HTML derives from the English acronym “Hypertext Markup Language”, which in Portuguese, means, ”linguagem de marcação de hipertexto”. This language, can be used in the construction of web pages and webapps, usually, you start studying it, when you want to enter the programming area, either as a Front-End Developer, Web Developer, Software Developer or even Web Designer.
What is hypertext? What does hypertext mean?
In a simple way, it refers to a text with interconnected blocks containing words, images, audio, tables and/or other elements. Additionally, they can contain paths that link to other hypertexts, such as hyperlinks, to other pages or files, among others. The main purpose of this language is the creation of web pages, providing the structure and content needed for websites.
HTML Markup
HTML markup is based on elements. Each element has a start tag and an end tag. This is identified with a less-than sign (<), followed by the tag name and a greater-than sign (>). Most tags need to be closed, to do this we use the slash (/) symbol between the “<” sign and the tag name.
Some elements:
- The <p> tag must be opened and closed to define a paragraph. Example: <p>This is how you define a paragraph in HTML. </p>
- Header tags help create a hierarchy between parts of the text, separating it into sections. The <h1> is the most relevant heading, and the <h6>, the least relevant. Example: <h1>Main heading</h1>
- By using the <a> element in HTML (or anchor), with the “href” attribute, you create a hyperlink to other web pages, files, emails or even links to certain sections of the same page. Example: <a href=”https://gowebagency.pt/pt/”>Goweb Agency</a>
How is the basic structure of an HTML document defined?
So far we have seen a little about what HTML is, its function and some of its elements. Next we will talk about the basic structure of an HTML document. This structure needs some tags, such as:
- <!DOCTYPE html> – This statement that should be in the initial part of the code tells the browser that this is an HTML5 document.
- <html> – This tag marks the beginning of the HTML document and contains all the content of the page.
- <head> – This section contains the definition of page features, such as the page title, search engine keywords (SEO), and links to external style sheets (CSS, JavaScript, and others).
- <title> – This tag specifies the title of the page that appears in the title bar or in the browser.
- <body> – This is where the visible content of the page is located, for example, headings, paragraphs, images and other media.
There are many more, but through these examples, you can already get the idea of how the structure of an HTML document works.
After this short introduction to HTML, you may have wondered how to modify the look of a web page, such as giving it a colour, changing the font or styling the information. For this to happen, you need to use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Stay tuned for our next article to find out more about CSS!