HTML for Beginners – HTML Basics With Code Examples
Welcome to the exciting world of web development! In this beginner’s guide, you’ll learn the fundamentals of HTML — the backbone of every web page. Think of a tree: its roots anchor and nourish the entire plant. Similarly, HTML is the root of web development. Once you understand HTML, you’ll have a strong foundation for building websites.
By the end of this tutorial, you’ll understand how to structure a web page, use tags and attributes, work with multimedia, and follow best practices.
Table of Contents
- What is HTML?
- Basic Structure of an HTML Document
- Comments in HTML
- Tags and Elements
- HTML Attributes
- HTML Multimedia (Images, Audio, Video)
- Best Practices
What is HTML?
HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. It is the standard language used for creating and designing the structure of a web page. HTML allows you to organize content on your website, define its structure, and establish the relationships between different elements. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
---Basic Structure of an HTML Document
Every HTML page follows a basic structure. This template serves as a foundation for all webpages. Here is how it looks:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>My First Web Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Hello, World!</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph of text.</p>
</body>
</html>
Explanation:
<!DOCTYPE html>— defines the document as HTML5.<html>…</html>— root element of the HTML document.<head>…</head>— contains metadata (like charset, viewport settings, title).<body>…</body>— contains the content visible to users (text, images, links, etc.).
Comments in HTML
Comments help you (or other developers) explain code. They do not appear on the web page. This is useful to leave notes or temporarily disable code.
<!-- This is a single-line comment in HTML -->
<!--
This is a multi-line comment.
You can write longer notes here.
-->
---
Tags and Elements
HTML uses tags to define parts of a webpage, and when combined with content they form elements. Tags usually come in pairs: an opening tag and a closing tag.
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
<h1>Heading 1</h1>
<ul>
<li>Item 1</li>
<li>Item 2</li>
</ul>
Common elements you’ll use often:
- Headings:
<h1> … <h6> - Paragraph:
<p> - Lists:
<ul>,<ol>,<li> - Divisions/containers:
<div>, or semantic tags like<header>,<nav>,<section>,<article>,<footer>:contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3} - Inline containers:
<span>
HTML Attributes
Attributes add extra information or behavior to HTML tags. They go inside the opening tag.
<img src="image.jpg" alt="A nice view" width="400">
<a href="https://example.com" target="_blank">Visit Example</a>
Common attributes include:
src— source file for images, audio, videoalt— alternate text for images (important for accessibility)href— URL for linkswidth,height— size attributes for mediaclass/id— used for styling or JavaScript targeting
HTML Multimedia (Images, Audio, Video)
HTML lets you embed different types of media — images, audio, video — to make your webpage interactive and rich.
Image
<img src="photo.jpg" alt="Beautiful scenery">
Audio
<audio controls>
<source src="sound.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
Your browser does not support audio element.
</audio>
Video
<video width="640" controls>
<source src="video.mp4" type="video/mp4">
Your browser does not support video tag.
</video>
---
Best Practices
Writing clean and semantic HTML will help you (and others) maintain, read, and scale your code better. Here are some guidelines:
- Use semantic tags (
<header>,<nav>,<main>,<section>,<footer>) instead of generic<div>when possible. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4} - Always include
altattribute for images for accessibility. - Indent your code properly to make it readable.
- Use comments to document parts of your code.
- Keep HTML structure clean: head, body, semantic divisions.
- Test your page on multiple devices (desktop + mobile).
- Separate content (HTML) from styling (CSS) and behavior (JavaScript).
Conclusion
You now have a solid understanding of HTML — the foundation of all web development. Use this knowledge to build your first webpage, blog, or project. The more you practice, the stronger your skills become.

Comments
Post a Comment