Lesson 2 - HTML for Beginners: Learn the Building Blocks of Web Development
If you're starting your web development journey, mastering HTML is your first major step. In this beginner-friendly guide, we’ll walk you through the fundamentals of HTML and help you write your very first web page.
WEB DEVELOPMENT
Leonardo Gomes Guidolin
4/9/20251 min read
🧠 What Is HTML?
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It’s the standard language used to create the structure of web pages.
Think of HTML as the skeleton of a website — it tells the browser how to display content like text, images, links, and more.
🔤 Basic HTML Structure
Every HTML document follows a simple structure:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>My First Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Welcome to My Website</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph of text.</p>
</body>
</html>
Let’s break it down:
<!DOCTYPE html> tells the browser this is an HTML5 document.
<html> is the root of the page.
<head> contains metadata like the page title.
<body> contains the visible content.
🔑 Must-Know HTML Tags
Here are some essential tags every beginner should know:
<h1> to <h6> Headings, from biggest to smallest
<p>Paragraphs
<a>Hyperlinks
<img>Images
<ul>, <ol>, <li>Lists (unordered, ordered, items)
<div>Generic container (layout)
<span>Inline container
<br>Line break
🖼️ Example: HTML Page with Text, Image, and Link
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>About Me</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Hello! I'm Jane</h1>
<p>I love coding and coffee ☕</p>
<img src="profile.jpg" alt="My photo" width="200">
<p>Visit my <a href="https://codeforbeginners.blog">blog</a></p>
</body>
</html>
🎯 SEO Tips for HTML
Use proper heading hierarchy (<h1>, then <h2>, etc.)
Add alt text to images for accessibility and SEO
Use meaningful titles inside <title> tags
Structure content clearly with semantic tags (<article>, <section>, <nav>, etc.)
🚀 What’s Next?
After mastering HTML, the next step is learning CSS, which controls how your HTML looks.
👉 Stay tuned for our next post: "CSS Basics: How to Style Your First Web Page"
✅ Final Thoughts
HTML is easy to learn and absolutely essential for any aspiring web developer. With just a few lines of code, you can start building your own websites today!
Follow codeforbeginners.blog for more tutorials, guides, and beginner projects to boost your web development journey.