HTML — The Language of the Internet
When you visit a Web site, what you are seeing is computer code which has been translated by the Web browser into text, graphics, and multimedia. HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the basic code used to create Web pages.
HTML is used to define how data looks:
- Structure—how the content is arranged on the page
- Formatting—colors, fonts, and styles used for page elements
- Hyperlinks—link to another place on the page or to another Web page
Most Web pages today use more than straight HTML. Other languages used to create Web pages include:
- JavaScript—used to create dynamic elements such as pop-up menus, forms, and scrolling text.
- Java—used to create self-contained applications (called applets) which run within the Web browser.
- DHTML—Dynamic HTML—used to defined dynamic elements such as transitions between pages.
- XML— EXtensible Markup Language—used to describe data using custom tags defined in a Document Type Definition (DTD) document. XML tells the browser what the data is, not how it should look.
HTML pages can be saved as text files with either an .htm or .html extension. However, when you are coding a link to another HTML page, you must use the correct extension, otherwise your link will not work.
Style sheets are special documents which define the formatting and styles used in a Web page. You can link several Web pages to one style sheet; thus, assuring all the pages share the same look and feel.
With Internet Explorer, you can view the HTML code for a Web page by right-clicking on the page, and selecting View Source from the shortcut menu. With Netscape, right-click the page and select View Page Source from the shortcut menu.
