HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language, a markup language utilized for developing and modifying text, images, and other elements meant for presentation on a webpage.
This programming language relies on SGML (Standard Generalised Markup Language) as its foundation. It employs a range of tags and attributes to assist users in presenting text, links, and images on a webpage. The HTML pages are disseminated on the World Wide Web (WWW) through HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol).
Any HTML page is a set of multiple tags which are enclosed in the angular brackets ( '<' and '>' ). Basically, the tags in HTML comes in pairs like <h1></h1>, <html></html>, etc . The first tag in the pair which also includes the attributes is called an opening tag (<p>) and the second tag is called closing tag (</p>). But, some tags do not need to be closed after opening them such as <img>, <br>, <input>, etc . These tags are called as empty tags or unpair tags.
Web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and others do not show the tags present in a web page. Instead, they utilize these tags to understand the content of the page.
HTML was developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990. It is a markup language.
HTML tags and attributes are not case sensitive, allowing flexibility in using either uppercase or lowercase letters when coding in HTML.
Here is a basic illustration demonstrating the process of generating a webpage by utilizing HTML markup. When executed, this example will exhibit the phrase "Hello World!" on the webpage.
<!Doctype Html> <!-- First tag -->
<Html> <!-- Second Tag -->
<Head> <!-- Third tag -->
<!-- Fourth tag --> <Title>
Simple Example
</Title>
</Head>
<Body> <!-- Fifth tag -->
Hello World!
</Body>
</Html>
In the provided instance, the initial tag specifies the document type, while the second tag is mandatory and serves as the opening tag for all HTML documents. This tag informs the browser that the content is in HTML format.
The third tag is always used just after the <html> tag. This tag contains the meta-information such as the title of the web page, CSS code, and the javascript code. This tag must be closed before the opening of the next (body) tag. In the head tag we used the fourth tag which gives the title of the web page. And, then we close the </title> and </head> tag.
Subsequently, we implemented the fifth tag known as <body>, which serves the purpose of showcasing text, images, and various other elements on a webpage. Within this tag, one must input the desired content using appropriate tags and attributes for display. For instance, we inputted "Hello World!" to be showcased on the webpage upon execution by a browser. Following this, we meticulously closed all opened tags, beginning with the closure of the body tag and subsequently concluding with the <html> tag.
Upon running the HTML code provided above, the resulting output will be as follows: