What is HTML & CSS?

Explain HTML & CSS in different ways

Explain it like I only speak in plain English

HTML is like a newspaper layout but for websites. A layout is a grid system for us to place content. Instead of using pen and paper to draw the grid, we follow HTML’s standards to define the grid.

Cool, so HTML is just a layout, what’s CSS?

CSS is adding stylings to the layout, making your website look pretty. If you want to make the text larger? That’s a CSS problem. If you want the icon to be red? That’s a CSS problem.

Together, HTML & CSS define your website’s look and feel.

Do HTML & CSS look foreign to beginners? Sometimes.

Are they hard? Not really.

Explain it like I’m a total nerd

HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language, a standard markup language for creating web pages and web applications. HTML is a markup language that web browsers use to interpret and compose text, images, and other material into visual or audible web pages. In 1995, IETF created an HTML Working Group, which completed “HTML 2.0”, the first HTML specification intended to be treated as a standard against which future implementations should be based.

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets, a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language like HTML. Separation of formatting and content also makes it feasible to present the same markup page in different styles for different rendering methods. CSS has a simple syntax and uses a number of English keywords to specify the names of various style properties.

HTML and CSS, alongside JavaScript, are a cornerstone technology of the internet.

Explain it like I’m an artist

Different CSS can create drastically different looking websites even when the HTML stays the same.

Yes. All of the websites above have the same HTML with different CSS. If HTML is the canvas, then CSS is the paintbrush with your creativity.

Explain it like I like videos

Explain it like I already know it

Bootstrap is one of the most popular frameworks for HTML and CSS. It acts like a wrapper. If you are into React, then you can also start create components with the React lifestyle. Super cool.

Sometimes, I just do inline styling instead of the best practices. Everyone says they know HTML & CSS, but do they really know it? Like can they create a beautiful website from scratch?

The new HTML 5 standard is pretty cool. There’s a new Payment Request API. SCSS and SASS also makes CSS much better to work with.

This Article is written by Altcademy, a 100% online coding bootcamp that teaches Web Development and programming.