HTML is a computer language used to create web pages and emails. It uses tags to format text, graphics, and design elements. HTML has different versions and codes for formatting, including new elements in HTML 5. Other markup languages, style sheets, and programming languages can also be used in web development. The difference between HTM and HTML extensions is minimal.
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is a type of computer language used to create pages that can be posted on the Internet or sent by email. While it may seem complex to many people, it is considered a relatively simple language. All text, graphics, and design elements on a page designed in this language are “tagged” with codes that tell your Web browser or e-mail program how to display those elements. Tags also provide layout and formatting information so that the web page or email appears as close as possible to the way the designer intended it to. For the novice website designer or anyone else who needs to know a certain code or wants to learn how to create an entire website, there are many software utilities, programs and websites that can assist him in writing HTML code.
Structure
HTML coding is structured like a tree, with each different tag nested within it. In most cases, each formatting element requires a start tag and an end tag, and different tags shouldn’t overlap. This is what is meant by “nested”; if tag 2 opens after tag 1, then tag 2 must be closed first so that the formatting element of tag 2 is wholly enclosed within tag 1. Elements are the individual components that make up the code and include the opening and closing tags and the content between them. Attributes provide more information about the element and consist of the attribute and its value, connected by an equal sign.
To create an HTML element, the user creates a tag that begins and ends with angle brackets and places it before the text to be formatted. The code, usually one or more letters, numbers, words and/or symbols, inside the angle brackets indicates what the element is and what attributes the content should have, such as size, font or other characteristics. To finish formatting, the user types the first angle bracket, then a backslash, then repeats the element code and closes the bracket. For example, What is HTML? is the code used to format the title of this article; the “strong” element tag is nested inside the “title” tag.
Types of codes
There are many codes to allow for different text formatting, including italics, tables, paragraphs, and web page hyperlinks. The codes can also tell your browser or e-mail program how to display or use other items, such as images, graphics, video, and sounds. You can use other types of codes without angle brackets to create punctuation marks, diacritical marks, and other symbols that might appear in text. While all web browsers and many e-mail programs use HTML, each might interpret and display the code slightly differently, and designers often need to consider these variations when creating a web page.
An evolving language
Since the development of HTML in the early 1990s by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, there have been many changes and versions. These versions have been maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) since 1996. In January 2008, the First Public Working Draft of HTML 5 was published by the working group developing this specification. Still under development as of 2011, this overhaul was expected to dramatically change web application development. It introduces a number of new elements, including those for site structure, interactivity, and audio and video support, as well as new attributes.
Viewing the code of a web page
The code used to create any web page can be viewed by navigating in a browser to the page, then choosing the correct option from the browser menu. In most browsers, the user can click on the “view” menu and select an option such as “source”, “view source” or “page source”. This will bring up a pop-up window and show the code that was used to create that web page.
It is important to note that not all content found on all web pages is written in HTML. Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) are other types of markup languages used in web development. Also, style sheets, such as cascading style sheets (CSS), are used to attach style to HTML documents. Languages like Flash® and Java® are used to create interactive content. Many other programming languages can be used to add specific functionality to a website.
Compared to HTM
In practice, there is little difference between HTM and HTML extensions, as both are read as HTML files by most machines. The reason there were two different extensions to begin with is that some types of computers, such as those running 16-bit DOS or Windows® 3 systems, could not read four-character extensions and therefore needed the HTM extension of three characters. Most systems capable of reading four-character extensions are automatically programmed to recognize HTM files as HTML files, although computer users may occasionally need a converter to change a file from HTM into a system-recognized format.
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