What is HTML?
Hyper Text Markup Language or HTML for short is a programming language built specifically for displaying data through the software we know as the Web Browser. It's primary purpose is to provide a standardized way for a web browser to structure content for a webpage using a global standard.
History of HTML
Initially created in the 90's HTML has gone through a long list of changes over the decades in order to keep up with the emerging technologies of the time. However for the most part it's kept the same basic rules that it has had since the inception of the language.
What is a Markup Language?
In the name itself HTML identifies as a markup language. So what exactly is a markup language? In simple terms a markup language is used as a way to send structured data to a system or application. The system or application receiving the data then does whatever it wants with that data.
In the case of usual web use:
- Type 'www.some-website.com' into a browser
- That browser goes to the server registered as that address
- That server sends back data (in the form of HTML) of the page
- Your browser gets that HTML data back and displays it
You may notice that nothing is stopping the browser from displaying the data wrong, since the webserver only sends the page data. As you get into HTML more you will learn that there are differences in how different browsers display different things. This has slowly been fixed over the years so it is not as bad as it used to be. (Ask an older developer about Internet Explorer)
What's next?
In the same way that you'd learn any other language mastering HTML comes down to a matter of practice. Continue through this documentation to get the basics and then make sure that you continue to practice in order to become masterful at HTML.