Looking into your index page after creating your account on wherever you chose, you’d notice it’s already filled for you. You would also notice everything is wrapped up into one tag: <body>.
What’s the <body> tag for? Well— don’t delete it, obviously. Your <body> tag is used for everything that people will see on your site. It’s the skin on your own body and all. Your <body> holds most tags, save for tags like <title> and all.
Then there’s the very tippy-top of your file: <!DOCTYPE html>. This is also important, since it defines what kind of document your file is, I suppose. Though, I don’t know what else it does.
Below <!DOCTYPE html> is <html>. This tag contains literally everything about your site, from all your content in <body> and everything in <head> too.
<head> is where you put most that people won’t see. Here is where you put in CSS links, your <title>, your favicon link, etc etc. I remember my Computer Science Essentials teacher saying the <head> is where your metadata lives.
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| <!DOCTYPE html> | The first thing in your .html file. Defines your document. |
| <html> | Non-self-closing tag. Contains everything for your site. |
| <head> | Non-self-closing tag. Contains metadata and CSS links for your site. |
| <body> | Non-self-closing tag. Contains your site’s content. |
Continue to: HTML Basics 2: Text Content
Return to: Intro to HTML