HTML files are pure ASCII text and can be read by many applications. HTML is actually a set of codes or "tags" that are embedded in these text files, between angle brackets. HTML can be regarded as a browser programming language—along with information that tells the browser what part each piece of text plays in the file, HTML commands can also tell the browser to load other files, run scripts, and find and run external programs.
An HTML tag usually has several parts including:
Start tag: Indicates that an element is about to begin.
Attributes: Includes additional information about how the tag should be interpreted. Attributes are added inside the start tag delimiters. Many attribute names are followed by an equal sign and then by the value of the attribute.
Topic text: Contains the text that you enter to create your topic content.
End tag: Defines the end of the element. The end tag is a repeat of the start tag, preceded by a slash (/) character.
The actual topic text that the tag applies to is inserted between the start and end tags as shown in the following example:
Note: Many tags have optional or required attributes which give the browser additional information about how the tag should be interpreted. The attributes follow the start tag, inside the start tag's bracket delimiters. Attribute names are often followed by an equal sign (=) and then by the attribute's value.