HTML is not a programming language, but rather a markup language.

In this HTML tutorial you will learn how to use HTML to create your own Web site.

What is an HTML File?

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language

An HTML file is a text file containing small markup tags The markup tags tell the Web browser how to display the page An HTML file must have an htm or HTML file extension An HTML file can be created using a simple text editor.

What Is Markup Language

A markup language combines text and extra information about the text.

The extra information, for example about the text's structure or presentation, is expressed using markup, which is intermingled with the primary text. The best-known markup language in modern use is HTML (HyperText Markup Language), one of the foundations of the World Wide Web. Historically, markup was (& is) used in the publishing industry in the communication of printed work between authors, editors, and printers.

Creating an HTML document

Creating an HTML document is very easy. To begin coding HTML , need only two things: a simple-text editor and the dedication to follow this tutorial! Notepad is the most basic of simple-text editors and you will probably code a good amount of HTML with it.

HTML is platform independent, you will need to save your HTML files in standard text format, sometimes known as ASCII. The easy way to do this is use a program like notepad.exe in Windows, pico in Linux, and the like.

If you'd prefer to use a word processor like Word or WordPerfect to write HTML code, you can do so, but need to save your files as "Text" or "Text Only. " You will see this option in a drop down box in your "Save As..." screen.