HTML

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the foundational language of the web. Every web page your browser displays is, at its core, an HTML document: a structured text file that uses tags to define what each piece of content is, whether that’s a heading, a paragraph, a link, an image, or a form. Modern HTML includes semantic elements like <article> and <nav> that help both browsers and search engines understand the purpose of each section on a page.

The Simple Version

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. If a website were a house, HTML would be the walls, floors, and rooms. It defines the structure: this is a heading, this is a paragraph, this is a link, this is an image. The browser reads these instructions and renders them into the page you see.

You don’t see HTML when you browse the web, but it’s behind every single page.

Why It Matters

HTML is the foundation of the web. CSS makes it look nice, JavaScript makes it interactive, but without HTML, there’s nothing to style or animate. Understanding that web pages are just structured text files (not magic) is one of the most important mental shifts for non-technical builders.

How It’s Used on This Site

Every page on this site outputs HTML. Astro components are written in a syntax that compiles down to pure HTML at build time, which means browsers get the simplest, fastest version of each page. No unnecessary complexity.