It isn't a programming language. HTML is exactly what it claims to be--a markup language. You use HTML to mark up a text document, just as you would if you were an editor with a red pencil. The marks you use indicate which format (or presentation style) should be used when displaying the marked text.
If you have ever used an old word-processor program, you already know how a markup language works. In older word-processing programs, if you wanted text to appear in italics, you might surround it with control characters like this: /Ithis is in italics/i When the document was printed, the /I would kick your line printer into italics mode, and the following text would be printed in italics. The /i would then turn italics off. The printer didn't actually print the /I or /i. They were just codes to tell it what to do. But the "marked up" text in between appeared in italics.
This is exactly how HTML works. If you want text to appear on a Web page in italics, you mark it like this:
this is in italics
The turns italics on; the turns them off. The and tags don't appear on-screen, but the text in between is displayed in italics.
Everything you create in HTML relies on marks, or tags. To be a great HTML "programmer," all you need to learn is which tags do what.
Of course, nothing in the real world is ever quite that simple. In truth, simple HTML gets a big boost in real-world page design from add-ons like Java and JavaScript, VBScript, CGI programming, cascading style sheets, ActiveX controls, and other page-design extenders and expanders. But, you can still get started in HTML page design by using nothing but a handful of basic HTML tags and a good text editor.
If you have ever used an old word-processor program, you already know how a markup language works. In older word-processing programs, if you wanted text to appear in italics, you might surround it with control characters like this: /Ithis is in italics/i When the document was printed, the /I would kick your line printer into italics mode, and the following text would be printed in italics. The /i would then turn italics off. The printer didn't actually print the /I or /i. They were just codes to tell it what to do. But the "marked up" text in between appeared in italics.
This is exactly how HTML works. If you want text to appear on a Web page in italics, you mark it like this:
this is in italics
The turns italics on; the turns them off. The and tags don't appear on-screen, but the text in between is displayed in italics.
Everything you create in HTML relies on marks, or tags. To be a great HTML "programmer," all you need to learn is which tags do what.
Of course, nothing in the real world is ever quite that simple. In truth, simple HTML gets a big boost in real-world page design from add-ons like Java and JavaScript, VBScript, CGI programming, cascading style sheets, ActiveX controls, and other page-design extenders and expanders. But, you can still get started in HTML page design by using nothing but a handful of basic HTML tags and a good text editor.
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