Episode 2 of 17

What is HTML

Understand what HTML really is — the backbone of every website. Learn how browsers read HTML and turn it into the pages you see.

HTML is the backbone of the web. It tells the browser what content to display and how to structure it.

HTML = Structure

Think of building a house. HTML is the foundation, walls, and rooms. CSS is the paint and decoration. JavaScript is the electricity and plumbing. Without HTML, there's nothing to style or make interactive.

How Browsers Read HTML

When you visit a website, your browser:

  1. Sends a request to the server
  2. Receives an HTML file back
  3. Reads (parses) the HTML line by line
  4. Builds a DOM (Document Object Model) tree
  5. Renders the page visually on screen

HTML Uses Tags

HTML uses tags to define elements. Tags are keywords wrapped in angle brackets:

<tagname>Content goes here</tagname>

Most tags come in pairs — an opening tag and a closing tag (with a /). Some tags are self-closing like <img> and <br>.

A Quick Example

<h1>Hello World</h1>
<p>This is my first paragraph.</p>

The browser reads this and shows a big heading followed by a paragraph of text. That's HTML in action!