In this article, we have featured Learning HTML Can Help You Take Control of Your Blog. You’re doing yourself a disservice if you’re blogging and don’t even know the basics of HTML. HTML explains to a web browser how text components on your website should be displayed to the user.
You’ll discover that learning and utilizing HTML is a rather simple process. Your blog or website can be enhanced and minor difficulties (like when a post doesn’t display the way you planned) may be fixed if you know how to utilize HTML.
Despite their apparent intelligence, computers require human intervention to do even the most basic tasks. You also need to know how to communicate with a computer in order to instruct it on what to do.
For today, we’ll be focusing on HTML, which is the most fundamental level of website development. You may think of HTML as the code that teaches your browser how to read and display text elements on your website.
Learning HTML Can Help You Take Control of Your Blog
HTML is a fairly simple language to understand. You can examine how your posts are marked up with HTML code by using the HTML tab on your blog’s compose editor. Look attentively and you’ll discover several commonalities:
Typically, but not always, HTML tags are paired. Pairs consist of an opening tag (which notifies the program a command will be sent) and a closing tag (which signals the end of the command)
(which tells the software that the command is finished). For example, the opening command p> and the closing instruction /p> are commonly used to code paragraphs. / informs the computer that the command is coming to an end.
An Example of a Header’s Text
Using HTML, you’ll see that there are a variety of different markups for highlighting distinct sections of text. As an example, you may see the markup for bold text as b>text /b> or strong>text /strong>.
If you want your text to be italicized, look for the i>text/i> or em>text/em> tags to indicate that. Are there any advantages or disadvantages to using any certain HTML markup? Certainly. It’s true. Semantics are important if you’ve ever engaged in a verbal sparring match. In HTML, semantics play an equally significant role. According to Web Teacher Virginia DeBolt,
“The b> tag is bold, as you might expect. No semantic meaning is conveyed by this symbol, which is only visual. If you use a screen reader, you won’t get anything from the b> tag.
Despite the fact that I know it exists, it’s as though it doesn’t. To use the strong> tag, you must emphasize something very strongly. Browsers interpret it in a variety of ways, frequently making it appear bold. For non-visual browsers, the semantic meaning of “strong emphasis” is always conveyed via the strong> tag.
For emphasis, the italicization of the sister tag em is common, though not always common. The semantic meaning of the em> element is always conveyed for emphasis.
Use I for italics that are just there for aesthetics’ sake. The citation symbol (cite>) provides the idea that the words in italic are a reference when used in conjunction with a book or movie title.
Semantics, however, isn’t only critical for appropriately reading text decoration. SEO also relies on semantic HTML. Rare Pattern’s Laura Scott explains:
The usage of semantic markup helps to ensure that search engines accurately index your material. As long as the subheader isn’t too long, Google may give the subheader some weight. However, Google won’t give the subheader much weight (commonly used to show a sub-header).
Citation text can be italicized by using the I and /i> tags, but using the cite> and /cite> tags alerts search engines like Google, Bing, and others that this text (or link) is a citation.
Google will continue to grow smarter and more complex, making all of these aspects more significant. Search engine optimization benefits from as much ‘robot food’ as possible.
Having a basic understanding of HTML can come in handy when you begin to spend more time writing and want to have more control over how your blog posts appear on the web. Make use of the instructions I’ve provided and let me know how you get on if you have any questions or suggestions.