What is HTML

The role of HTML

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, and is a language for describing hypertext.

Hypertext is a text file that has a mechanism for linking to other documents via links — something that’s commonplace now.

A text file is a file where you write characters. (.txt, for example.)

And as part of the World Wide Web system, because of this, people can move to other pages just by clicking links.

Why isn’t it a programming language?

If you call it a text file, it’s true that it’s just characters, so it’s a text file, but given how capable it has become, it might feel natural to call it a programming language.

However, HTML alone cannot implement “something happens when you press a button.” To make things happen you need to use methods outside what HTML’s syntax defines, such as JavaScript.

In modern browsers, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are generally loaded together, so it’s become normal that pressing a button triggers some action.

Basically (well, recently CSS can also perform calculations so definitions are tricky),

• HTML is where you write the document’s content
• CSS is where you determine how that content looks
• JavaScript is where you instruct what happens when a button is pressed

That’s roughly the right way to understand it, I guess.