HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is a standard markup language used for creating web pages and applications. It is the backbone of the web and is used to structure and present content on the internet. HTML consists of a series of tags and attributes that define the structure and content of a web page.
History of HTML HTML was first developed in the early 1990s by Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist, who also created the first web browser and the World Wide Web. The first version of HTML, HTML 1.0, was released in 1993 and was a simple language that allowed web developers to create basic web pages with text and images.
Over the years, HTML has evolved with new versions being released to introduce new features and improvements. HTML 2.0 was released in 1995 and introduced the ability to create tables, forms, and more advanced text formatting. HTML 3.2 was released in 1997 and added support for frames, which allowed developers to create more complex layouts.
HTML 4.0 was released in 1998 and introduced support for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), which allowed developers to separate the presentation of a web page from its content. This made it easier to create and maintain web pages with consistent styling. HTML 4.0 also introduced support for scripting languages like JavaScript, which allowed developers to create more dynamic and interactive web pages.
In 2014, HTML5 was released and introduced many new features and improvements. HTML5 added support for multimedia elements like audio and video, as well as new semantic tags like <header>, <nav>, and <footer>, which made it easier to structure web pages for search engines and accessibility.
HTML Tags and Attributes HTML consists of a series of tags that define the structure and content of a web page. Tags are enclosed in angle brackets (< >) and can have attributes that provide additional information about the tag. Here are some of the most commonly used HTML tags:
- <html>: Defines the root element of an HTML page.
- <head>: Contains meta information about the HTML page, such as its title and links to external files.
- <title>: Defines the title of the HTML page, which appears in the browser's title bar.
- <body>: Contains the main content of the HTML page.
- <h1> - <h6>: Defines headings of different levels.
- <p>: Defines a paragraph of text.
- <a>: Defines a hyperlink to another web page or resource.
- <img>: Displays an image on the web page.
- <ul> and <ol>: Defines unordered and ordered lists, respectively.
- <li>: Defines a list item within a list.
- <table>: Defines a table on the web page.
- <tr>: Defines a row within a table.
- <td>: Defines a cell within a table row.
HTML tags can also have attributes that provide additional information about the tag. Attributes are specified within the opening tag and have a name and a value, separated by an equal sign (=). Here are some common HTML attributes:
- class: Specifies one or more CSS classes for an HTML element.
- id: Specifies a unique identifier for an HTML element.
- style: Specifies inline CSS styles for an HTML element.
- href: Specifies the URL of the linked resource for an <a> tag.
- src: Specifies the URL of the image or multimedia file for an <img> tag.
- alt: Specifies alternative text for an <img> tag, which is displayed if the image cannot be loaded.
HTML Document Structure An HTML document consists of a series of nested elements that define the structure and content of the web page. Here is the basic structure of an HTML document: