What Is HTML?

HTML is a fundamental property of web development. It is a structure that supports our web page. It stands for Hyper Text Markup Langauge. They are the building blocks of our favorite website and support numerous other elements such as CSS, JQuery, and Bootstrap in making a web page dynamic and interactive. Let us learn more about HTML in the article below.

What is HTML?

HTML, which stands for HyperText Markup Language, is a standard markup language for documents that are intended to be viewed in a web browser. HTML elements are fundamental building blocks. HTML allows a person to create structured documents by denoting structure semantics for text elements such as headings, paragraphs, lists, and other items.

HTML tells browsers which parts of a webpage are headers and which are footers, where paragraphs go, where images, graphics, and videos go, and so on. Browsers take that HTML content and convert it into what anyone sees on the screen of their device. HTML is an industry-standard language that is guaranteed to be understood by all web browsers (such as Safari, Firefox, and Google Chrome). HTML is also the universally accepted standard for making websites “findable” by search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing based on relevant search terms (i.e., search terms entered into the search bar).

History of HTML

Tim Berners-Lee first mentioned “HTML Tags”, a document that served as the first publicly accessible description of HTML, on the Internet in late 1991. It describes the initial, relatively simple HTML design, which consists of 18 elements. These were largely inspired by CERN’s internal Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML)-based documentation format, SGMLguid, except for the hyperlink tag. Eleven of these elements are still present in HTML 4.

HTML is a markup language used by web browsers to interpret and compose text, images, and other content into visually or audibly visible web pages. The browser defines the default characteristics for each item of HTML markup, and these characteristics can be altered or enhanced by the web page designer’s additional use of CSS.

Many of the text elements are mentioned in the 1988 ISO technical report TR 9537 Techniques for Using SGML, which describes the features of early text formatting languages, such as the RUNOFF command, which was developed in the early 1960s for the CTSS (Compatible Time-Sharing System) operating system.

What are HTML tags?

HTML tags are keywords or labels surrounded by angle brackets (‘<’ and ‘>’) that define the structure and presentation of content in an HTML document. Tags are fundamental building blocks of HTML and are used to mark up or wrap different parts of content to give them specific meanings or functions. Every HTML tag has an opening tag, content, and a closing tag.

Types of HTML Tags

There are two different types of HTML tags, which are mentioned in detail below:

1. Container Tags: Container tags are also known as paired tags. These are the tags that are required to be closed after use. These tags have both opening and closing tags and enclose content between them.
2. Empty Tags: Empty tags are also known as Self-Closing tags. These are the tags that are not required to be closed. These tags don’t have separate closing tags because they don’t enclose any content. These tags are used to insert elements that don’t have content or are standalone.

What are HTML elements?

HTML elements define the structure and semantics of a document and include various types such as headings, paragraphs, lists, links, images, forms, and more.

For example-

Here,

• The <p> is the opening tag, indicating the start of the paragraph element.
• “This is my paragraph.” This is the content of the paragraph.
• </p> is the closing tag, indicating the end of the paragraph element.

Nested HTML Elements

In HTML, the nested element is the element that is contained within another element. HTML elements can be nested inside each other to form a hierarchical structure.

HTML elements are the fundamental building blocks that browsers employ in order to render web pages. Each element contributes to the overall structure and appearance of the page, and understanding how to use these elements is essential when creating web content.

For example-

Types of HTML Elements

There are a number of elements in the HTML Language, which are mentioned below:

• Metadata elements:

1. <head>: container of metadata
2. <title>: sets the title of the HTML Document
3. <meta>: provides metadata about the document

• Sectioning elements:

1. <header>: represents a header for a section or a page
2. <footer>: represents a footer for a section or a page
3. <nav>: represents navigation links
4. <section>: represents a section of content
5. <main>: represents the main content of the document

• Grouping Content Elements:

1. <div>: Represents a generic container
2. <p>: Represents a paragraph
3. <hr>: Represents a horizontal rule (line)

• Text Content Elements:

1. Headings: <h1>, <h2>, … <h6> represent different levels of headings
2. <a>: Represents a hyperlink (anchor)
3. <span>: Represents an inline container for text
4. <strong>: Represents strong importance (bold)
5. <em>: Represents emphasized text (italic)
6. <br>: Represents a line break

• List elements:

1. <ul>: Represents an unordered list
2. <ol>: Represents an ordered list
3. <li>: Represents a list item
4. <dl>: Represents a definition list
5. <dt>: Represents a term in a definition list
6. <dd>: Represents a description in a definition list

• Form Elements:

1. <form>: Represents an HTML form
2. <input>: Represents an input control
3. <textarea>: Represents a multiline text input control
4. <button>: Represents a clickable button
5. <select>: Represents a dropdown list
6. <label>: Represents a label for a form control
7. <fieldset>: Represents a group of form controls
8. <legend>: Represents a caption for a <fieldset>

• Table Elements:

1. <table>: Represents an HTML table
2. <tr>: Represents a table row
3. <th>: Represents a table header cell
4. <td>: Represents a table data cell
5. <thead>, <tbody>, <tfoot>: Represent different parts of a table

• Embedded Content Elements:

1. <img>: Represents an image
2. <audio>: Represents audio content
3. <video>: Represents video content
4. <iframe>: Represents an inline frame (used for embedding other documents)

• Interactive Elements:

1. <a>: Represents an anchor (hyperlink)
2. <button>: Represents a clickable button.
3. <input>: Represents various types of input controls (e.g., text input, checkbox, radio button)

• Scripting Elements:

1. <script>: Represents client-side scripts

What are the HTML attributes?

HTML attributes are used to provide additional information about HTML elements and are always included in the opening tag. They are used to change or customize the behaviour of HTML elements. Attributes consist of a name and a value separated by an equals sign (=), with the value enclosed by double or single quotes.

Some of the global attributes of HTML elements include id, class, style, title, and many more. These attributes are attached to nearly every HTML element.

HTML FAQs

What is HTML?

HTML is a markup language that tells web browsers how to structure the web pages that are visited by us. HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. A piece of detailed information about HTML, its history, tags, and attributes is mentioned above in the article.

What is HTML coding?

HTML defines the meaning and structure of web content. It is often assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScript.

What is an HTML element?

An HTML element is defined by a start tag, some content, and an end tag: The HTML element is everything from the start tag to the end tag: My first paragraph. Note: Some HTML elements have no content (like the element). These elements are called empty elements. Empty elements do not have an end tag!