Introduction to HTML

Are you feeling a bit overwhelmed by the task of creating your own web site? Well, you're not alone! At HostSearch we understand that a large majority of new webmasters haven't the slightest clue about how to use HTML code to create a functional, attractive, web site, and that's why we have created our Introduction to HTML piece. HTML is not actually all that difficult, and if you understand the logic behind it, you will be on your way in no time!

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language, and all web pages are written in HTML. Despite the fact that some web pages today may have different file extensions (such as .cfm or .asp), their core is still rooted in HTML. In reality, HTML is not real computer language such as C++ or Pascal, but rather merely a system for describing documents. A web browser interprets the HTML code lines and displays it as specified by the code. HTML is a special version of SGML focused on Hypertext. HTML code is written in ASCII format, which is a big advantage to users, because ASCII can be read by all major platforms including IBM, Macintosh, UNIX, among others. This allows the web to be usable for users of all platforms, as long as the user has a web browser.

The current standard defined by he W3 Consortium for web documents today is HTML 4.0, however, HTML originally began with HTML 1.0, which was the language used by Mosaic, the first popular web browser. At that time, HTML was by no means the official standard, but was officially released as HTML 2.0, which remains the most basic standard for web pages. Pages created in HTML 2.0 can still be viewed in any browser. HTML 3.0 was flawed and replaced by HTML 3.2, which is still used by many today.

With the introduction of Cascading Stylesheets and HTML 4.0, HTML has returned to its origins. In reality, HTML is meant to be a structural language, not a formatting language, and tags for formatting text, like <font> or <b>, were officially declared "obsolete" by the W# Consortium.