Introduction to HTML

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the standard language used to structure the content of a web page. It is not a programming language but a markup language that describes the structure of a document.

Brief History

HTML was created in 1991 by Tim Berners-Lee and has evolved into the current version, HTML5, which adds support for multimedia, semantics, and more.

Basic Structure of an HTML Document

Every HTML file should follow a specific structure:

<!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 in HTML.</p>
</body>
</html>

Code Explanation

  • <!DOCTYPE html>: Indicates that HTML5 is being used.
  • <html>: Root element of the document.
  • <head>: Contains metadata, title, and links to resources.
  • <body>: Contains the visible content of the page.

Best Practices

  • Use lang="en" to indicate the language.
  • Always define <meta charset="UTF-8"> to avoid encoding issues.
  • Keep the code properly indented for better readability.

Exercise

Create a file named index.html that displays your name in an <h1> header and a brief description in a paragraph.