# HTML

> The text format that describes what is on a web page: headings, paragraphs, links.

- Level: Basic
- Topics: Software
- URL: https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/html/
- In Spanish: [HTML](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/es/html/)

**HTML** (HyperText Markup Language) is the format every web page is written in. It is plain text with **tags**, short labels in angle brackets, that mark what each piece is: `h1` for a main heading, `p` for a paragraph, `a` for a link, `img` for an image. In the file a tag is written between angle brackets, and most come in pairs that open and close around the content. The browser reads those tags and draws the page.

HTML is not a programming language: it does not make decisions or calculate anything. It describes structure and meaning. How the page looks (colors, fonts, layout) is the job of CSS, and what it does when you click is the job of JavaScript. The three work together on almost every site.

Good HTML matters more than it seems. Screen readers used by blind people rely on the tags to know what is a heading, a button or a menu. Search engines and AI tools read them to understand a page. You can see the HTML of any site yourself: in most desktop browsers, right-click a page and choose "View page source".

## An analogy

The labels an editor writes in the margin of a manuscript: "title here", "new paragraph", "photo goes here". They do not change the words; they tell the printer what each part is.

## Keep in mind

- Plain text with tags like `h1`, `p` and `a` that mark each part.
- Describes structure; CSS handles looks and JavaScript handles behavior.
- The standard is maintained in the open by the WHATWG, with browser makers involved.
- Accessibility and search depend on using the right tags.

## Go deeper

- [HTML: HyperText Markup Language (MDN)](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML)
- [The HTML Living Standard (WHATWG)](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/)
- [HTML on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML)

## Related terms

- [Web browser](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/web-browser/): The app that fetches web pages from the internet and draws them on your screen.
- [Programming language](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/programming-language/): A precise, written language people use to give instructions to a computer.
- [CSS](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/css/): The language that decides how a web page looks: colors, fonts, spacing, layout.
- [JavaScript](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/javascript/): The programming language that runs inside web pages and makes them interactive.
- [Artificial intelligence](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/artificial-intelligence/): Getting computers to do things that, until recently, only people could do.