Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the language used to create web
page documents. There are a few versions of HTML in use today: HTML
4.01 is the most firmly established and the newer, more robust HTML5
is gaining steam and browser support. Both versions have a stricter imple-
mentation called XHTML (eXtensible HTML), which is essentially the same
language with much stricter syntax rules. We’ll get to the particulars of what
makes the various versions different in Chapter 10, What’s Up, HTML5?.
HTML is not a programming language; it is a markup language, which
means it is a system for identifying and describing the various components
of a document such as headings, paragraphs, and lists. The markup indi-
cates the document’s underlying structure (you can think of it as a detailed,
machine-readable outline). You don’t need programming skills—only
patience and common sense—to write HTML.
The best way to learn HTML is to write out some pages by hand, as we will
be doing in the exercises in this book. If you end up working in web produc-
tion, you’ll live and breathe HTML. But even hobbyists will benefit from
knowing what is going on under the hood. The good news is that it’s simple
to learn the basics.