The basics of HTML and CSS

At their core, HTML and CSS are the main technologies and building blocks of websites. Whereas HTML is a markup language used to define what specific content types are being displayed, called elements, CSS is the language that then defines what shape or form, called attributes, that content appears in on the page.

If you were to describe a face in HTML and CSS, the former would enumerate elements such as eyes, nose, and lips, and the latter would list out attributes such as blue, pointed, and thin.

One of the challenges for newcomers to HTML and CSS is simply knowing what types of elements can be defined and what attributes can be applied to them. Indeed, over the years, the lists of both have only grown.

While doing an exhaustive overview of all that HTML and CSS have to offer is far beyond the scope of this book, in this section, we'll cover some basic rules, elements, and attributes that will hopefully help you to grasp how websites are generally...