HTML

What it is

HTML is the fundamental language of the web. It is a markup language that describes the content of a website.

Why it matters

Every website on the Internet is written in HTML, so it makes sense as the place to start.

What you'll learn

What HTML is, how it works, and how to use it to structure basic websites.

How to learn it

Before you begin, I suggest you read all of the comprehension questions below to know what you are trying to learn.

There's myriad ways to learn HTML. If you want to learn via death metal, that somehow exists.

If you already know HTML and just need a review, just use a cheat sheet.

One of the most popular ways to learn HTML is through Free Code Camp's Responsive Design course.

Note: I'm pointing you towards the 'beta' version of the new FCC curriculum that is due to release in November 2017, because it is just better all around.

I'm a big fan of a site called Interneting is Hard, which has some phenomenal, down to earth tutorials. We'll use it to learn CSS, so if you want to stick with one thing, do the first three sections before "Hello, CSS."

Comprehension

• What is HTML?

  • What does it do? What is it for?
  • What is a markup language?

• What is the basic structure of an HTML document?

  • What is the difference between head and body tags?
  • What is the DOCTYPE?
  • What does a title tag do?
  • What is a meta tag?

• How do HTML tags work?

  • What HTML tags are available to format text?
  • What are h, b, i, em, and strong tags?
  • What are the basic structural HTML elements?
  • What are div, p, br, and hr tags?

• How do you construct HTML links?

  • What is the difference between an a tag and a link HTML tag?
  • What does href stand for?
  • What is href=“#” and why is it used?
  • How can I make a link open in a new tab?
  • How do I make a link to a specific section of an HTML page?
  • What is an anchor link, and how do I make one?

• How do I put an image into an HTML document?

• How do I put a table into an HTML document?

  • What are the 4 HTML tags for making tables?
  • What is the difference between the table, tr, th, and td tags? What do they stand for?

• How do I put a list into an HTML document?

  • What are the relevant HTML tags?
  • What is the difference between a ul, ol, and li? What do they stand for?

Deeper understanding

You don't need to know all of this before moving on, but master these questions and you'll know just about everything you'll ever need to know about HTML.

• What is the difference between a markup language and a programming language?

• What is XML?

  • Whats the difference between HTML, XHTML, and HTML5?

• What are the keywords and description meta tags?

• How do I tell Google what to use as the blurb for my website in the search results?

• What is HTML validation, and how and why do you do it?

• How do I view the HTML of the page I'm currently reading?

Tasks

You can use your judgment to decide if these exercises are a good use of your time. I'd recommend it though: they're short and will force you to actually figure out if you've learned the content or if you are fooling yourself with the fluency illusion.

• Complete this Mozilla exercise where you write a letter in HTML markup
• Write a labeled table of your family's first and last names in the W3Schools editor.
• Write a bulleted grocery list in the W3Schools editor.

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