What is HTML? - Definition and Working of HTML

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. It is one of the most important programming languages for the web. it is used in almost every website available on the internet. The main purpose of HTML is to structure web pages. HTML consists of lots of elements generally called tags which are the building blocks of a web page.

When we visit a website we see that the website consists of images, text, tables, and multiple other elements. All these elements on a website are built using HTML. When HTML elements are combined together they make up a web page.

Uses of HTML

For Creating documentation using headings, paragraphs, images, and multiple other HTML elements.

For Navigating the web through HTML links.

For Creating web pages.

And more…

History of HTML

HTML has a long history. It was written and developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1993. Since then, there have been multiple versions of HTML. Each HTML Version has brought Some New Features, for example, the table was introduced in HTML 4.01.

HTML 1.0 – It is the first version of HTML, which was released in 1991.

HTML 2.0 – This second version of HTML was released in 1994. It was the improved version of HTML 1.0. In this version, lots of new elements were added like forms. Along with that, HTML 2.0 was set as the standard for website design until 1997.

HTML 3.2 – This version of HTML was released in 1997. HTML 3.2 introduced so many new features like table, subscript, superscript etc. W3C was founded in 1994 to standardize the language and help it keep evolving. W3C(World Wide Web Consortium) started its first work named WILBUR, which was later become HTML 3.2.

HTML 4.01 – It was developed in 1999. HTML 4.01 is a very stable version of HTML. it is the current official standard and also extended the support for CSS.

HTML 5.0 – It is the latest version of HTML which was released in 2015. It is considered one of the best versions of HTML. Two major organizations W3C and WHATWG( Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group) are involved in the development of HTML 5.0.

Working of HTML

Working of HTML is very simple. We don’t need any compiler or interpreter for converting our HTML code into machine code because our web browser can translate it into machine code for us. All we need is to create an HTML file consisting of different HTML elements.

To create and run an HTML file we just need a simple text editor like notepad and a browser which we all already have on our computers.

What are HTML tags?

HTML tags are the components of an HTML document. Basically, an HTML tag tells a browser how a specific part of the HTML document will be shown and interpreted.

HTML tag defines different parts of a web page like header, footer, images, links, etc. Different HTML tags are formatted together to create a page. Every HTML tag consists a different meaning and interprets differently in the browser.

HTML tags have a predefined structure. An HTML tag is wrapped in a left-angle bracket and a right-angle bracket. When we combine two HTML tags an HTM ElementL is formed. An HTML element consists opening tag, some content, and a closing tag.

Anatomy of a Simple HTML page

Copy

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>CodingClaw</title>
</head>
<body>

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

</body>
</html>

<!DOCTYPE html> – It declares that an HTML document is an HTML document.

<html> – it is the root element of an HTML document.

<head> – it contains meta information of an HTML page.

<title> – it specifies the title of an HTML page which is seen in the browser’s title bar

<body> – contains all the HTML elements which are visible in the browser.

<h1> – it is used to add a large heading

<p> – it is used for adding paragraph

HTML Page Structure

Pros and Cons of HTML

Pros

It is widely used.

HTML helps to build the structure of web pages.

It is easy to learn programming language.

You don’t need any software or an IDE to run HTML.

HTML runs in web browsers.

Almost every browser supports HTML.

HTML is not case-sensitive, For example, <html> and <HTML> are the same.

HTML can be easily integrated with languages like javascript and CSS.

Almost every website on the internet is built using HTML.

HTML is fast and lightweight.

Cons

HTML is a static language so we can’t create dynamic web pages using only HTML.

It only runs in browsers.

To make a simple web page we need to write a lot of HTML.

HTML can be hard to maintain we are working on a big project.

If we compare it with other programming languages HTML is less secure.

HTML elements are limited.

Writing HTML is time-consuming.

Conclusion

HTML is one of the most popular programming languages for the web. It is used widely used by developers around the globe for creating web-based applications. It is easy to use language and everyone can learn it easily.

It was one of the initial Markup languages developed for the web. Since then HTML has seen a tremendous evolution. Currently, we are using HTML 5.0 which is the improved version of all previous versions and HTML evolving over the years.

What is HTML? – Definition and Working of HTML