1 Getting to Know HTML and CSS
This chapter covers
- Exploring the fundamentals of HTML
- Learning the basics of CSS
- Understanding how HTML and CSS combine to make web pages
- Introducing the Web Design Playground
When a jazz musician creates an improvisation, no matter how intricate, she plays by using combinations of 12 musical notes (A through G plus the five flats/sharps in between). When an artist creates a picture, no matter how detailed, he paints by using combinations of three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue). When poets create verse, no matter how inventive, they write by using words that are combinations of the 26 letters of the alphabet. These examples show that creativity and play don’t require elaborate resources or complex raw materials. Imagination and curiosity combined with a few building blocks are all you need to express yourself in almost any art, including the art of web page design. As you learn in this chapter and throughout this book, HTML and CSS provide those building blocks. And although there are more of those blocks than there are musical notes, primary colors, or even letters of the alphabet, there aren’t too many, but more than enough to let you express yourself on an exciting modern canvas: the web.
What is HTML?
The hardest thing about HTML by far is its name. HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language, which sounds about as inviting as a tax audit. But it becomes a lot less intimidating when you break down its terms.