This is the print version of http://www.quackit.com/html/tutorial/introduction.cfm

About HTML

HTML, which stands for HyperText Markup Language, is a markup language used to create web pages. The web developer uses "HTML tags" to format different parts of the document. For example, you use HTML tags to specify headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, images and much more.

HTML is a subset of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) and is specified by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

What do I need to create HTML?

You don't need any special equipment or software to create HTML. In fact, you probably already have everything you need. Here is what you need:

Computer
Text editor. For example, Notepad (for Windows), Pico (for Linux), or Simpletext (Mac). You could use a HTML editor if you like but it's not needed.
Web Browser. For example, Internet Explorer or Firefox.

Do I need to be online?

No, you do not need to be online to create web pages. You can create web pages on your local machine. You only need to go online when you want to publish your web page to the web - this bit comes later.

The next lesson will show you how to create a web page in less than 5 minutes.