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HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language . It is the standard markup language used to create web pages. HTML is a combination of Hypertext and Markup language. Hypertext defines the link between web pages. A markup language is used to define the text document within the tag to define the structure of web pages.

This language is used to annotate (make notes for the computer) text so that a machine can understand it and manipulate text accordingly. Most markup languages (e.g. HTML) are human-readable. The language uses tags to define what manipulation has to be done on the text.

Table of Content

What is HTML?

Features of html, html elements and tags, html page structure, web browsers.

Why learn HTML?

Advantages of HTML

Disadvantages of html.

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language and it is used to create webpages. It uses HTML tags and attributes to describe the structure and formatting of a web page.

HTML consists of various elements, that are responsible for telling search engines how to display page content. For example, headings, lists, images, links, and more.

HTML Example

It is easy to learn and easy to use.
It is platform-independent.
Images, videos, and audio can be added to a web page.
Hypertext can be added to the text.
It is a markup language.

HTML uses predefined tags and elements that tell the browser how to display the content. HTML elements include an opening tag, some content, and a closing tag.

Remember to include closing tags. If omitted, the browser applies the effect of the opening tag until the end of the page.

The basic structure of an HTML page is shown below. It contains the essential building-block elements (i.e. doctype declaration, HTML, head, title, and body elements) upon which all web pages are created.

<!DOCTYPE html> – This is the document type declaration (not technically a tag). It declares a document as being an HTML document. The doctype declaration is not case-sensitive.
<html> – This is called the HTML root element. All other elements are contained within it.
<head> – The head tag contains the “behind the scenes” elements for a webpage. Elements within the head aren’t visible on the front end of a webpage. HTML elements used inside the <head> element include:
<style> – This HTML tag allows us to insert styling into our web pages and make them appealing to look at with the help of CSS.
<title> – The title is what is displayed on the top of your browser when you visit a website and contains the title of the webpage that you are viewing.
<base> – It specifies the base URL for all relative URL’s in a document.
<noscript> – Defines a section of HTML that is inserted when the scripting has been turned off in the user’s browser.
<script> – This tag is used to add functionality to the website with the help of JavaScript.
<meta> – This tag encloses the metadata of the website that must be loaded every time the website is visited. For eg:- the metadata charset allows you to use the standard UTF-8 encoding on your website. This in turn allows the users to view your webpage in the language of their choice. It is a self-closing tag.
<link> – The ‘link’ tag is used to tie together HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It is self-closing.
<body> – The body tag is used to enclose all the visible content of a webpage. In other words, the body content is what the browser will show on the front end.

An HTML document can be created using an HTML text editor . Save the text file using the “ .html” or “ .htm” extension. Once saved as an HTML document, the file can be opened as a webpage in the browser.

Note: Basic/built-in text editors are Notepad (Windows) and TextEdit (MacOS) . Other advanced text editors include Sublime Text, Visual Studio Code, Froala , etc.

This example illustrates the basic structure of HTML code.

Unlike other programming languages, HTML does not show output on the compiler.

Web browsers show the results of an HTML code. It reads HTML files and determines how to show content with the help of HTML tags.

Any web browser ( Google, Safari, Mozilla Firefox , etc) can be used to open a . HTML file and view the results.

Why learn HTML?

It is a simple markup language. Its implementation is easy.
It is used to create a website.
Helps in developing fundamentals about web programming.
Boost professional career.

HTML History

HTML is a markup language used by the browser to manipulate text, images, and other content, in order to display it in the required format. HTML was created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991 . The first-ever version of HTML was HTML 1.0 , but the first standard version was HTML 2.0 , published in 1995.

Currently, we are using HTML5 , which is the latest and most recent version of HTML.

HTML is used to build websites.
It is supported by all browsers.
It can be integrated with other languages like CSS , JavaScript , etc.
HTML can only create static web pages. For dynamic web pages, other languages have to be used.
A large amount of code has to be written to create a simple web page.
The security feature is not good.

HTML is a very important language as it is widely used in creating websites. Most of the websites are built using HTML5 (the latest version of HTML). HTML mainly contains tags and attributes that determine the formatting and structure of a website.

This introduction to HTML gives a brief overview of what HTML is and teaches HTML basics. This guide will help you understand the workings of HTML and explain it with examples.

To learn more about HTML, visit the HTML Tutorial Page.

Master The Art of Web Development with Full Stack Web Development

Frequently Asked Questions about HTML Introduction

What are the basics of html.

HTML basics include understanding the syntax, elements/tags, attributes, structure and formatting of HTML file.

What are the 5 uses of HTML?

5 key uses of HTML are: Creating web page. Integrating CSS and JavaScript Accessing web content Semantic markup Cross-platform compatibility

What is HTML syntax?

HTML syntax means the set of rules and regulation that defines how HTML code is structured and written.

What is the main concept of HTML?

HTML is a global markup language for web. You can create any a webpage using HTML and any browser can open that HTML file.

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HTML text fundamentals

Overview: Introduction to HTML

One of HTML's main jobs is to give text structure so that a browser can display an HTML document the way its developer intends. This article explains the way HTML can be used to structure a page of text by adding headings and paragraphs, emphasizing words, creating lists, and more.

The basics: headings and paragraphs

Most structured text consists of headings and paragraphs, whether you are reading a story, a newspaper, a college textbook, a magazine, etc.

An example of a newspaper front cover, showing use of a top level heading, subheadings and paragraphs.

Structured content makes the reading experience easier and more enjoyable.

In HTML, each paragraph has to be wrapped in a <p> element, like so:

Each heading has to be wrapped in a heading element:

There are six heading elements: h1 , h2 , h3 , h4 , h5 , and h6 . Each element represents a different level of content in the document; <h1> represents the main heading, <h2> represents subheadings, <h3> represents sub-subheadings, and so on.

Implementing structural hierarchy

For example, in this story, the <h1> element represents the title of the story, the <h2> elements represent the title of each chapter, and the <h3> elements represent subsections of each chapter:

It's really up to you what the elements involved represent, as long as the hierarchy makes sense. You just need to bear in mind a few best practices as you create such structures:

Preferably, you should use a single <h1> per page—this is the top level heading, and all others sit below this in the hierarchy.
Make sure you use the headings in the correct order in the hierarchy. Don't use <h3> elements to represent subheadings, followed by <h2> elements to represent sub-subheadings—that doesn't make sense and will lead to weird results.
Of the six heading levels available, you should aim to use no more than three per page, unless you feel it is necessary. Documents with many levels (for example, a deep heading hierarchy) become unwieldy and difficult to navigate. On such occasions, it is advisable to spread the content over multiple pages if possible.

Why do we need structure?

To answer this question, let's take a look at text-start.html —the starting point of our running example for this article (a nice hummus recipe). You should save a copy of this file on your local machine, as you'll need it for the exercises later on. This document's body currently contains multiple pieces of content. They aren't marked up in any way, but they are separated with line breaks (Enter/Return pressed to go onto the next line).

However, when you open the document in your browser, you'll see that the text appears as a big chunk!

A webpage that shows a wall of unformatted text, because there are no elements on the page to structure it.

This is because there are no elements to give the content structure, so the browser does not know what is a heading and what is a paragraph. Furthermore:

Users looking at a web page tend to scan quickly to find relevant content, often just reading the headings, to begin with. (We usually spend a very short time on a web page .) If they can't see anything useful within a few seconds, they'll likely get frustrated and go somewhere else.
Search engines indexing your page consider the contents of headings as important keywords for influencing the page's search rankings. Without headings, your page will perform poorly in terms of SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Severely visually impaired people often don't read web pages; they listen to them instead. This is done with software called a screen reader . This software provides ways to get fast access to given text content. Among the various techniques used, they provide an outline of the document by reading out the headings, allowing their users to find the information they need quickly. If headings are not available, they will be forced to listen to the whole document read out loud.
To style content with CSS , or make it do interesting things with JavaScript , you need to have elements wrapping the relevant content, so CSS/JavaScript can effectively target it.

Therefore, we need to give our content structural markup.

Active learning: Giving our content structure

Let's jump straight in with a live example. In the example below, add elements to the raw text in the Input field so that it appears as a heading and two paragraphs in the Output field.

If you make a mistake, you can always reset it using the Reset button. If you get stuck, press the Show solution button to see the answer.

Why do we need semantics?

Semantics are relied on everywhere around us—we rely on previous experience to tell us what the function of an everyday object is; when we see something, we know what its function will be. So, for example, we expect a red traffic light to mean "stop," and a green traffic light to mean "go." Things can get tricky very quickly if the wrong semantics are applied. (Do any countries use red to mean "go"? We hope not.)

In a similar way, we need to make sure we are using the correct elements, giving our content the correct meaning, function, or appearance. In this context, the h1 element is also a semantic element, which gives the text it wraps around the role (or meaning) of "a top level heading on your page."

By default, the browser will give it a large font size to make it look like a heading (although you could style it to look like anything you wanted using CSS). More importantly, its semantic value will be used in multiple ways, for example by search engines and screen readers (as mentioned above).

On the other hand, you could make any element look like a top level heading. Consider the following:

This is a <span> element. It has no semantics. You use it to wrap content when you want to apply CSS to it (or do something to it with JavaScript) without giving it any extra meaning. (You'll find out more about these later on in the course.) We've applied some CSS to it to make it look like a top level heading, but since it has no semantic value, it will not get any of the extra benefits described above. It is a good idea to use the relevant HTML element for the job.

Now let's turn our attention to lists. Lists are everywhere in life—from your shopping list to the list of directions you subconsciously follow to get to your house every day, to the lists of instructions you are following in these tutorials! On the web, we have three types of lists: unordered, ordered, and description.

Unordered and ordered lists are very common, and they're covered in this section. Description lists are less common, and we'll cover them in Advanced text formatting .

Unordered lists are used to mark up lists of items for which the order of the items doesn't matter. Let's take a shopping list as an example:

Every unordered list starts off with a <ul> element—this wraps around all the list items:

The last step is to wrap each list item in a <li> (list item) element:

Active learning: Marking up an unordered list

Try editing the live sample below to create your very own HTML unordered list.

Ordered lists are lists in which the order of the items does matter. Let's take a set of directions as an example:

The markup structure is the same as for unordered lists, except that you have to wrap the list items in an <ol> element, rather than <ul> :

Active learning: Marking up an ordered list

Try editing the live sample below to create your very own HTML ordered list.

Active learning: Marking up our recipe page

So at this point in the article, you have all the information you need to mark up our recipe page example. You can choose to either save a local copy of our text-start.html starting file and do the work there or do it in the editable example below. Doing it locally will probably be better, as then you'll get to save the work you are doing, whereas if you fill it in to the editable example, it will be lost the next time you open the page. Both have pros and cons.

If you get stuck, you can always press the Show solution button, or check out our text-complete.html example on our GitHub repo.

Nesting lists

It is perfectly OK to nest one list inside another one. You might want to have some sub-bullets sitting below a top-level bullet. Let's take the second list from our recipe example:

Since the last two bullets are very closely related to the one before them (they read like sub-instructions or choices that fit below that bullet), it might make sense to nest them inside their own unordered list and put that list inside the current fourth bullet. This would look like so:

Try going back to the previous active learning example and updating the second list like this.

Emphasis and importance

In human language, we often emphasize certain words to alter the meaning of a sentence, and we often want to mark certain words as important or different in some way. HTML provides various semantic elements to allow us to mark up textual content with such effects, and in this section, we'll look at a few of the most common ones.

When we want to add emphasis in spoken language, we stress certain words, subtly altering the meaning of what we are saying. Similarly, in written language we tend to stress words by putting them in italics. For example, the following two sentences have different meanings.

I am glad you weren't late. I am glad you weren't late .

The first sentence sounds genuinely relieved that the person wasn't late. In contrast, the second one, with both the words "glad" and "late" in italics, sounds sarcastic or passive-aggressive, expressing annoyance that the person arrived a bit late.

In HTML we use the <em> (emphasis) element to mark up such instances. As well as making the document more interesting to read, these are recognized by screen readers, which can be configured to speak them in a different tone of voice. Browsers style this as italic by default, but you shouldn't use this tag purely to get italic styling. To do that, you'd use a <span> element and some CSS, or perhaps an <i> element (see below).

Strong importance

To emphasize important words, we tend to stress them in spoken language and bold them in written language. For example:

This liquid is highly toxic . I am counting on you. Do not be late!

In HTML we use the <strong> (strong importance) element to mark up such instances. As well as making the document more useful, again these are recognized by screen readers, which can be configured to speak them in a different tone of voice. Browsers style this as bold text by default, but you shouldn't use this tag purely to get bold styling. To do that, you'd use a <span> element and some CSS, or perhaps a <b> element (see below).

You can nest strong and emphasis inside one another if desired:

Active learning: Let's be important

In this active learning section, we've provided an editable example. Inside it, we'd like you to try adding emphasis and strong importance to the words you think need them, just to have some practice.

Italic, bold, underline…

The elements we've discussed so far have clear-cut associated semantics. The situation with <b> , <i> , and <u> is somewhat more complicated. They came about so people could write bold, italics, or underlined text in an era when CSS was still supported poorly or not at all. Elements like this, which only affect presentation and not semantics, are known as presentational elements and should no longer be used because, as we've seen before, semantics is so important to accessibility, SEO, etc.

HTML5 redefined <b> , <i> , and <u> with new, somewhat confusing, semantic roles.

Here's the best rule you can remember: It's only appropriate to use <b> , <i> , or <u> to convey a meaning traditionally conveyed with bold, italics, or underline when there isn't a more suitable element; and there usually is. Consider whether <strong> , <em> , <mark> , or <span> might be more appropriate.

Always keep an accessibility mindset. The concept of italics isn't very helpful to people using screen readers, or to people using a writing system other than the Latin alphabet.

<i> is used to convey a meaning traditionally conveyed by italic: foreign words, taxonomic designation, technical terms, a thought…
<b> is used to convey a meaning traditionally conveyed by bold: keywords, product names, lead sentence…
<u> is used to convey a meaning traditionally conveyed by underline: proper name, misspelling…

Note: People strongly associate underlining with hyperlinks. Therefore, on the web, it's best to only underline links. Use the <u> element when it's semantically appropriate, but consider using CSS to change the default underline to something more appropriate on the web. The example below illustrates how it can be done.

Test your skills!

You've reached the end of this article, but can you remember the most important information? You can find some further tests to verify that you've retained this information before you move on — see Test your skills: HTML text basics .

That's it for now! This article should have given you a good idea of how to start marking up text in HTML and introduced you to some of the most important elements in this area. There are a lot more semantic elements to cover in this area, and we'll look at a lot more in our Advanced text formatting article later on in the course. In the next article, we'll be looking in detail at how to create hyperlinks , possibly the most important element on the web.

Controls the level of style and functionality of the site, a lower fidelity meaning less bandwidth, battery, and CPU usage. Learn more .

Reflections on HTML

I was tipped off by the venerable d_run to an article by Danny Guo titled “What I Learned by Relearning HTML” .

Which got me thinking.

Which got me writing.

Danny starts off explaining why he wanted to relearn HTML:

I’ve worked on websites for several years, both professionally and for side projects. One day, I reflected on the fact that all of my web development education had come from actually making websites. In most cases, I’d have a specific problem, Google how to solve it, and learn something new in the process. ...it’s easy to become overconfident with a skill just because you know enough to do a few useful things. So I decided to relearn HTML

This reminds me Christian Heilmann’s article “HTML and CSS still isn’t about painting with code” where he talks about how many of us—myself included—learned HTML by painting stuff on screen. Only incidentally did we learn how the web works. First and foremost, however, we were looking for a certain outcome on screen. This is often how HTML is written, something I’ve touched on previously :

HTML often gets written as part of a transaction: write something, anything, and see a result. Use it to group words, hook into styles and interactions, or construct specific pieces of UI.

But HTML is not a UI framework for painting elements on screen. It’s a markup language to describe the meaning of text. Only secondarily does it get rendered to a screen, but not exclusively.

Traditionally we think of HTML being consumed by a graphical web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.). That is the predominant use case. But, by design, HTML is useful and consumable in a variety of other contexts:

Rendered in a text-based browser
Printed as a document on paper
Scraped by bots and turned into data elsewhere on the internet

In these scenarios, CSS may have a small part to play while JavaScript likely has none.

A picture of the ‘you have no power here’ meme where JS is the one that has no power of HTML.

Danny points to the example of headings in HTML. They can be used to make text bigger, but that’s thinking about HTML in terms of how the text looks rather than what the text means .

it’s important to use [headings] and make sure they’re in the correct order. It’s wrong to use them only to make text bigger because their real purpose is to define the structure of the content. They’re like a table of contents.

This all goes back to the idea that HTML’s purpose isn’t to paint a user interface. If it was, we could’ve named it UIML: user interface markup language. Danny gets at this:

There is more to web development than making websites look the way we want. It’s important to make the content mean what we want as well.

HTML doesn’t have an intrinsic dependency on CSS and JS—unless we make it. It was designed to be able to stand on its own. I like the language in Wikipedia’s entry for HTML (emphasis mine):

HTML… can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScript.

HTML has a design—an intended purpose.

That means guidance for using HTML is not meant to be a strict command—“Thou shalt not use a <div> where a <button> is meant”—but rather a communication of its intent and purpose. Using a <div> instead of a <button> in HTML is a violation of purpose.

(Re)learning HTML is about understanding its purpose and intent. Once understood, you get to make a mindful choice whether to use it for its intended purpose or not.

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Unit 2: Intro to HTML/CSS: Making webpages

About this unit.

Learn how to use HTML and CSS to make webpages. HTML is the markup language that you surround content with, to tell browsers about headings, lists, tables, and more. CSS is the stylesheet language that you style the page with, to tell browsers to change the color, font, layout, and more.

Intro to HTML

Welcome to the web! (Opens a modal)
HTML basics (Opens a modal)
Quick tip: HTML tags (Opens a modal)
Challenge: Write a Poem (Opens a modal)
HTML: Text emphasis (Opens a modal)
Challenge: You can learn text tags (Opens a modal)
HTML: Lists (Opens a modal)
Challenge: Wishlist (Opens a modal)
HTML: Images (Opens a modal)
Challenge: A picture-perfect trip (Opens a modal)

Intro to CSS

CSS Basics (Opens a modal)
Quick tip: Selecting by tag name (Opens a modal)
Challenge: Colorful creature (Opens a modal)
CSS: Selecting by id (Opens a modal)
Challenge: Seasonal ids (Opens a modal)
CSS: Selecting by class (Opens a modal)
Challenge: Apples and bananas classes (Opens a modal)
Project: Travel webpage (Opens a modal)
Using simple CSS selectors 4 questions Practice

CSS text properties

CSS Zen Garden (Opens a modal)
CSS font-family property (Opens a modal)
Challenge: Fancy font families (Opens a modal)
CSS font-size property (Opens a modal)
Challenge: Great big font sizes (Opens a modal)
CSS font styles and shorthand (Opens a modal)
Challenge: Famous font formats (Opens a modal)
More CSS text properties (Opens a modal)
CSS inheritance (Opens a modal)
Project: Blog (Opens a modal)
Using CSS text properties 4 questions Practice

Web development tools

Using the browser developer tools (Opens a modal)
Developing webpages outside of Khan Academy (Opens a modal)
Hosting your website on a server (Opens a modal)
Hosting your website on Github (Opens a modal)
CSS grouping elements (Opens a modal)
Challenge: Group the groupers (Opens a modal)
CSS width, height, and overflow (Opens a modal)
Challenge: The overflowing ocean (Opens a modal)
CSS box model (Opens a modal)
Challenge: The boxer model (Opens a modal)
CSS position (Opens a modal)
Challenge: Position planet (Opens a modal)
CSS in the wild: Google Maps (Opens a modal)
CSS floating elements (Opens a modal)
Challenge: Floating clouds (Opens a modal)
Planning your webpage (Opens a modal)
Project: Event invite (Opens a modal)
Using CSS layout properties 5 questions Practice

More CSS selectors

Using multiple CSS classes (Opens a modal)
Challenge: A classy gallery (Opens a modal)
Combining CSS class and element selectors (Opens a modal)
Challenge: Classes of elements (Opens a modal)
CSS descendant selectors (Opens a modal)
Challenge: Descendants of Khan (Opens a modal)
Grouping CSS selectors (Opens a modal)
CSS dynamic pseudo-classes (Opens a modal)
Challenge: Grouped animals (Opens a modal)
CSS specificity (Opens a modal)
CSS specificity rules 4 questions Practice

Other ways to embed CSS

Using inline CSS styles (Opens a modal)
Using external stylesheets (Opens a modal)

Further learning

Webpage design (Opens a modal)
HTML validation (Opens a modal)
What to learn next (Opens a modal)
Validating HTML 4 questions Practice

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Instructions Followed To The Letter
Deadlines Met At Every Stage
Unique And Plagiarism Free

First developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990 , HTML is short for hypertext markup language . HTML creates electronic documents (called web pages ) that are displayed on the World Wide Web . Each page contains several connections to other pages called hyperlinks . Every web page you see was written using one version of HTML.

HTML code ensures the proper formatting of text and images for your Internet browser . Without HTML, a browser would not know how to display text as elements or load images or other elements. HTML also provides a basic structure of the page, upon which CSS (cascading style sheets) are overlaid to change its appearance. One could think of HTML as the bones (structure) of a web page, and CSS as its skin (appearance).

HTML was featured as a top term of 1991 .

What does an HTML tag look like?

What does html look like, what is html5, what does html5 look like.

How to create and view HTML.

Which file extensions are used with HTML?

Is html case-sensitive, is html a programming language.

How to pronounce HTML.
Related information.
HTML and web design help and support.

As shown in the HTML tag example above, there aren't many components. Most HTML tags have an opening tag containing the tag name, tag attributes , a closing tag containing a forward slash , and the tag name being closed. For tags that do not have a closing tag like <img> , it is best practice to end the tag with a forward slash.

Most tags are contained in a less than and greater than angle brackets, and everything between the open and close tag is displayed or affected by the tag. In the example above, the <a> tag is creating a link called "Computer Hope" that is pointing to the hope.html file.

See our HTML and Web Design help page for a full listing of HTML tags.

Below is an example of a basic web page written in HTML with a description of each section and its function.

The box above contains the key ingredients to a basic web page. Each of the lines are explained below in further detail.

The DOCTYPE line describes what version of HTML the page was written in so that an Internet browser can interpret the text that follows.
The <html> opening tag lets the browser know that it is reading HTML code.
The <head> section contains information about the page, such as its title , meta tags , and where to locate the CSS file.
The <body> section contains everything that's viewable on the browser. For example, all the text seen here is contained in the body tags.
The <h1> tag is the visible heading of the page.
The <p> tag is a paragraph of text. Most web pages (like this one) have several paragraph tags.
Contained in the paragraph is the <b> tag that bolds the word example in the paragraph.
Finally, the closing tags wrap each of the above tags.
See our HTML and Web Design help for a full listing of HTML tags.

HTML5 is the update made to HTML from HTML4 ( XHTML follows a different version numbering scheme). It uses the same basic rules as HTML4, but adds some new tags and attributes which allow for better semantics and for dynamic elements that are activated using JavaScript . New elements include: <article> , <aside> , <audio> , <bdi> , <canvas> , <datalist> , <details> , <embed> , <figure> , <figcaption> , <footer> , <header> , <keygen> , <mark> , <meter> , <nav> , <output> , <progress> , <rp> , <rt> , <ruby> , <time> , <track> , <video> , and <wbr> . There are also new input types for forms , which include tel, search, url, e-mail, datetime, date, month, week, time, datetime-local, number, range, and color.

With the increasing movement to keep structure and style separate, some styling elements were removed. Also tags with accessibility issues or saw little use were also removed. These following elements should no longer be used in HTML code: <acronym> , <applet> , <basefont> , <big> , <center> , <dir> , <font> , <frame> , <frameset> , <noframes> , <strike> , and <tt> . HTML5 also simplifies the doctype declaration to the tag in the following box.

HTML5 was featured as a top term of 2013 .

As shown below, the HTML5 code is similar to the earlier HTML4 example, but is cleaner and has a revised doctype tag .

How to create and view HTML

Because HTML is a markup language, it can be created and viewed in any text editor if saved with a .htm or .html file extension . However, most find it easier to design and create web pages in HTML using an HTML editor .

Once the HTML file is created, it can be viewed locally or uploaded to a web server to be viewed online using a browser .

HTML files use either the .htm or .html file extension . Older versions of Windows (Windows 3.x) only allow three-letter file extensions, so they used .htm instead of .html. However, both file extensions have the same meaning, and either may be used today. That said, we recommend sticking to one naming convention as certain web servers may prefer one extension over the other.

Web pages that are created using a scripting language like Perl , PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor), or Python have a different extension even though they only show HTML in the source code.

The HTML tags and most attributes are not case-sensitive . However there are attribute values and portions of HTML that are case-sensitive. For example, when entering a file name , if the operating system (e.g., Linux ) is case-sensitive, the directories and file names must be typed in the proper case. Other sections of HTML that are case-sensitive are with an HTML entity . For example, "&aacute" creates a lowercase "a" with an acute accent and "&Aacute" creates an uppercase version.

We recommend doing everything in HTML as lowercase, unless a file name or directory in a path is in uppercase.

No. HTML is not a programming language; it's a markup language. See our markup language page for a comparison between a programming language and a markup language.

How to pronounce HTML

HTML is pronounced as h-t-m-l ( aitch-tee-em-el ).

Because of the vowel sound when pronouncing HTML, you would use "an" instead of "a" in front of the abbreviation in your writing.

Related information

How to start in HTML and web design.
Complete information and help with HTML.
How to view the HTML source code of a web page.
Extended special HTML characters and codes.
Programming language history.

ASP , cHTML , Computer abbreviations , <html> , HTML validator , Internet terms , Markup , Markup language , Programming terms , Public_html , SEO terms , Source , Web design , Web design terms , XML

Is HTML a Programming Language? Essay

Introduction, why html cannot be called a programming language, why html can be called a programming language.

Behind the development of modern technology, there are simple things such as software which also has to be developed. HTML states for HyperText Markup Language and is mainly used for creating and designing electronic pages, which are, in fact, documents. Some people claim that HTML is not a programming language. At the same time, there is an opinion that HTML is suitable for programming and is not worse than any other language. Due to the controversy of points of view on this issue, both opinions are discussed below.

Concerning the point of view that HTML is not a programming language, many amateurs express their accordance with this opinion on the Internet. However, speaking of experts claim that HTML does not comply with specific criteria that evaluate the software. For example, Newmarch (2017) states that HTML is a simple language and can “be edited by hand,” leading to the incorrectness of many documents (p. 189). Hence, many pages do not “follow the syntax of the language,” creating a wide variety of “illegal documents” (Newmarch, 2017, p. 189). Such inaccuracy with the rules contradicts the common perception of using a programming language.

The second argument is related to the capacity of HTML as an instrument of programming. There is an issue that distinguishes HTML from other programming languages and complexifies its use. Newmarch (2017) reckons that the main feature of programming languages is that they can process data and make decisions based on it. HTML is not suitable for operations connected with making decisions – it cannot provide an opportunity for alphabetical sorting of the text or similar ones.

The final and the most potent argument considers the potential of HTML. Reprintsev (2018) reckons that it is essential for a programming language to be Turing complete. This means that “your model of computations can execute any algorithm no matter how complex it is… and how much storage or time would be needed to evaluate it” (Reprintsev, 2018, p. 235). Therefore, being Turing complete means being reliable and relevant for a programming language. HTML is not Turing complete, so it cannot be called fully effective.

On the other hand, there are people whose opinion is for HTML to be considered a programming language. Firstly, they claim that HTML has the structural features of a language, such as a syntax and semantics. Leinonen et al. state that “when learning to program, students learn the syntax of a programming language, the semantics underlying the syntax, and practice” (2019, p. 1). Thus, these essential parts are fundamental for software, and any language that has them can be called a programming language.

Secondly, HTML can be concerned as a programming language based on a definition of a programming language. Ernst (2017) claims that a programming language or software is “a sequence of instructions that perform some task” (p. 1). This definition is commonly assumed to be confirmed by the programming community Ernst reckons (2017). Therefore, HTML suits the requirements and can easily be perceived as software because it provides declarative instructions to a computer.

Thirdly, HTML can be referred to as a programming language because it is a markup language, which is reflected in its name. Being a markup language means providing opportunities related to designing and creating documents (or web pages), which is a significant part of a whole programming process (Turner, 2018). Consequently, HTML can be considered a programming language because it contributes to the programming process by performing essential tasks.

Overall, the opinions on the compliance of HTML to programming languages vary drastically. Although both sides provide relevant arguments supporting their points of view, there does not seem to be a logical solution to this issue. However, HTML is widely used; its functionality suits the particular needs of the programmers, and websites created with the help of HTML account for the majority of pages on the Internet. Hence, its practical use is more substantial and compelling than theoretical classification.

Ernst, M. D. (2017). Natural language is a programming language: Applying natural language processing to software development. Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics, 4, 1–14. Web.

Newmarch, J. (2017). Network programming with Go . Apress Media. Web.

Reprintsev, A. (2018). Oracle SQL revealed . Apress Media. Web.

Turner, R. (2018). The design of programming languages. Computational Artifacts , 161–167. Web.

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"Is HTML a Programming Language?" IvyPanda , 30 Oct. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/is-html-a-programming-language/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Is HTML a Programming Language'. 30 October.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Is HTML a Programming Language?" October 30, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/is-html-a-programming-language/.

1. IvyPanda . "Is HTML a Programming Language?" October 30, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/is-html-a-programming-language/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Is HTML a Programming Language?" October 30, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/is-html-a-programming-language/.

Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML)
HTML GUI vs. Text Editors
HTML and Web Design in E-Business
Exploration of E-Leaning Information Systems for Advanced Support Accessibility
Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)
Different Programming Languages Analysis
Online Testing in Freelance Learning
Ten Programming Languages
Active Server Pages Analysis: Technology Overview
The Turing Test: Finding Machine's Consciousness
Boolean Search and How to Use It
Object-oriented Programming. Java and C++ Programming
Python Impressions: Versatile and Accessible Programming Language
Optimal Approximate Sampling From Discrete Probability Distributions
Front End Web Development Job Market Reflection

Tutorial/Writing an essay

View history

At the end of the previous chapter we introduced the <p> (paragraph) element. It can, of course, be repeated for multiple paragraphs, and that means you can write an essay - a very bland-looking essay with no obvious sections or title (other than the unprintable one on the browser window), supplemental information (images or spreadsheets), or links to other essays or source material. Well let's start adding those in.

1.1.1 They're not as cool as links, though.
2 Emphasis and text-formatting
3 References

Headings [ ]

HTML5 has elements to represent six levels of titles, called headings (so we won't get them confused with the document's title - the one on the browser window). Each one's name contains two characters: 'h' and a number between 1 and 6, with lower numbers producing larger titles. For example:

Emphasis and text-formatting [ ]

As a language for interoperable documents, HTML isn't particularly concerned about formatting (which isn't really understood by programs), although it does have a few minor and overused elements for the purpose. In particular, HTML should never be used to underline something; use the CSS rule text-decoration : underline; instead.

To mark something as important (such as a warning label), wrap it in <strong> tags; to make it bold just to draw attention to it (such as a term essential to the containing article), you can apply the CSS property font-weight to a descriptive class or id.

To annotate a "defining instance of a term" (not a definition but the instance accompanied by it - probably the first), use <dfn> ; if it's a quote, use <q> ; to emphasize it as if applying vocal stress, use <em> . If it should be italic because it's special, such as words in a foreign language, or a taxonomy, try applying the CSS rule font-style : italic; to a descriptive class or id.

References [ ]

1 Color Codes
2 Border-radius

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Medill senior wins 2024 Howell Essay Contest

Aaron boorstein’s winning essay critiques reporting on hospital explosion.

EVANSTON, ILL. – Aaron Boorstein (BSJ24) was named the 2024 winner of the Walter S. and Syrena M. Howell Essay Competition offered to Medill students. The annual contest challenges students to discuss “truth gone awry,” in the context of news gathering and dissemination. Boorstein will be awarded $4,000.

Boorstein’s submission, “Broken News, Breaking Trust: The Consequences of Unverified Reporting in the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital Coverage” reviews news reports from Oct. 17, 2023, about an explosion at a hospital in Gaza. Several news organizations initially identified cause as an Israeli airstrike and later had to revise the reporting when the cause could not be verified.

“I wrote about the initial coverage of the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion because it exemplifies the consequences of journalism institutions hastily breaking news at accuracy’s expense,” said Boorstein. “While this trend satisfies the economic and social demands of the competitive digital news cycle, it severely undermines journalistic integrity and media trust.”

The contest was judged by a panel of faculty members from the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications

“The judges were impressed by Aaron’s thoughtful essay,” said one of the panelists. “As he wrote, ‘News outlets should use language that refrains from attributing specific actions or blame to parties involved in unfolding situations, ensuring transparency and preventing the presentation of unsubstantiated claims as facts.’

“…His show-don’t-tell’ examples and his concrete suggestions for the industry made him worthy of the 2024 prize.”

Related Medill News

Medill sophomore wins 2022 Howell Essay Contest

Medill rising senior wins 2023 Howell Essay Contest

Class of 2024 Medill Convocation Speaker Robert Samuels (BSJ06)..

Pulitzer winner Robert Samuels to address Medill convocation

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Guest Essay

I Was an Attorney at the D.A.’s Office. This Is What the Trump Case Is Really About.

In a black-and-white image, a scene of people gathered outside a courthouse in Manhattan.

By Rebecca Roiphe

Ms. Roiphe is a former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Now that the lawyers are laying out their respective theories of the case in the criminal prosecution of Donald Trump in New York, it would be understandable if people’s heads are spinning. The defense lawyers claimed this is a case about hush money as a legitimate tool in democratic elections, while the prosecutors insisted it is about “a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election.”

Yet this case is not really about election interference, nor is it a politically motivated attempt to criminalize a benign personal deal. Boring as it may sound, it is a case about business integrity.

It’s not surprising that the lawyers on both sides are trying to make this about something sexier. This is a narrative device used to make the jurors and the public side with them, but it has also created confusion. On the one hand, some legal experts claim that the conduct charged in New York was the original election interference. On the other hand, some critics think the criminal case is a witch hunt, and others claim it is trivial at best and at worst the product of selective prosecution.

As someone who worked in the Manhattan district attorney’s office and enforced the laws that Mr. Trump is accused of violating, I stand firmly in neither camp. It is an important and straightforward case, albeit workmanlike and unglamorous. In time, after the smoke created by lawyers has cleared, it will be easy to see why the prosecution is both solid and legitimate.

It would hardly make for a dramatic opening statement or cable news sound bite, but the case is about preventing wealthy people from using their businesses to commit crimes and hide from accountability. Manhattan prosecutors have long considered it their province to ensure the integrity of the financial markets. As Robert Morgenthau, a former Manhattan district attorney, liked to say , “You cannot prosecute crime in the streets without prosecuting crime in the suites.”

Lawmakers in New York, the financial capital of the world, consider access to markets and industry in New York a privilege for businesspeople. It is a felony to abuse that privilege by doctoring records to commit or conceal crimes, even if the businessman never accomplishes the goal and even if the false records never see the light of day. The idea is that an organization’s records should reflect an honest accounting. It is not a crime to make a mistake, but lying is a different story. It is easy to evade accountability by turning a business into a cover, providing a false trail for whichever regulator might care to look. The law ( falsification of business records ) deprives wealthy, powerful businessmen of the ability to do so with impunity, at least when they’re conducting business in the city.

Prosecutors and New York courts have interpreted this law generously, with its general purpose in mind. The element of intent to defraud carries a broad meaning, which is not limited to the intent of cheating someone out of money or property. Further, intent is often proved with circumstantial evidence, as is common in white-collar cases. After presenting evidence, prosecutors ask jurors to use their common sense to infer what the possible intent may be, and New York jurors frequently conclude that a defendant must have gone to the trouble of creating this false paper trail for a reason.

Mr. Trump is accused of creating 11 false invoices, 12 false ledger entries and 11 false checks and check stubs, with the intent to violate federal election laws, state election laws or state tax laws. The number of lies it took to create this false record itself helps prove intent. His defense attorneys will claim that he was merely trying to bury a false story to protect his family from embarrassment. The timing of the payments — immediately after the potentially damaging “Access Hollywood” tape was released and right before the election — makes that claim implausible.

As many have pointed out, Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, is a witness with a remarkable amount of baggage. But as with most business records cases, his testimony will largely add color to the tweets, handwritten notes, bank documents and shell corporations. Documents don’t lie.

More important, jurors are particularly good at applying common sense. Mr. Trump didn’t go to all this trouble just to protect his family members, who might have known about accusations of his involvement with the porn star Stormy Daniels or similar ones. We may never learn which crime the jurors believe Trump was seeking to commit or cover up, but they can still conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that this was his intent.

It is not unusual for lawyers to give narrative arcs to their legal theories, reasons to care about the evidence and animating thoughts that may make jurors more inclined to convict or acquit.

When the jurors deliberate, they will weigh the warring narratives in light of the evidence, and the judge will instruct them in the law. Then the narrative frames should recede into the background. The key is to offer one that is both captivating and closely tied to the facts so that when the jurors put the pieces of evidence together, it is the story they believe.

If one side promises too much, it risks losing the jurors. In their opening remarks, Mr. Trump’s lawyers insisted that he was innocent, that all the witnesses were liars. Such a sweeping theory is a dangerous strategy because if the jurors believe part of the prosecution’s case, just one or two of the witnesses, then the jurors may lose faith in the defense altogether.

For the prosecution, the elements of the crime in this case do not require a finding that Mr. Trump interfered with the 2016 election. Nor does it matter whether he had sex with Ms. Daniels. Instead, the real elements concern the way Mr. Trump used his business for a cover-up. By emphasizing the crime he was intending to conceal rather than the false business records, the prosecution also risks confusing the jury into thinking about whether the lies affected the election. It might lead them to wonder why Mr. Trump wasn’t charged with this alleged election crime by the federal government — a talking point that he has promoted publicly.

Even if the case seems simpler in this light, we are still left with the question: Is it really worth charging a former president for this? While the New York business records law is important, it is no doubt true that the conduct pales in comparison with the effort to overthrow the 2020 election, at issue in the special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 prosecution of Mr. Trump.

Taking this case on its own terms as a business records case offers a different and arguably more convincing way to defend its legitimacy. It is a simple case that is similar to hundreds of other cases brought in New York. The simplicity and run-of-the-mill nature of the prosecution make it easier to defend against claims of politicization in the following sense: Mr. Trump was a businessman for many years in New York long before he was president. If others would be prosecuted for this conduct and no man is above the law, then he should be, too.

So by all means, listen to the stories that the lawyers tell, soak up the drama of hush-money payments and the alternate universe in which Hillary Clinton won the election. But just as the jurors should ultimately consider the facts and the law, it would be wise for everyone else to focus on what the case is really about.

Rebecca Roiphe, a former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, is a law professor at New York Law School.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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A woman holds a plaque for winning an award.

BGSU senior earns national award for innovative essay on AI in healthcare

Estimated Reading Time:

Paige Rothlisberger uses research to examine how healthcare leaders can prepare for AI-related innovation

#1 University in Ohio for Student Experience

Innovative engineering degrees, #1 public university in the midwest students would choose again for the fourth consecutive year.

By Nick Piotrowicz

As Bowling Green State University senior Paige Rothlisberger began researching AI in physical therapy for an essay, she thought there was too much to be said to focus on only one area of healthcare.

AI has the propensity to usher in big changes, so the topic is something healthcare administrators should be discussing thoroughly across multiple healthcare-related fields, she said.

During Rothlisberger’s research, she came to the conclusion that, even with the possibility of processes changing, one thing should remain the same: Patients have to be at the center.

As with any new introduction of technology, Rothlisberger said patients’ needs are the most important consideration.

“The patient truly has to be your first priority, so that was a light bulb moment for me to realize that AI and patient-centered care have to go together,” Rothlisberger said. “Everything I read about AI was all about processes and streamlining processes, how we can make something more efficient. Really, it all boils down to whether the patient comes first.”

The conclusions Rothlisberger, a native of Arlington, Ohio, who is graduating at Spring 2024 Commencement, made in her essay, “AI Powered Patient-Centered Care: A Call to Action for Innovation,” resonated with healthcare administrators.

Her essay won first place in the undergraduate division of the nationwide Richard J. Stull Student Essay Competition, after which she was invited to Chicago to speak at the American College of Healthcare Executives’ 2024 Congress on Healthcare Leadership.

Rothlisberger worked closely with Dr. Phillip Welch, an associate professor in the Department of Public and Allied Health , to apply classroom learning to healthcare administration as she crafted her essay.

Welch said Rothlisberger’s curiosity helped her work through several drafts of what became an essay that was honored on a national level.

“Paige, like most people drawn to a university, is intelligent and inquisitive,” Welch said. “But she stepped outside her comfort zone, took extra initiative to enter the essay contest and was rewarded for doing so. This experience taught Paige the value of taking a chance.

“The essay competition made Paige a stronger scientific writer, reinforced the importance of consulting academic literature when faced with problems and honed critical thinking skills.”

Due to the broad nature of AI, Rothlisberger said one of her goals for the essay was to spur discussion about how AI can work in healthcare, as its implementation will not happen overnight.

“It’s just so complicated because you can’t just implement AI and have it all figured out — there are a lot of things that go into it, so these are conversations you have to have,” Rothlisberger said. “I went into the essay knowing that AI in healthcare is going to be implemented in stages and it is going to be very important to understand the details in each stage.”

Rothlisberger said AI has many possibilities within healthcare, but one way in which it could truly help patients is to streamline options after a diagnosis to help cater treatment to a patient’s unique needs and wants.

“When you’re diagnosed with something, you have so many different options,” she said. “Maybe you have the option of something less invasive, the medication route or maintenance. One of the things I examined was using AI to filter what a diagnosis might look like along with the patient’s preferences and previous data to get a more tailored outcome for the patient rather than a one-size-fits-all solution.”

Through completing the paper and attending the Congress on Healthcare Leadership, Rothlisberger said the experience affirmed that she has found her career path.

“I just felt really proud to be a future healthcare administrator,” she said. “It’s definitely a rewarding field where people band together and it’s not competitive. Everybody wants to help each other out because that means you all go back to help your communities get better outcomes. This really established for me where I was going.”