📄 Lesson 1: Introduction to HTML

What is HTML? HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It's the standard markup language used to create web pages. HTML provides the structure and content of websites.

The Purpose of HTML

HTML serves to:

Define the structure of web content
Create semantic meaning for text and media
Provide the foundation for styling with CSS
Enable functionality with JavaScript
Make content accessible to all users

A Brief History

HTML was created in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN. The first version (HTML 1.0) was very simple, with just 20 tags. Today, HTML5 is the current standard with many more features and improved capabilities for modern web applications.

HTML Elements

HTML uses tags to mark up content. Tags tell the browser how to display information. Most tags come in pairs: an opening tag and a closing tag.

<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
<h1>This is a heading.</h1>
<a href="https://example.com">This is a link</a>
        

Tag Anatomy

Opening tag: <tagname>

Content: The text or media inside the tags

Closing tag: </tagname>

Element: Opening tag + content + closing tag

Self-Closing Tags

Some tags don't need a closing tag because they don't contain content. These are called void elements or self-closing tags:

<img src="image.jpg" alt="Description">
<br>
<input type="text">
        

Attributes

Attributes provide additional information about elements. They go in the opening tag:

<a href="https://google.com" target="_blank">Open Google</a>

In this example, href and target are attributes that modify the link's behavior.

Common HTML Tags (Preview)

<h1> to <h6> - Headings (h1 is most important)

<p> - Paragraphs of text

<a> - Links to other pages

<img> - Images

<div> - Container for organizing content

<button> - Clickable buttons

Key Takeaways

HTML is the foundation of every website
HTML uses tags to structure and mark up content
Tags typically have opening and closing versions
Attributes provide additional information about elements
HTML5 is the current standard version

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