- **Epistemic status:** #budding HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the standard markup language for the web. It is responsible for the structure and the meaning of a website. It is known as a declarative language because what you declare as markup, for example `<p>` for paragraph, `<header>` for the header content, `<img>` for images, etc. the web browser renders HTML elements corresponding to that markup. This is different from an imperative language that provided a series of steps it interprets gives you a result. Each HTML element is differentiated from other elements rendered as text using “tags” that are element name surrounded by `<` and `>`. The name of the tag is case-insensitive, but common practice is for it to be lowercase. Most HTML elements need a closing tag declared as `</element-name>`, like a paragraph, for example: ```html <p>Hello World</p> ``` How the HTML is structured in a website matters, since it conveys meaning that the browser interpret for a variety of devices and people. When starting to learn the fundamentals, you will need to understand [[Web Accessibility]] create inclusive website's anybody can utilize. Alongside HTML, [[Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)]] is used for the appearance and [[JavaScript]] for the functionality of the website. Before deep diving into the other core technologies of the web learn the full capabilities of HTML and the limitations, that way you have strong fundamentals. You can learn the [HTML basics from MDN](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/HTML_basics) to get started. You can also review the [HTML Standard](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/#introduction) if you are already familiar with HTML and want to learn from the official documentation. --- ## References - “HTML.” In _Wikipedia_, May 28, 2022. <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HTML&oldid=1090322066>. - “HTML: HyperText Markup Language | MDN.” Accessed July 20, 2022. <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML>. - “HTML Standard.” Accessed July 20, 2022. <https://html.spec.whatwg.org/>.