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In this article, I will be taking you through the basics of HTML and how to use it when creating a web layout. When creating a web page (document), think of HTML as the foundation of a house with no design or special effect.
What is HTML?
HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) is a markup language used to create web pages. It is the backbone of web development, and learning HTML is essential for anyone who wants to become a web developer.
HTML is a markup language, which means that it is used to create structured documents by adding markup tags to plain text. Markup tags are special elements that provide additional information about the content of the document. HTML tags are surrounded by angle brackets (< and >) and are used to specify the structure and content of a web page.
To create a basic HTML document, you need to know the basic syntax of HTML. Here is an example of a basic HTML document:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>My Web Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Welcome to my Web Page</h1>
<p>This is my first web page.</p>
</body>
</html>
The first line of this document specifies the document type. In this case, it is HTML5. The <html> element is the root element of an HTML document. It contains two main sections: the <head> section and the <body> section.
The <head> section contains information about the document, such as the title of the page, which is specified using the <title> tag. The <body> section contains the main content of the page, such as headings, paragraphs, images, and links.
The <h1> tag is used to create a heading. The number after the "h" specifies the level of the heading, with <h1> being the most important heading and <h6> being the least important. The <p> tag is used to create a paragraph.
HTML also uses attributes to provide additional information about an element. Attributes are specified within the opening tag of an element and provide information such as the source of an image or the target of a link. Here is an example of an image element with an attribute:
<img src="image.jpg" alt="A picture of a cat">
The "src" attribute specifies the source of the image, while the "alt" attribute provides alternative text for the image, which is displayed if the image cannot be loaded.
HTML is a powerful and versatile language that can be used to create complex and dynamic web pages. By mastering the basics of HTML syntax, you will be well on your way to becoming a proficient web developer.