This lesson covers HTML — what it is, how web pages work, and exactly what you need to build a page from scratch. The right starting point if you’re new to web development.
2026 note: Originally published in 2014. HTML’s fundamentals haven’t changed in 12 years — the tags and page structure shown here are still correct in 2026. The biggest shift is HTML5 becoming the standard.
What Is HTML?
HyperText Markup Language is the language behind every web page’s skeleton. HTML defines structure; CSS adds style; JavaScript adds behavior.
Your First Page
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>My First Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Hello World!</h1>
<p>This is my first web page.</p>
</body>
</html>Save as index.html and open it in a browser — that’s a working webpage.
Core Structure
<!DOCTYPE html>: tells the browser “I’m HTML5”.<head>: meta info (title, charset, CSS links).<body>: everything visible to the visitor.- Most tags come in pairs:
<p>...</p>.
2026 Learning Resources
- MDN Web Docs — the gold standard reference.
- The Odin Project — free, project-based full track.
- freeCodeCamp — interactive with certificates.
