HTML tag - its structure and function
20 July 2025
Wondering what HTML markup is? This knowledge can be very useful when building your first website. Despite the fact that we don't hear about these elements very often, they still play an important role on the modern internet!
HTML markup - what is it and what is it used for?
These are otherwise known as HTML elements or tags. They are part of the syntax of this language and contain information about the appearance and structure of a web page. The data they contain is used by search engine robots to retrieve content from a website in order to tailor search results to users' preferences.
Tags form the basis of HTML. Experts compare them to the packages that contain the content. This allows it to be assigned a particular type. A tag is a word or letter which is enclosed in sharp brackets. The target content, on the other hand, is placed between the brackets.
HTML tags will allow you, for example, to set the background colour, specify the type of text formatting, or insert a table or image on your website. The markup itself is not visible on screen. The internet user only sees the effects of its application.
We deal with them on a daily basis, browsing virtually all websites: both blogs and large thematic portals. This is precisely why webmasters should be familiar with the structure of markup - so that they can create websites that are pleasing to the eye and functional at the same time. 
Basic HTML tags - how do you recognise them?
They are the initial code, or starting point, that will allow you to add content. Learn about the most important tags in website design:
- <!DOCTYPE html> - this is the code element that specifies that we are dealing with an HTML document;
- <html></html> - this is where the content that the user will see when viewing the page is located. In addition, browser guidelines are included in the tag;
- <head></head> - this is where you should include information about the site that browsers can see, but the user will not;
- <meta> - important information for the browser. You can include code here which, for example, ensures that Polish characters are displayed correctly;
- <title></title> - is an HTML tag that specifies the title of the page. This one will be displayed in the browser tab;
- <link> - a tag used for linking files;
- <script></script> - tag used for plugging in scripts;
- <body></body> - this is where you place the content that should be visible to the user.
In this last section, you will include other important tags. We are talking, for example, about headings, which make the structure of the text clear. The <h1> heading should only appear once on the page. Sections from <h2> to <h6> may appear more often. It is worth mentioning that you can divide the text into paragraphs thanks to the <p> tag.
The <img> tag will allow you to display photos and images on the page. The key aspect here is the attributes - e.g. src tells you the path of the image file, the alt attribute tells you the text assigned to the image, and title specifies the title of the image.
As you have noticed, some content is best bulleted. A tag is also assigned to such a procedure. In the case of a numbered list, use the <ol> tag. Conversely, for a bulleted list, the <ul> tag will be useful. Inside the tags that define the list, each item should be enclosed by a <li> tag.
These are, of course, only the most important tags to bear in mind when designing a site. It is worth discovering them all so that you can design a site that is perfectly tailored to the needs of the user. 
How is HTML markup structured?
You already know what tags are in HTML. Now it's time to look at their structure. Surely you have noticed that tags are special text placed between sharp brackets. HTML defines single tags and double tags, which consist of an opening and a closing tag.
Closing tags should always be placed after the opening tags. In addition, they contain a "/" sign after the minority sign. In older versions of HTML, tags had to have an additional majority sign before the "/" sign. In HTML5, this is no longer necessary. Tag names are not case-sensitive, although good practice dictates that lower case should be used.
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