HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. As a computer language, HTML tells the computer’s web browser how to display text in websites, emails and other computer-based text communications by using symbols, or markup. This includes structural, presentational and hypertext markup, each of which we will look at more closely.
Structural Markup
HTML uses tags to accomplish structural markup, bracketing the desired text in code to communicate the necessary display type. For example, a heading in an article could be communicated as to make the website display the text properly in a different font or size than the rest of the text in the article. This communication is called tagging, and often there is an opening tag and a closing tag, like < h3 >Heading< /h3 > (with spaces deleted). These tags indicate the exact starting point and ending point in the heading location, making it easier for the web browser to determine the exact heading desired.
Presentational Markup
On the other hand, presentational markup uses tags similar to structural makeup tags to define areas the designer wishes to be aesthetically pleasing, like italicizing, bolding, coloring or changing font. However, presentational markup is more difficult to attain using HTML, so many users prefer to use cascading style sheets (CSS) to showcase any presentational markup.
Hyperlink Markup
The final place HTML influences display is in hyperlink design. Through tags, a hyperlink (a link to another website) can be placed on a website. This is most easily accomplished in HTML since simple commands like href and img can set a word or an image, respectively, as a hyperlink.
HTML is a very useful language in website design. Able to address the structural, presentational and hyperlink markups necessary in computer communications, HTML allows users to design an attractive, eye-pleasing website or email signature that can vault their website and/or business to success.