HTML Explained: What Is It? How To Use? Why?

Understanding HTML language opens the web, what is, & how it works, Basics explained much of the entire internet functions of hypertext guide

By Claudio Pires
Updated on January 8, 2023
HTML Explained: What Is It? How To Use? Why?

Understanding HTML opens up the web. Once you know what it is and how it works, you’ll soon see how the basics of the entire internet function and, more importantly, how basic web pages are created and how to edit them. What’s more, although daunting at first, HTML is a very, very simple language to learn! Ready to find out all about it? Learn all the HTML hypertext language basics on this guide.

Firstly, HTML is a computer language present to allow website creation. These websites can then be up by anyone else on the Internet. It is relatively easy to learn, with the basics accessible to most people in one sitting, and quite powerful in what it allows you to create.

It is constantly undergoing revision and evolution to meet the demands and requirements of the growing Internet audience under the direction of the W3C, the organization charged with designing and maintaining the language.

HTML’s definition is HyperText Markup Language.

  • HyperText is how you move around on the web. Clicking on a particular text called hyperlinks brings you to the next page. The fact that it is hyper means it is not linear. So, i.e., you can go to any place on the Internet whenever you want by clicking on links. There is no set order to do things.
  • Markup is what HTML tags do to the text inside them. They mark it as a specific type of text (italicized text, for example).
  • HTML is a Language, as it has code words and syntax like any other language.

How does It Work?

HTML consists of a series of shortcodes typed into a text file by the site author. So, these are the tags. The text is then saved as an HTML file and viewed through a browser like Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. This browser reads the file and translates the text into a visible form, hopefully rendering the page as the author had intended.

Writing your codes based on them entails using tags correctly to create your vision. You can use anything from a rudimentary text editor to a powerful graphical editor to create HTML pages.

About The Tags: Beginners Guide to HTML & Hypertext Language Basics

The tags are what separate standard text from HTML code. You might know them as the words between the <angle-brackets>. They allow all the cool stuff like images, tables, and things by telling your browser what to render on the page. Different tags will perform other functions. The tags don’t appear when you view your page through a browser, but their effects do. The most straightforward tags do nothing more than apply formatting to some text, like this:

<b>These words will be bold</b>, and these will not.

In the example above, the <b> Tags were wrapped around some text, and their effect will be that the contained text will be bolded when viewed through an ordinary web browser, for example, on your Safari.

Layout: Beginners Guide to HTML

HTML Layout ( Basic Structure of HTML )

HTML Layoutis the process of creating a website that is accessible to all users, regardless of their device or browser.

The design of a website is primarily determined by the layout.

When you describe it in a descriptive manner, you can describe HTML as a framework that facilitates the navigation of web pages. It’s a method of creating web pages that is simple HTML tags.

<header> Defines a header for a document or a section.

<nav> Describes a series of navigation routes.

<section> Adds a section in a document.

<article> Describes a separate, independent entity.

<footer> Defines a footer for a document or a section.

<details> Adds additional information that the user can access and disable at will.

<summary> Creates a heading for the element.

Head Tag <head>

It’s the part of the HTML document that contains metadata about the document and its content.
The element provides general information about the document, including its title and links to its scripts and style sheets.

<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>
      Document
    </title>
  </head>
</html>

Link Tag <link>

The HTML element describes the association between a current document and an external resource. This element is primarily intended to facilitate the creation of a relational framework for navigation. This Element is most commonly employed to connect to style sheets.

<link href="style.css" rel="stylesheet">

Meta Tag <meta>

Thid HTML expalined element element represents any metadata information that cannot be represented by one of the other HTML meta-related elements <style> or <title>.

<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial
  scale=1.0">
</head>
Claudio Pires

Claudio Pires is the co-founder of Visualmodo, a renowned company in web development and design. With over 15 years of experience, Claudio has honed his skills in content creation, web development support, and senior web designer. A trilingual expert fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, he brings a global perspective to his work. Beyond his professional endeavors, Claudio is an active YouTuber, sharing his insights and expertise with a broader audience. Based in Brazil, Claudio continues to push the boundaries of web design and digital content, making him a pivotal figure in the industry.