What is HTML?

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language and is the basic language used in creating or structuring web pages. HTML is not like typical programming languages such as JavaScript or Python, as it does not have programming logic. Instead, HTML is used to mark up the structure of content on a web page, such as text elements, images, or even tables. This allows search engines like Google to crawl the pages we create, enabling our website to be indexed and appear in search results.

Why is HTML important?

It can be likened to a human being without bones. No matter how beautiful or strong the body is, without bones, it cannot move. This is because humans need bones or a skeleton as a foundation to support the body and enable movement. Similarly, a website without HTML would lack the basic structure that browsers can read. No matter how good the design or interactive features are, none of it would function without HTML as its framework. Therefore, all websites found on search engines like Google, or any framework you use, must have HTML as their foundational structure.

Is HTML a Programming Language?

Some developers, including myself, believe that HTML is not part of a programming language, and the fact is that it is YES. HyperText Markup Language is a markup language. This means that HTML is used to structure content on a web page. Additionally, HTML does not support programming logic such as if else, for loop, while, and so on.

Applications We Use to Write HTML

You can use your favorite text editor such as Notepad++ or Sublime Text. However, I personally use Visual Studio Code. Why? Because Visual Studio Code has many features or embedded tools that can assist us during coding.

Basic HTML Structure

Here is the basic structure of an HTML document.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>NganggurDev - Learn HTML Basic</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Hello World!</h1>
    <p>this is my first paragraph on HTML. </p>
  </body>
</html>

Let's discuss some of the tags in the code above:

<!DOCTYPE html> We tell the browser that this is an HTML 5 document.
<html> The main tag in HTML that wraps the entire page.
<head> This section stores meta information such as the title, charset, and meta tags.
<title> The title of the page that appears in the browser tab.
<body> All the content of the web page is displayed through this tag.
<h1> and <p> These are heading and paragraph tags used to display text on the page.

Testing in the Browser

You can try the HTML script we’ve created using your text editor, then save the file with the .html extension. After that, open the file in a browser.

Conclusion

In this article, we will learn how important HTML is for the basic structure of website development and how to implement basic code in HTML documents.

Thank you, see you in the next article.

Learn HTML for Beginners #1: The Foundation of Every Website