Read the text.
You might know what the words "programming", "program language" or "code" mean, but the term "mark-up" may be new. Web pages are not like the general-purpose programs that you can run on your computer. Web pages contain specially formatted data that is displayed by your web browser. The special formatting is called "mark-up" and is mixed alongside the content you want to show on a web page.
In this course, you will learn how to take your data and mark it up so a web browser can display it on the screen. You can use mark-up to place a headline, make a new paragraph, put words in bold or italics, display a picture and so on.
What Does Mark-up Look Like?
The image below shows just a bit of the mark-up needed to display the home page of your first-semester project. Mark-up code is text-based, so you can use any text editor to view and change the code. By the end of this course, you will be able to write this yourself, understand what parts are visible to the reader, know why the invisible parts are there and determine how each part is used.
Web pages are written with the HyperText Mark-up Language or HTML for short. Several different versions such as HTML, HTML4, XHTML, and HTML5 have evolved over time. This is similar to the way your computer operating system has improved as new features or ideas are included in the next version.
For those of you who use a PC computer, you may have started out using Windows 7, then upgraded to Windows 8 or Windows 10. Similarly, Apple Mac computer users might remember version 10.5 of the operating system code-named Leopard, which was upgraded to Snow Leopard (10.6), Lion (10.7), or Mountain Lion (10.8). With each upgrade to your operating system, you probably discovered new applications, tools, graphics and abilities.
HTML was first suggested in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Tim and his fellow scientists needed an easy way to share scientific data and papers. Tim and other scientists gradually defined the first HTML standard through the early 1990's. Newer versions were defined as the demand for websites and the variety of information increased. The major versions of HTML described below.
The word "HTML" will be used to discuss mark-up in general throughout the course, since all versions of HTML share quite a bit of syntax and features. If an instruction is specific to a particular version such as HTML5, that version will be noted.
Web Browser Support
Web designers would like their pages to appear the same way, no matter what web browser you are using. For this reason, it's important to create web pages using well-recognized HTML standards. It is equally important that all web browsers support those standards in the same way.
If a web designer created web pages with unique HTML tags known only to one browser, then other users visiting a site with a different browser would not see the same effects. Similarly, if a web browser does not support one or more features in the HTML standards, then web pages written to those standards will not display correctly for those users. It's a joint effort between web developers and web browsers to use and support the same HTML standards so everyone visiting a website will have the same experience.
Other Mark-Up Languages
HTML is used for the display of information on websites. But the idea of mixing content with structured mark-up is not limited to the World Wide Web! Other mark-up languages exist to meet other needs. The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is used to hold many kinds of information in a flexible format. XML is also a text document with a similar look and feel to HTML, but the syntax rules are slightly different and stricter. XML has been used to represent information in word processing and other business documents, mathematical notations, music, eBooks, vector graphics and many other useful applications.
1. What is mark-up and how is it used on a web page?
2. What does HTML stand for?
3. What file extensions do HTML documents typically have?
4. What improvements did HTML4 have over the original HTML?
5. What was the purpose of XHTML?
6. What are the advantages of the latest standard: HTML5?
7. Why is it important for web designers and web browsers to agree on the same HTML standards?
8. What other kinds of mark-up languages exist, and how are they used?
1. Mark-up is a form of special formatting that is applied to data on a web page, allowing web browsers to display the content correctly. It is used to format text, add headings, paragraphs, images, and other elements to a web page.
2. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language.
3. HTML documents typically have a .html or .htm file extension.
4. HTML4 introduced new features and improvements, such as support for style sheets, tables, frames, forms, and multimedia content.
5. XHTML was developed to bring the syntax of HTML into conformity with XML, making it stricter and more structured.
6. HTML5 introduced many new features and improvements, including support for audio and video playback, canvas element for complex graphics, drag and drop, local storage, and improved accessibility.
7. It is important for web designers and web browsers to agree on the same HTML standards to ensure that web pages display correctly and consistently across different browsers.
8. Other mark-up languages include XML, which is used for storing and transmitting structured data, and is used in various industries for different purposes such as document representation, data interchange, and database management. There are also specific mark-up languages for specialized purposes, such as MathML for representing mathematical equations, SVG for scalable vector graphics, and EPUB for e-books.
1. Mark-up refers to the special formatting or code used in web pages to structure and display content. It is mixed alongside the content and is used to place headlines, create paragraphs, apply formatting such as bold or italics, display images, and more.
2. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language.
3. HTML documents typically have the file extension ".html" or ".htm".
4. HTML4 introduced several improvements over the original HTML, such as better support for style sheets and scripting, enhanced form controls, and improved accessibility features.
5. XHTML, which stands for Extensible HyperText Markup Language, was introduced to bridge the gap between HTML and XML. It follows stricter syntax rules and allows for a more consistent handling of web pages across different platforms and devices.
6. HTML5, the latest version of HTML, brings several advantages. It introduces new elements and attributes for better structure and semantic markup, supports multimedia and interactive content without the need for plugins, provides better accessibility features, and includes improved APIs for enhanced functionality.
7. It is important for web designers and web browsers to agree on the same HTML standards to ensure consistent rendering and user experience across different browsers and devices. If web pages are designed using unique HTML tags or if browsers do not support certain HTML features, the pages may not display correctly for all users, leading to inconsistencies and potential usability issues.
8. Other types of mark-up languages exist for various purposes. For example, XML (Extensible Markup Language) is used to structure and hold different types of information in a flexible format. It is widely used for data exchange, document representation, and other applications. Additionally, there are specific mark-up languages for areas such as mathematics (MathML), music (MIDI), and e-books (EPUB). These mark-up languages provide structured formats to represent and manipulate specific types of content.