Web Dev 101: What is HTML?

If you’re looking to get into web development, there is a seemingly never-ending list of things to learn. In fact, it seems pretty overwhelming to even get started.

But to get started you only need to learn HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The majority of other acronyms you’ll come across centre around these three languages. It’s these three that power the web, and once you have a grasp on these, you can learn just about any of the other.

But truly, the only language you really need to learn is HTML.

Why is that? What is HTML?

HTML stands for “HyperText Markup Language”, but it isn’t really a programming language at all. Instead, it’s a “structural language”. It’s used to build the structure — or “bones” — of a website.

Dem bones, dem bones, them HTML bones.

Of all the web programming languages you’re going to learn, HTML is the most important one. While it isn’t as shiny as CSS or as functional as JavaScript, HTML is what makes a website, well, a website. HTML creates structured, useful, and organized content, and that’s what users (and Google) want to see. HTML doesn’t look pretty by itself, but it’s the most valuable aspect of a website.