The definition of HTML is HyperText Markup Language.

• HyperText is the method by which you move around on the web — by clicking on special text called hyperlinks which bring you to the next page. The fact that it is hyper just means it is not linear — i.e. you can go to any place on the Internet whenever you want by clicking on links — there is no set order to do things in. 
• Markup is what HTML tags do to the text inside them. They mark it as a certain type of text (italicised  text, for example).
• HTML is a Language, as it has code-words and syntax, just  like any other language.

How Does It Work?

HTML consists of a series of short codes typed into a text-file by the site author — these are the tags. The text is then saved as a html file, and viewed through a browser, like Internet Explorer, Firefox or Netscape Navigator. This browser reads the file and translates the text into a visible form, hopefully rendering the page as the author had intended. Writing your own HTML entails using tags correctly to create your vision. You can use anything from a rudimentary text-editor to a powerful graphical editor to create HTML pages.

Tags - What Are They Up To?

The tags are what separate normal text from HTML code. You might know them as the words between the <triangle-brackets>. They allow all the cool stuff like images and tables and stuff, just by telling your browser what to render on the page. Different tags will perform different functions. The tags themselves don’t appear when you view your page through a browser, but their effects do. The simplest tags do nothing more than apply formatting to some text, like this:

• <b>These words will be bold</b>, and these will not.

In the example above, the <b> tags were wrapped around some text, and their effect will be that the contained text will be bolded when viewed through an ordinary web browser. (Note: For the instance you will need HTML Codes or "Tags" on Spaces; of course the Bold Tags will not be one of them because MSN provides this in button form in your toolbar.)

Why Do I Need To Know This?

Well, to add any of the neat little "extras" on spaces, such as: music, and pictures, you need to know a the very basics. MSN has graciously provided us with an HTML Editor so we no longer need the "Edit It!" feature we used to use to do these things. This is the button you have to press to add any of the "Tags" or "Codes" when adding Music or Pictures to your blog entries.

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