What is HTML?

Private course

HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language) files are plain text files containing codes (tags) that give information to the browser on how to build a page.

Blackboard note:
You do not need to know HTML to create a course within Blackboard^®. Course developers can choose between three options presented in Blackboard:

Smart text – understands basic HTML and line breaks.
Plain text – displays text as it is typed into the dialog box. It does not recognise line breaks or text formatting.
HTML – uses HTML tags to enhance the display of your content.

An example of the basic structure of an HTML page:

HTML code

<HTML> <head> <title>HTML page example - tips for studying online</title> </head> <body>

 Will put 'HTML page example - tips for studying online' into the title bar at the extreme top of the browser while the rest of the HTML document would result in the following information appearing in the browser's window:

<h3>Studying online</h3>
Many of the skills you have used for …
</body>
</HTML>

<HTML> tag – is the first line in a HTML document and the </HTML> must be the last line of the document. The HTML tags tell the browser that the instructions following the opening tag must be interpreted as HTML and when to finish the document.

<head> tag – enclosed by the <head> and </head> tags. The head tags contain information about a page that doesn't appear on the page itself. For example, the title tag – <title></title> – is used to display the page title above the menu in the browser.

<body> tag – enclosed by the <body> and </body> tags. All of the content to be displayed on the page is included between the body tags.

Blackboard note:
When you add text to Blackboard webpages you do not need to use the full HTML code for displaying your content. Blackboard adds this for you. You only need to include the codes and content between the <body> tags.

HTML tags are usually words (eg <blockquote> </blockquote> ) or abbreviations (e.g. 'p' for paragraph  ).

Some tags:

Show how the page will be formatted (for instance,  begins a new paragraph),

Show how the words appear ( makes text bold and show emphasis), and others

Contain information that is not visible on the webpage – instead it provides information such as the description used by search engines or the page title displayed in the title bar above the browser's menu. <title> </title>

The main points to remember about tags:

They travel in pairs.

Have opening and closing tags, e.g.  . Note the slash – / – that's what distinguishes a closing tag from an opening tag.

Are distinguished from regular text because they are placed between small angle brackets.

Some tags do not need closing tags – for example:
- <hr> horizontal rule (line across the page)
-   single line break
- <img src='image.gif'> to include an image.

Can be in either uppercase or lowercase.

Have to be used to format the layout of your content on a webpage. Browsers do not display spaces, line breaks or gaps created using the tab, enter key or space bar on the keyboard.

What is HTML?

Private course

References