How to Create HTML Text
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the primary language used to display Web pages. HTML tells the Web browser how to display your HTML text and defines the characteristics in your document, such as headings, paragraphs, lists and links. By encompassing your text within a few basic HTML tags, you can easily structure and organize your page. There are just a few basic steps involved in creating an HTML document and displaying HTML text on the Web.
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Instructions
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Open an HTML document in your text editor (see Resources).
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Enter your preferred Doctype declaration at the beginning of your document. This tells your Web browser the version of markup your HTML page is created in.
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Enter the opening "<html>" and "<head>" tags.
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Enter your preferred character set and encoding. This tells your Web browser how to interpret the characters on your page.
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Enter the opening "<title>" tag, type in the name of your Web page and close the tag by typing in "</title>".
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Enter the closing "</head>" tag.
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Enter the opening "<body>" tag. Content entered below this tag will be the HTML text that displays in a Web browser.
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Enter the opening "<h1>" tag, type in the name of a heading and close the tag by typing in "</h1>". The heading tag appears in bold and in larger size font than the rest of the text on the page.
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Enter the opening "<p>" tag, type in your content here and close the tag by typing in "</p>". This paragraph tag creates sections of text for your main content.
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Enter the closing "</body>" and "</html>" tags. Type the tags in that order to ensure that the file displays correctly.
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Name and save your file with the ".html" extension.
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Launch a Web browser, such as Safari or Internet Explorer, and in the toolbar navigate to "File" and "Open File" to select your HTML document. This allows you to see your HTML text on the Web browser page.
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Tips & Warnings
Many Web design applications, such as Dreamweaver, have ready-made HTML templates that you can edit. If you don't see your page displayed in the Web browser, make sure you have saved HTML file and then click the browser's "Refresh" button.
Always close all your HTML tags--for example, "<p></p>"--to ensure that your page renders properly in the Web browser.
