Read the text and answer the question.
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 refers to the special formatting used on web pages to display content. It is used to format and structure the content, such as placing headlines, creating paragraphs, adding emphasis to text, and displaying images.
2. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language.
3. HTML documents typically have the file extension ".html" or ".htm".
4. HTML4 introduced improvements such as support for stylesheets, scripting, and multimedia elements compared to the original HTML.
5. The purpose of XHTML was to create a stricter version of HTML that followed the rules of XML, making it easier for web developers to write code that is both HTML and XML compliant.
6. HTML5 brings several advantages, including better multimedia support, improved form controls, new semantic tags, and support for canvas and web-based graphics.
7. It is important for web designers and web browsers to agree on the same HTML standards to ensure that web pages are displayed consistently across different browsers and devices. This allows users to have a consistent experience when accessing websites.
8. Other mark-up languages include XML, which is used to hold various types of information in a flexible format, and is used in word processing, business documents, mathematics, music, eBooks, and more. There may be other mark-up languages specific to certain industries or purposes.
1. Mark-up on a web page refers to the special formatting that is used to display content. It is used to structure and present information on a web page. Mark-up can be used to create headlines, paragraphs, bold text, italics, images, and more.
2. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language.
3. HTML documents typically have a ".html" or ".htm" file extension.
4. HTML4 introduced several improvements over the original HTML, including support for style sheets, scripting languages, and multimedia elements. It also added new form input types and improved support for tables.
5. XHTML, or Extensible HyperText Markup Language, was designed to be a stricter and more standardized version of HTML. It combined the syntax and rules of HTML with the stricter rules of XML.
6. HTML5, the latest version of HTML, brings several advantages. It introduces new semantic elements that provide more meaningful structure to web pages. It also provides better support for multimedia elements, improved form handling, and increased compatibility with mobile devices.
7. It is important for web designers and web browsers to agree on the same HTML standards to ensure consistency and compatibility across different browsers. If web pages are created with unique HTML tags specific to one browser, users visiting the site with a different browser may not see the intended effects. Having unified HTML standards enables a consistent browsing experience for all users.
8. Other kinds of mark-up languages include XML (Extensible Markup Language), which is used for flexible data representation, and is commonly used in various applications such as word processing documents, business documents, mathematical notations, music, eBooks, and vector graphics. XML uses a similar text-based format to HTML but follows slightly different and stricter syntax rules.