Introduction to HTML

Background

In 1980, physicist Tim Berners-Lee, a contractor at CERN, proposed and prototyped ENQUIRE, a system for CERN researchers to use and share documents. In 1989, Berners-Lee wrote a memo proposing an Internet-based hypertext system. Berners-Lee specified HTML and wrote the browser and server software in late 1990.

What is HTML? 

• HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language
• HTML describes the structure of Web pages using markup
• HTML elements are the building blocks of HTML pages
• HTML elements are represented by tags
• HTML tags label pieces of content such as "heading", "paragraph", "table", and so on
• Browsers do not display the HTML tags, but use them to render the content of the page

Hyper is the opposite of linear. It used to be that computer programs had to move in a linear fashion. This before this, this before this, and so on. HTML does not hold to that pattern and allows the person viewing the World Wide Web page to go anywhere, any time they want.

Text is what you will use. Real, honest to goodness English letters.

Mark up is what you will do. You will write in plain English and then mark up what you wrote. More to come on that in the next Primer.

Language because they needed something that started with "L" to finish HTML and Hypertext Markup Louie didn't flow correctly. Because it's a language, really -- but the language is plain English.