INTRO to html - page 1
So, what is HTML?
HTML stands for “hypertext markup language.” HTML is the markup language that underlies most web pages, determining what those pages look like (in general, though, HTML is not considered to be a "real" programming language). In this lesson, we’ll cover some of the most basic HTML tags, going over what each tag means as we go along.
All you need to have to write HTML is a text editor—we’ll use Notepad, which comes with most intalls of MS Windows. Open a blank Notepad by going to Start > Programs > Accessories > Notepad. (You can also use a shortcut: Start > Run, then type ‘Notepad’, then click Enter)
Type the following information in your blank Notepad (substituting your own content where indicated).
The little tags--those commands enclosed by pointy brackets < > --are like little instructions telling the browser what content to display and how to display it. Tags tell the browser, "hey browser, make this text bold" or "hey browser, insert a line break here." The more tags you know, the more choices you'll have for how your content will look.
Tags come in pairs and work like on and off switches: the first tag (e.g., <h1>) tells the browser, "treat this text like a big, bold heading" and the second tag (which always has the forward slash, as in, </h1>) tells the browser, "ok, the heading (or paragraph, or whatever) ends here." Although HTML tags are not case sensitive, XHTML requires that all tags be lowercase--so that's what we want to do.
The following tags are sometimes called the skeleton or skeletal tags, because they are the core tags of any HTML web page.
<html>
< head>
<
title></title>
< /head>
<
body></body>
< /html>
Note: You can click on the hyperlinked tags above when you feel ready to read more about what they do. This is stuff that you should eventually know, but you can skip it for now if it seems too overwhelming. It might help to come back later, after you've worked through the rest of the tutorial and have some context.
Notice how the tags are "nested" (each pair is inside or outside another pair of tags; the pair never encloses the beginning tag and not the end tag -- this is important. Look up "nesting" in your HTML book and read more about what this means.