HTML-101 #1. What is HTML & How the Web Works

Source: Dev.to

Short Intro (Why I’m Writing This)

I’m currently learning HTML and decided to learn in public by documenting my journey.
This series is not written by an expert — it’s a beginner learning out loud, sharing:

• what I understand,
• what confuses me,
• and what I learn along the way.

The goal is to build consistency, clarity, and invite discussion.

In this post I’ll cover:

• What HTML is and why it exists
• What HTML can and cannot do in a website
• Understanding HTML as the structure (skeleton) of the web
• The roles of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in a web application
• What actually happens inside the browser when a page loads (DOM, CSS, JS)

All my notes, examples, and practice code are in the GitHub repo: .

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What Is HTML?

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language (nothing “hyper” about it). It is the standard language of web pages that defines the skeleton of a website. It tells the browser:

• what content exists,
• what type of content it is,
• how it is organized.

HTML defines headings, creates paragraphs, displays images, builds forms, and a few other things. It does not add style (CSS) or behavior/interactivity (JavaScript).

Example

  My First Page

  
## Hello World

  
This is my first webpage

The markup above shows a big heading “Hello World” and a paragraph “This is my first webpage”.

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Roles of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

A website without CSS & JS still works, but looks plain.

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How a Browser Loads a Page

1. The browser reads the HTML line by line and converts it into a DOM (Document Object Model) – a tree structure representing the HTML elements.
2. The browser downloads linked CSS files and applies the styles.
3. The browser downloads linked JavaScript files and executes the scripts.
4. The final rendered page is displayed.

In simple terms:

HTML → DOM → CSS applied → JavaScript runs → Final page

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Next Post

The next article will cover Structure of HTML and will continue updating the GitHub repository as progress is made.

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References

• GitHub repository: