Unit: II Chapter

HTML(Hypertext Markup Language)

4
INTRODUCTION
TO
HTML
INTRODUCTION
Internet has created a revolution in publishing a global
forum where information reaches millions of people every
day. It is a powerful medium for bringing information,
images, sound, news and advertisements to your
computer or on your mobile phones. It has already
Objectives: changed the way of working, shopping, banking and also
living. The information stored on the Internet is organized
 What is HTML? like pages that are managed electronically and are often
 Features of HTML called 'Web Sites' too.
 History of HTML
HTML is a computer language devised to allow website
 World Wide Web Consortium
creation. These web sites can then be viewed by anyone
 Versions of HTML
connected to the Internet. It is relatively easy to learn, as
 How does HTML work? the basics are accessible to most of the people and quite
 About Web Browser Software powerful in what it allows you to create once you have
tried using it. Having discussed in the previous chapters
how exactly the Web works, we can move on to why we
might want to create Web pages?

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4.1 WHAT IS HTML?

Html forms the foundation of the World Wide Web and the basis of most web pages. It defines the structure of web pages
and determines how data can be displayed online. It is the language in which most websites are written to make them
functional. HTML is understood by all browsers, from browsers on phones, to tablets to desktop computers. That's why every
website and web app you use is made using HTML.
HTML is actually a 'hidden code' that helps us to communicate with others on the World Wide Web (WWW). HTML
documents are often referred to as 'Web pages'. The web browser retrieves Web pages from Web servers and by using
Internet it can be accessed or watched anywhere in World. It is a set of codes that a website author inserts into a plain text file
to format the content. The author inserts HTML tags or commands, before and after words or phrases to indicate their
format and location on the page. HTML tags are also used for objects like tables, lists, images, music to be included in a web
page.

The definition of HTML is Hypertext Markup Language.

Hypertext is the method by which you move around the web by clicking on the special
text called hypertext. Hypertext is a text that contain links to other text, it means that
when you click the hypertext, you are redirected to another web page/site on the
Internet.
Markup it is what HTML tags will do to the text inside them. They mark it to appear in a
certain way.

Language means it has code words and syntax like any other language.
FEATURES OF HTML
• It is a computer language (not a programming language) used to create web pages but does not require any special
programming knowledge.
• It is a markup language and is used to make the text readable for the browser.
• It is a character‐based method for expressing the contents. The contents can be pictures, text, graphics and videos.
• All text editors and word processing software support it.
• It delivers the contents to multiple platforms.
HTML IS NOT A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
HTML is not a programming language technically it is known as a 'markup' language, hence the name Hypertext Markup
Language. A markup language encapsulates or 'marks up' data within HTML tags, which define the data and describe its
purpose on the web page.
Programming languages have functional purposes. HTML, as a markup language
doesn't really do anything in the sense that a programming language does. HTML Definition
contains no programming logic. It doesn't have common conditional statements such Programming Language is a computer
language which is used by the
as If/Else. It can't evaluate expressions or do any mathematics. It doesn't handle events
programmers to develop applications,
or carry out tasks. You can't declare variables and you can't write functions. It doesn't scripts or other set of instructions for
modify or manipulate data in any way. HTML can't take input and produce output. a computer to execute.
Think of it this way: you can't compute the sum of 2 + 2 in HTML, that's not what it's for.
This is because HTML is not a programming language.

64 Computer Applications ‐ X
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TEXT FILE AND HTML FILE
A text file is a computer file that contains only text and has no special formatting such as bold text, italic text, images, etc.
With Microsoft Windows text files are identified with the .txt file extension. HTML file is a text document saved with the
extension .html or .htm that contains texts and some tags written between "< >"(greater than and less than sign) that gives
the instructions needed to configure the web page.
Html File Text File

HISTORY OF HTML
Until 1990, accessing information through Internet was rather a technical affair. It was so difficult, in fact that even Ph.D
holding physicist were often frustrated while trying to swap the data.
The person who invented HTML was not a computer programmer, but a physicist working at the
European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva, Switzerland. Tim Berners‐Lee, the inventor of
HTML and father of web wanted to create a way for researchers to be able to use the internet to
collaborate and share information.
He invented HTML as a means that enables us to convert any document typed in a simple word
processor into a file viewable on the internet, thus making it available to anybody with an internet
connection. This system, which Tim Berners‐Lee later named 'The World‐Wide Web' in October of
Tim Berners‐Lee
1990 defines the nature of the WWW today.
WORLD WIDE WEB CONSORTIUM (W3C)
The World Wide Web Consortium, known as the W3C, is an international community of standards for the World Wide Web
(www or w3). It was founded by Tim Berner's Lee in October 1994. The W3C is working to make the Web accessible to every
user all over the world. W3C is organized as a member organization and is working to standardize the web. It also creates and
maintains WWW standards which are called as W3C Recommendations.
W3C commits to leading the technical evolution of the Web. In just over seven years, W3C has developed more than 40
technical specifications for the Web's infrastructure. However, the Web is still young and there is still a lot of work to do,
especially as computers, telecommunications, and multimedia technologies converge.
W3C's long term goals for the Web are:
Universal Access: To make the Web accessible to all by promoting technologies that take into account the vast
differences in culture, languages, education, ability, material resources and physical limitations of the users on all
continents.
Semantic Web: To develop a software environment that permits each user to make the best use of the resources
available on the Web
Web of Trust: To guide the Web's development with careful consideration for the novel legal, commercial and social
issues raised by this technology.

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HTML IS A STANDARD INTERFACE
It is important to understand that HTML is a standard interface. Specifically, these recommendations have been published by
an international consortium: the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the organization in‐charge of designing and
maintaining the html language. The official HTML specifications therefore describe not only the 'instructions' of HTML, but
also their implementation, i.e. their translation into computer programs to enable the consultation of Web pages regardless
of operating system or the architecture of the computer.

4.2 VERSIONS OF HTML

Given below are the different versions of HTML:
• The first version of HTML didn't have a version number, it was just called 'HTML' and was used to put up simple Web
pages back in 1989 ‐ 1995.
• HTML 2.0 (1995): HTML 2.0 was the first official version of HTML. The HTML 2.0 was introduced on 24 November,
1995. HTML 2.0 constituted almost all the elements but lacked with the extensions for Netscape and Microsoft
Explorer. In HTML 2.0 use of tables was possible but the appearance of tables was poor because of aligning
attributes.
• HTML 3.2 (1997): After HTML 2.0, the next major version development was HTML 3 which happened in late 1995.
But HTML 3 development did not get completed and it was never implemented. The next major release after HTML
2.0 was HTML 3.2, a version released by W3C. The most significant feature about HTML 3.2 was the standardization
of tables and a large number of other elements that facilitated the presentation of data on web pages. HTML 3.2 was
understood by all the browsers.
• HTML 4.0 (1997): HTML 4.0 was the next major release of HTML. This version of HTML standardized and included
things like style sheets, frames, embedded objects and forms. The HTML version 4.01 appeared on 24 December
1999 and made some minor changes to HTML 4.0, which is then followed by the latest HTML 5.
• HTML 5 (2008): HTML 5 is the latest version of HTML. HTML 5 came into life on January 2008. Its core aim has been to
improve the language with support for the latest multimedia while keeping it easily readable by humans and
consistently understood by computers, mobile phones and other devices.

4.3 HOW DOES HTML WORK?

HTML consists of a series of short codes which are called as tags typed into a text file by the web author. The text is then saved
as an html file and viewed through a web browser, like Internet Explorer/Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome.

The Web Server

Your Computer

1. Browser requests file Definition

from server Web server is a computer that can
4. Your Browser respond to a browser's request for a
2. Server page and deliver the page to the Web
interprets the
searches browser through the Internet.
html file
for and Retrieves
and displays it.
3. Server returns file File from
to your computer
Hard Drive

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WHAT IS WEB BROWSER?
A Web browser, like Microsoft Internet Explorer or Google Chrome is a computer program also known as a software
application or simply an application that does two things:
• A Web browser knows how to go to a Web server on the Internet and Definition
request a page, so that the browser can pull the page through the network Internet/Web Browser is the software
that is used to retrieve and display
into your machine.
HTML web pages. The most popular
• A Web browser knows how to interpret the set of HTML tags within the browser programs are: Microsoft
page in order to display the page on your screen as the page's author Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator,
Opera, Safari, Google Chrome.
intended it to be viewed.
Today HTML pages are the standard interface to Internet. They can include animated
graphics, sound, video, complete interactive programs and text. Not only on web, HTML is
also a new interface for publishing presentations on CD‐ROMS and to provide information
through Intranets. Therefore, Microsoft integrated HTML directly into its Windows
operating system, allowing every folder in windows based system to be associated with the
HTML page and hypertext links to other folders and pages.

History Click
 The first ever website was published on August 6, 1991, this website was made by the World Wide Web's creator Tim Berners‐Lee, who
was working for CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research).
 The first version of the Internet browser initially ran only on the NeXTSTEP computer and was only processing text files, but it was just
the beginning.
 In 1994, the W3Consortium was established with support from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. W3C is led by Tim Berners‐
Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web and Dr. Jeffrey Jaffe, W3C CEO. They are supported by a staff of technical experts who help
coordinate technology development and manage the operations of the Consortium.

RECAP BYTE
 HTML is the standard markup language for creating Web pages/ Web Sites.
 HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language.
 HTML elements represented by tags are the building blocks of HTML pages.
 HyperText is the method by which you move around on the web by clicking on special text called hyperlinks which bring you
to the next page
 Markup is what HTML tags do to the text inside them means describes the structure of Web pages.
 HTML is a language which has code‐words and syntax like any other language.
 Tim Berners‐Lee invented HTML as a means to enable the conversion of any document written in word processor software
into a file viewable on Internet.
 The World Wide Web Consortium, known as the W3C, is an international community of standards for the World Wide Web
(www or w3) was founded by Tim Berner's Lee in October 1994.
 HTML 2.0 was the first official version and HTML 5 is the latest version of HTML.
 Web server is a computer that can respond to a browser's request for a page and deliver the page to the Web browser
through the Internet.
 Web browser is a computer program/software used to retrieve and display HTML web pages.

Computer Applications ‐ X 67
 PRACTICE YOUR SKILLS
1. Read the following statements and select (3) the correct option.

i) The full form of HTML is: vii) He is the inventor of HTML language.
a) Human Text Markup Language a) Tim Berner's Lee b) Bill Gates
b) Hyper Text Markup Language c) Charles Babbage d) Steve Jobs
c) High Text Multimedia Language viii) He is the founder of World Wide Web Consortium.
ii) One of the following activity can't be done with HTML. a) Bill Gates b) Sabir Bhatia
a) Creating a Web Site for Bank c) Steve Jobs d) Tim Berner's Lee
b) Displaying Video on your web site ix) This is the first official version of the HTML.
c) Paying your electricity bills a) HTML 1.0 b) HTML 1.1
d) Refill client's printer's ink c) HTML d) HTML 2.0
iii) Web pages on your computer screen are also referred x) Name the latest version of the HTML.
commonly by this name. a) HTML 5 b) HTML 4.01
a) W‐Pages b) Net‐Pages c) HTML 8 d) HTML 2015
c) E‐Pages d) Internet‐Pages xi) Software used to retrieve and display HTML web
iv) A document that is written in HTML is called as this. pages.
a) HTML Page b) Web Page a) Web Browser b) Acrobat Reader
c) Code Page d) Document c) Interpreter d) Web Reader
v) HTML is one of these: xii) This is full form of W3C.
a) Animation software b) Image Editor a) World Wide Web Computer
c) Word Processor d) Mark up language b) World Wide Web Consortium
vi) Web site is a collection of one of these : c) World Wide Web Company
a) Html documents b) Sound files
c) Video files d) All of these

ANSWERS i) b ii) d iii) c iv) b v) d vi) d vii) a viii) d ix) d x) a xi) a xii) b

2. State whether the following statements are True or False by ticking (3) them accordingly. True False
a) HTML is a computer programming language.
b) The inventor of HTML language is a well‐known computer programmer.
c) HTML 5 has a standard interface and it works with computer and mobile phones.
d) Hyper means on the Internet you can go to any related article by clicking on links.
e) The first website in the history of Internet was published by Tim Berners‐Lee.
f) Web sites on Internet allow us to get in touch with a limited audience at a high cost.

ANSWERS a) F b) F c) T d) T e) T f) F

68 Computer Applications ‐ X
3. Read the following statements and name the version of HTML.
a) The first official version of HTML that was introduced on 24 November, 1995. ................................
b) The development of this version did not get completed and it was never implemented. ................................
c) The first ever version understood by all the web browsers. ................................
d) This version of HTML standardized and included things like style sheets, frames, ................................
embedded objects and forms.
e) The version of HTML which is currently in use. ................................

ANSWERS a) HTML 2.0 b) HTML 3 c) HTML 3.2 d) HTML 4.0 e) HTML 5

4. Answer in brief:
a) The secret codes used to create web pages. .....................................
b) The organization that is in‐charge of designing and maintaining the html .....................................
language.
c) The HTML version was officially released by W3C. .....................................
d) The person who has created world's first website.
e) The computer program that reads the HTML files and translates the text into .....................................
a visible form for you.
f) A default web browser software provided by Microsoft with Windows .....................................
operating system.
g) A computer that delivers the web page to the web browser through the Internet. .....................................
ANSWERS a) HTML Tags b) W3C c) HTML 3.2 d) Tim Berners‐Lee e) Web Browser f) Internet Explorer g) Web Server

APPLICATION BASED QUESTION

1. Rohan wants to learn HTML to create web pages. Which type of software should he have in his computer?

Ans: To create HTML files he should have a simple text editor program ( NotePad ) and to view them, Web browser
software( Internet Explorer) is required. NotePad and Internet Explorer are present in the Windows
operating system by default.

ASSESS YOUR KNOWLEDGE

1. Answer the following questions.
a) What is HTML and what does the acronym HTML stands for?
b) What do you understand by the term 'hypertext'?
c) Differentiate between Text file and HTML file.
d) Explain the features of HTML.
e) Write a short note on the history of HTML.
f) What is the role of World Wide Web Consortium in the implementation of Internet?
g) What is web browser and name any four popular web browsers.
h) Name the different versions of HTML.

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