HTML Introduction

HTML is the standard markup language for creating Web pages.

What is HTML?

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language
HTML is the standard markup language for creating Web pages
HTML describes the structure of a Web page
HTML consists of a series of elements
HTML elements tell the browser how to display the content
HTML elements label pieces of content such as "this is a heading", "this is a paragraph", "this is a link", etc.

A Simple HTML Document

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Page Title</title>
</head>
<body>

<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Example Explained

The <!DOCTYPE html> declaration defines that this document is an HTML5 document
The <html> element is the root element of an HTML page
The <head> element contains meta information about the HTML page
The <title> element specifies a title for the HTML page (which is shown in the browser's title bar or in the page's tab)
The <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.
The <h1> element defines a large heading
The <p> element defines a paragraph

What is an HTML Element?

An 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!

Web Browsers

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:

View in Browser

HTML Page Structure

Below is a visualization of an HTML page structure:

<html>

<head>

<title>Page title</title>

</head>

<body>

<h1>This is a heading</h1>

<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

<p>This is another paragraph.</p>

</body>

</html>

Note: The content inside the <body> section (the white area above) will be displayed in a browser. The content inside the <title> element will be shown in the browser's title bar or in the page's tab.

element is the root element of an HTML page The element contains meta information about the HTML page The element specifies a title for the HTML page (which is shown in the browser's title bar or in the page's tab) The <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. The <h1> element defines a large heading The <p> element defines a paragraph What is an HTML Element? An 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!