HTML Basics for Beginners

Sep 8, 2024

Web Development for Absolute Beginners - Lecture Notes

Introduction

  • Series intended for absolute beginners in web development.
  • No prerequisites required; assumes no prior knowledge of HTML.
  • Future topics will include CSS and JavaScript.
  • Aim to teach how to upload a website to the internet.

Course Structure

  • Ongoing series with each video focused on a different topic.
  • This video focuses solely on HTML.
  • Emphasis on HTML5 standards; no confusion with older standards.

What is HTML?

  • Stands for Hypertext Markup Language.
  • Not a programming language; it's a markup language for displaying web pages.
  • Key Features:
    • Displays and formats elements (text, paragraphs, images).
    • No logic or programming involved (unlike JavaScript, PHP).

Importance of HTML

  • Fundamental building block of the web.
  • Every website outputs HTML to the browser.
  • Can create a basic website using only HTML and CSS.

Getting Started

  • Requirements:
    • A web browser (recommended: Google Chrome).
    • A text editor (recommended: Sublime Text).
  • File Creation:
    • Create HTML file with .html extension (e.g., index.html).
    • Home page should always be named index.html.

HTML Document Structure

  • Basic Structure Includes:
    • <!DOCTYPE html> declaration at the top.
    • <html>, <head>, and <body> tags.
  • Head Section:
    • Contains metadata, page title, links to CSS/JS files.
  • Body Section:
    • Contains visible content of the web page.

HTML Tags

  • Tags:
    • Basic building blocks of HTML documents.
    • Tags generally come in pairs (start and end tags).
    • Some tags are self-closing (e.g., <br />).
  • Headings:
    • Six levels from <h1> to <h6>, with <h1> being the largest.
  • Paragraphs:
    • Created using <p> tags.
  • Lists:
    • Unordered list (<ul>) and ordered list (<ol>).
  • Tables:
    • <table>, <tr>, <th>, <td> for table creation.
  • Forms:
    • Use <form>, <input>, <label>, <textarea>, <select> tags.

Attributes

  • Attributes provide additional information about tags.
  • Common attributes include href, src, alt, and target for links and images.

Semantic HTML5 Tags

  • Semantic tags help structure the document meaningfully.
    • <header>, <nav>, <section>, <article>, <aside>, <footer>.

Meta Tags

  • Used for providing metadata about the HTML document.
    • Includes <meta> for description and keywords.

Conclusion

  • Encouragement to practice and experiment with HTML.
  • Reminder that patience is key in learning web development.
  • Next video will cover CSS.