Lesson 1Beginner 1 min read

Introduction to HTML

What is HTML?

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It is the standard language used to create and structure content on the web. Every website you visit — from Google to YouTube to this one — is built on HTML.

Think of HTML as the skeleton of a web page. It defines what's on the page: headings, paragraphs, images, links, buttons, and forms. It does not control how things look (that's CSS) or how things behave (that's JavaScript).

How HTML works

An HTML file is just a text file with a .html extension. Your browser reads this file and renders it as a visual web page.

Here's the simplest possible HTML page:

HTML

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <title>My First Page</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Hello, World!</h1>
    <p>This is my first web page.</p>
  </body>
</html>

Let's break this down:

<!DOCTYPE html> tells the browser this is an HTML5 document.
<html> wraps everything on the page.
<head> contains metadata (title, character set, links to CSS files).
<body> contains everything visible on the page.
<h1> is a top-level heading. <p> is a paragraph.

Try it yourself

Open any text editor (VS Code, Notepad, etc.).
Paste the code above and save the file as index.html.
Double-click the file — it will open in your browser.

That's it. You just made a web page.

Key takeaway

HTML is not a programming language — it's a markup language. You use it to describe the structure and meaning of content. Once you're comfortable with HTML, you'll add CSS for styling and JavaScript for interactivity.