Start Here: HTML Fundamentals
HTML gives every web page its structure. On Global Tuts, you will learn how tags work, how browsers read your code, and how to build your first real page step by step.
What is HTML?
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is not a programming language — it describes the meaning and layout of content on the web. Think of it as the skeleton of a website.
- It uses elements made from opening tags, content, and closing tags.
- Browsers read HTML and decide what to show — headings, paragraphs, images, links, forms, and more.
- Modern websites combine HTML with CSS for design and JavaScript for interaction.
- Learning HTML first makes every other web topic easier to understand.
- Global Tuts lessons focus on practical examples you can edit and test immediately.
A Simple HTML Document
Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Page Title</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »
Example Explained
- The
<!DOCTYPE html>declaration defines that this document is an HTML5 document - The
<html>element is the root element of an HTML page - The
<head>element contains meta information about the HTML page - The
<title>element specifies a title for the HTML page (which is shown in the browser's title bar or in the page's tab) - The
<body>element defines the document's body, and is a container for all the visible contents, such as headings, paragraphs, images, hyperlinks, tables, lists, etc. - The
<h1>element defines a large heading - The
<p>element defines a paragraph
What is an HTML Element?
An HTML element is defined by a start tag, some content, and an end tag:
The HTML element is everything from the start tag to the end tag:
| Start tag | Element content | End tag |
|---|---|---|
| <h1> | My First Heading | </h1> |
| <p> | My first paragraph. | </p> |
| <br> | none | none |
Note: Some HTML elements have no content (like the <br> element). These elements are called empty elements. Empty elements do not have an end tag!
Web Browsers
The purpose of a web browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) is to read HTML documents and display them correctly.
A browser does not display the HTML tags, but uses them to determine how to display the document:
HTML Page Structure
Below is a visualization of an HTML page structure:
Note: The content inside the <body> section (the white area above) will be displayed in a browser. The content inside the <title> element will be shown in the browser's title bar or in the page's tab.
HTML History
HTML has evolved from simple documents in the 1990s to HTML5 today, which supports video, audio, forms, accessibility features and mobile-friendly layouts. You do not need to memorize every old version — focus on writing clean, semantic HTML5 markup.
| Period | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1991 | First HTML ideas by Tim Berners-Lee |
| 1997–2014 | HTML 4 and XHTML improved structure and standards |
| 2014–today | HTML5 became the modern baseline for web development |