Interactive Elements

Interactive elements create some of the features you interact with when you visit a webpage. These elements allow you to perform specific actions, like submissions or redirections.

For instance, the element is what we use for hyperlinks. In addition, creates clickable buttons, is used for user input fields, and

When working with HTML, you’ll realize that it’s not just about writing code, although that’s the most important part. You must also decide what text editor to use, understand the fundamentals of writing HTML, learn how to validate your code (especially if you’re a beginner), and more.

Writing HTML Code

Let’s begin with the most important part: writing HTML code. Here, you’ll need to use a series of elements and attributes to structure web content, as we discussed earlier. It’s important to understand how HTML works and write it correctly in a way that users, browsers, and search engines can interpret. Regarding writing, you must also decide where to write your code. That brings us to the next section.

Text Editors vs. Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)

Text editors are lightweight programs that we use to write and edit code. You can opt for text editors, such as Notepad, because they are simple and fast. However, there’s a catch: you must remember HTML syntax and be careful with your coding.

Any syntax error could prevent your code from running. For this reason, I would recommend this option only if you’re comfortable with your coding skills.

On the other hand, Integrated Development Environments, also known as IDEs, have more robust features. IDEs like Visual Studio Code or Atom provide tools and functionalities that help streamline coding tasks, from writing to testing your HTML.

Pro tip: The choice between a text editor and an IDE often depends on your workflow preferences and the complexity of your projects.

Syntax Rules and Best Practices

HTML has some syntax rules and best practices you should follow if you want clean, well-organized, and easily maintainable code. The last thing you want is to spend your precious time troubleshooting your code because it just can’t seem to run properly.

Knowing basic rules like proper nesting and closure of tags, using semantic elements appropriately, and keeping your code readable with consistent indentation and comments can help avoid many issues later on.

Also, think of other developers who are working on your code. If you don’t follow these syntax rules and best practices, they’ll have a rough time understanding your code. Smooth collaboration is key to building applications from scratch.

HTML Validation

Thankfully, you don’t have to guess whether you’ve written the correct HTML; you can use validation tools such as W3C Markup Validation Service to check if your code works. If, for some reason, your code doesn’t work, the validation tool will identify the error.

The whole point of validating your HTML code is to ensure it conforms to web standards and behaves as expected across different browsers and devices. This process makes coding much easier and more fun.

Once you’ve set up the structure of your HTML pages, the next step is to make them look good, and that’s where Cascading Style Sheets, or simply CSS, come in. Here’s what you need to know:

Introduction to CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

We use CSS to style and lay out web pages. Unlike inline styles, which mix the styling directly with the HTML structure (not advisable if you want to style several elements on the webpage), CSS keeps the styling separate. Later in this article, we’ll discuss why we separate HTML from CSS.

Linking CSS to HTML Documents

To apply CSS styles to an HTML document, we need to link a CSS file to the HTML file we want to style. We place the link in the section of the HTML file using the tag.

Below, I’ve used Codepen to create HTML and CSS files.

In the screenshot above, I’ve instructed the browser to fetch and apply the styles defined in styles.css to the corresponding HTML document.

Applying Styles to HTML Elements

Within the CSS file, we define styles for elements using selectors, such as element names, IDs, or classes. Once we’ve defined them, we also declare what those styles should be. The declaration happens within the braces.

Here’s an example:

In the example above, we want all paragraphs (usually wrapped inside the

Importance of Separation: HTML for Structure and CSS for Styling

If you place HTML and CSS inside the same document, the code will run as expected. However, maintaining or scaling that code will be difficult.

You’ll need to edit both HTML and CSS to change or update the style. That alone increases the chances of creating errors — or “bugs,” as we say in web development lingo — throughout the editing process.

That’s why we separate these two. You won’t need to touch the HTML when updating the CSS code, and vice versa.

The web development process isn’t solely about coding and styling. Yes, these two are important, but you should also make sure that your site is accessible to all users and optimized for search engines.

Creating Accessible HTML Content

Accessible HTML content, in this context, means that everyone, including people with disabilities, can access and use your website. Here’s how to make your HTML code accessible:

For example:

These descriptions help screen readers convey what the image is about to users who cannot see them.

SEO-Friendly HTML Practices

If you want your site to rank in search engines like Google and Bing, you’ll need to implement search engine optimization. Here are some of the best SEO-friendly HTML practices:

These elements help search engines understand and index your page correctly.

Pro tip: Consider conducting a Lighthouse audit to check whether your HTML website is accessible and SEO-friendly. Lighthouse is an open-source, automated tool from Google that you can run directly in the Chrome browser to audit your site for performance, accessibility, progressive web apps, SEO, and more.

Earlier, we mentioned that HTML5 had newer features and enhancements. Now, let’s take a deeper look at these improvements and their roles.

New Semantic Elements

HTML5 introduced new semantic elements that make the web more accessible and logical. With the new version of HTML, developers can use elements such as

Speaking of readability, the new semantic elements sound more logical. The element

Multimedia Support

The new version of HTML also enhanced multimedia support. You can now add video and audio to your webpage without needing third-party plugins.

The element is another prominent feature that came with HTML5. You can use it to run graphics and animations, including video games on a webpage.

Form Enhancements

Other notable enhancements include better input control and validation. We’re talking new elements like , which suggests autocomplete options, and and for displaying progress bars and gauge displays.

Beyond the user interface, HTML5 introduced powerful APIs like geolocation to determine the user’s physical location, web storage for client-side data storage, and web workers to perform background tasks without interfering with the user interface.

Now, let’s discuss another important part of writing HTML: responsive web design. In a nutshell, responsible web design means making sure that a website provides a great experience across different devices and screen sizes.

Responsive Web Design Principles

The primary goal of responsive design is to build webpages that detect the visitor’s screen size and orientation to change the layout accordingly. For example, if you’re using an iPhone 12, the website you’re browsing should adjust itself to fit the phone’s screen size. This responsiveness eliminates the need for device-specific versions.

Think about the number of devices you can use to access a website. You’re probably looking at different types of iPhones and countless versions of Android devices. We haven’t even mentioned tablets and computers. The list is endless.

It doesn’t make sense to build different versions of the same website just to make it visible on each device. Instead, you only need to make the website responsive to stay visible and usable on different devices.

You can build mobile-first, responsive websites using a combination of HTML properties and CSS techniques, such as media queries.

Using HTML to Create Responsive Layouts

If you want to create responsive layouts with HTML, you have different options. Some website builders come with ready-made drag-and-drop builders, meaning you won’t have to write a single line of code.

Even so, they still have some form of built-in responsiveness. If you’re writing HTML from scratch, you’ll need to learn a thing or two about CSS techniques like media queries, Flexbox, and CSS Grid.

Media Queries

Let’s start with media queries. These are powerful tools in CSS that allow you to apply different styling rules based on the conditions of the device, such as its width, height, or orientation. For example, you may want to change the layout, font size, or visibility of elements depending on whether a user is on a mobile device or a desktop, as shown in the screenshot below.

Flexbox and CSS Grid for Layout Flexibility

Flexbox and CSS Grid are modern CSS layout techniques for distributing space and aligning content in complex layouts. Flexbox works mostly with one-dimensional layouts — either a row or a column — while CSS Grid best fits two-dimensional layouts (both rows and columns). The fundamental similarity between these two is that they both allow for responsive design elements that stretch or shrink to fit the display.

Here’s an example:

In this example, .container will lay out its “children” in a vertical stack, adjusting each child’s size to fit the device’s screen.

It’s important to understand the best practices and optimization techniques if you want your HTML website to be functional, efficient, and accessible across all platforms and devices. Below, we’ll briefly discuss some great ways to implement these techniques.

Clean and Semantic HTML Markup

At first, using clean and semantic HTML markup sounds like rocket science, but it’s not. On the contrary, it’s simply structuring your HTML documents clearly and logically while using HTML elements according to their intended purpose, as we demonstrated earlier.

This not only helps with SEO but also improves accessibility. Remember, the goal here is to make your website easier for humans to read and understand, as well as search engines, web browsers, and assistive technologies.

That’s why it’s generally good practice to opt for semantic elements like

Performance Optimization Tips

One great way to achieve better performance is to reduce load times and improve responsiveness. These two techniques should be good enough to get you started:

Minification and compression: Minifying and compressing your files (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) reduces their size, making them load faster from the web server. Heavy websites take longer to load, especially if not optimized for speed and performance.

The “heavy” content doesn’t always have to be images or videos. Sometimes, the code itself could be the problem, which is easy to fix through minification and compression. You can even use tools like UglifyJS for JavaScript and CSSNano for CSS to automate this process.

Asynchronous loading of scripts: Scripts can block how your webpage loads, and that might not even have anything to do with your internet connection. That’s why there’s something called asynchronous loading in web development.

It means instructing your webpage to load scripts simultaneously. As a result, the rest of your content can load without waiting for the scripts to complete.

Cross-Browser Compatibility Considerations

Another thing you need to keep in mind is how your code looks and functions on different browsers. There are dozens of browsers to choose from, and some may not support the latest HTML5 features.

Therefore, you need to make sure your website works across all major browsers if you want to create a consistently positive user experience. To do this, consider testing your site on different browsers and devices to ensure consistent behavior and appearance. You can even use tools like BrowserStack to automate this process.

HTML is the foundation of all web development. It’s the first step on your journey into creating interactive, dynamic websites that engage users and deliver seamless digital experiences.

Without HTML, web pages would lack proper structure, have no content to style with CSS, and have no elements to manipulate with JavaScript.

The language has evolved since its inception in 1993. Today, we have HTML5; tomorrow, it could be HTML6. The only way to keep up with newer HTML versions is to take the time to learn and stay updated on the latest releases.