Introduction to HTML
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the standard markup language used for creating and structuring web pages. It forms the foundation of the World Wide Web and is essential for building websites and web applications. HTML uses a set of markup tags to define the structure and content of a webpage, allowing browsers to interpret and display the information correctly.
Here’s a brief introduction to HTML:
- HTML Document Structure: An HTML document consists of a set of elements enclosed within opening and closing tags. The basic structure of an HTML document includes the DOCTYPE declaration, the opening and closing HTML tags, and the head and body sections.
- Tags and Elements: HTML tags define the elements within a webpage. They are written as opening tags enclosed in angle brackets (<>) and closing tags preceded by a forward slash (/) and enclosed in angle brackets. Elements can contain text, other elements, or both.
- Head Section: The head section of an HTML document contains metadata about the webpage, such as the title, character encoding, linked stylesheets, scripts, and other information that doesn’t appear directly on the page.
- Body Section: The body section contains the visible content of the webpage, including text, images, links, tables, forms, and other elements. This is where the main content of the webpage is defined.
- Text Formatting: HTML provides various tags to format text, such as headings (h1 to h6), paragraphs (p), bold (strong), italic (em), underline (u), lists (ul, ol, li), and more. These tags help structure and style the content.
- Links and URLs: HTML allows you to create hyperlinks to link different webpages or external resources. The anchor tag (<a>) is used to define a link, and the href attribute specifies the URL of the target page or resource.
- Images: HTML enables you to include images in webpages using the img tag. The src attribute is used to specify the image file URL, and you can provide alternative text using the alt attribute for accessibility purposes.
- Tables: HTML tables allow you to organize data into rows and columns. The table tag () defines the table structure, and the tr (table row) and td (table data) tags define the rows and cells, respectively.
- Forms: HTML forms are used to collect user input, such as text, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdown menus, and buttons. The form tag () encapsulates the form elements, and the action attribute specifies the URL where the form data is sent.
- Semantic HTML: HTML5 introduced semantic elements that provide meaning and structure to the content, making it more accessible and search engine-friendly. Examples include header, nav, main, article, section, aside, footer, and more.
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