HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It is the language every web page is built from. When you open a page in a browser, the browser reads an HTML file and turns it into the headings, paragraphs, images and buttons you see.
HTML does not make things look fancy and it does not run logic. Its job is smaller and more important: it says what each piece of content is. This is a heading. This is a paragraph. This is a link. This is a table of prices.
Markup, not programming
HTML is a markup language. You wrap content in tags, and the tags describe it.
<h1>Juniper Books</h1>
<p>A small bookshop with a big reading list.</p>The h1 tag marks a main heading. The p tag marks a paragraph. There are no loops or conditions here, only labels. That is why people call HTML a markup language and not a programming language.
The three layers of a web page
Most pages are built from three technologies that each do one job.
| Layer | Language | Job |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | HTML | What the content is |
| Presentation | CSS | How it looks |
| Behaviour | JavaScript | What it does when you interact |
Think of a house. HTML is the walls and rooms, CSS is the paint and furniture, and JavaScript is the electricity. You can have walls without paint, but you cannot paint walls that do not exist. That is why you learn HTML first.
What you will use HTML for
- Writing the content of a website: articles, product pages, documentation.
- Building forms for sign-ups, searches and contact messages.
- Embedding images, audio and video.
- Giving search engines and screen readers the information they need to understand a page.
HTML is always changing a little
How to use this course
Each lesson explains one idea, shows an example and ends with the things people usually get wrong. Most examples have a Try it button. Press it, change the code and see the result straight away. The best way to learn HTML is to break it and fix it.
Next you will set up a place to write HTML. Continue with HTML Editors.