large heading<p> element defines a paragraphAn HTML element is defined by a start tag, some content, and an end tag:
<tagname> Content goes here... </tagname>The HTML element is everything from the start tag to the end tag:
<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>| Start Tag | Element Content | End Tag |
|---|---|---|
<h1> |
My First Heading | </h1> |
<p> |
My first paragraph. | </p> |
<br> |
none | none |
Note: Some HTML elements have no content (like the <br> element). These elements are called empty elements. Empty elements do not have an end tag!
The purpose of a web browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) is to read HTML documents and display them correctly.
A browser does not display the HTML tags, but uses them to determine how to display the document:
Since the early days of the World Wide Web, there have been many versions of HTML:
| Year | Version |
|---|---|
| 1991 | HTML 1.0 (Tim Berners-Lee) |
| 1995 | HTML 2.0 |
| 1997 | HTML 3.2 (W3C Recommendation) |
| 1999 | HTML 4.01 (W3C Recommendation) |
| 2000 | XHTML 1.0 |
| 2014 | HTML5 (W3C Recommendation) |
| 2016 | HTML 5.1 |
| 2017 | HTML 5.2 |
| Present | HTML Living Standard (WHATWG) |
<P> means the same as <p>, but lowercase is recommended<!DOCTYPE html> declaration at the top<body> element<!DOCTYPE html> at the very top, older browsers can fall back to "quirks mode," which changes how CSS box sizing is calculated and can quietly break your layout.
<br><br> for spacing. Stacking line breaks to push content down mixes structure with presentation. Use CSS margin or padding instead — it's easier to adjust later and doesn't clutter the markup.
<br /> with a trailing slash are a holdover from XHTML. In HTML5, <br> alone is correct and standard.
Here's a small, complete HTML snippet combining a heading, a paragraph, an ordered list, and a link — copy it into any .html file and open it in a browser:
<h1>Grilled Cheese Sandwich</h1>
<p>A 5-minute recipe using only <strong>3 ingredients</strong>.</p>
<ol>
<li>Butter two slices of bread</li>
<li>Add a slice of cheese in between</li>
<li>Grill on medium heat for 2 minutes per side</li>
</ol>
<p>Full recipe collection: <a href="https://example.com/recipes">example.com/recipes</a></p>Rendered result:
A 5-minute recipe using only 3 ingredients.
Full recipe collection: example.com/recipes
Q: Do I need to learn HTML before CSS or JavaScript?
A: Yes. HTML gives you the structure to style with CSS and make interactive with JavaScript. Learning it first makes the other two much easier to follow.
Q: Is HTML a programming language?
A: No. HTML is a markup language — it describes structure, not logic. There are no loops, conditions, or calculations in HTML itself.
Q: Which code editor should I use to write HTML?
A: Any plain text editor works, but VS Code (free) is the most popular choice for beginners thanks to its built-in preview and extensions.