Getting Started with HTML: A Beginner's Guide



If you’re new to web design, the first step in building a website is learning HTML (HyperText Markup Language). HTML is the foundation of all web pages, defining their structure and content. In this beginner-friendly guide, we’ll cover what HTML is, how to write your first HTML document, how to save it as a webpage, and the best software you can use for coding.

1. What is HTML?

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language and is the standard language used to create web pages. It structures a webpage using tags that tell the browser how to display text, images, links, and other elements.

HTML works alongside CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for styling and JavaScript for interactivity, but HTML is the backbone that defines the webpage layout.

2. Writing Your First HTML Page

To create a simple webpage, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open a Text Editor

You can use any plain text editor to write HTML, such as:

Step 2: Write Basic HTML Code

Here’s a simple HTML document:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>My First Webpage</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Welcome to My Website</h1>
    <p>This is my first webpage created using HTML.</p>
</body>
</html>
 

Understanding the Code

  • <!DOCTYPE html> → Declares that this is an HTML5 document.
  • <html> → The root element of the webpage.
  • <head> → Contains meta-information like the title of the page.
  • <title> → The text displayed on the browser tab.
  • <body> → Holds the content visible on the webpage.
  • <h1> → A heading tag, used for the main title.
  • <p> → A paragraph tag, used for text content.
 

Step 3: Save the File

Once you’ve written the code, follow these steps to save it:

  1. Click File > Save As
  2. Choose a location to save your file (e.g., Desktop or Documents)
  3. Name the file index.html (Make sure the extension is .html, not .txt)
  4. Select All Files as the file type (if using Notepad)
  5. Click Save

Step 4: Open the File in a Web Browser

  1. Navigate to where you saved the file
  2. Double-click index.html
  3. The file will open in your default web browser, displaying your first webpage!

3. Best Software for Writing HTML

While you can write HTML using any text editor, here are some recommended tools for a better experience:

Basic Editors (for quick edits)

  • Notepad (Windows) – Simple and built-in
  • TextEdit (Mac) – Ensure you enable plain text mode

Code Editors (recommended for beginners and professionals)

  • VS Code – Free, lightweight, and feature-rich
  • Sublime Text – Fast and customizable
  • Atom – Open-source and easy to use
  • Brackets – Great for web development

Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) (for advanced users)

4. Conclusion

Congratulations! You’ve written and saved your first HTML webpage. Learning HTML is the first step toward becoming a web developer. As you progress, you’ll explore CSS to style your webpages and JavaScript to add interactivity.

Stay tuned for more tutorials on web design and development. Happy coding!

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