What is HTML?

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the standard language used to create and structure content on the web. Every website you visit — from Google to YouTube — is built on HTML at its core. HTML defines the structure and meaning of web content using a system of elements represented by tags.

How HTML becomes a web page

HTML Element Anatomy

An HTML element typically consists of an opening tag, content, and a closing tag:

HTML Attributes

Attributes provide extra information about an element. They are placed in the opening tag as name-value pairs:

html

<a href="https://example.com" target="_blank">Visit Example</a>
<img src="photo.jpg" alt="A beautiful photo" width="400">
<input type="text" placeholder="Enter your name" required>

HTML vs XHTML vs HTML5

Feature	HTML4	XHTML	HTML5
Doctype	Long & complex	Strict XML	<!DOCTYPE html>
Case sensitivity	Not required	Required (lowercase)	Not required
Self-closing tags	Optional	Required	Optional
Semantic elements	None	None	Many (article, section…)
Multimedia	Plugin needed	Plugin needed	Native support

✅Always use <!DOCTYPE html> at the top of every HTML5 document. Without it, browsers enter "quirks mode" and render pages unpredictably.

Master the Language of the Web — HTML

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