HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is how a web browser understands and displays its documents. The documents are plain text files (ASCII) with special "tags" or codes that the browser knows how to interpret to display on your screen.

There exist HTML "standards" which, when followed, insure that your work is going to be most widely accessable in the digital wasteland. The previous standard, known as HTML 2.0, is supported by most web browsers (i.e., Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator).

However, things got somewhat complicated with the introduction of HTML 3.2 which incorporates some features that go beyond standard HTML, and are not universally supported by all web browsers.

Translation: Your beautiful blinking text with fire and flames on top might look great in one browser, but appear as just plain text in another.

Remember, you are not designing web pages that are for your personal viewing pleasure. Since you hope to make something universally viewable, this tutorial will take you through generally accepted features of HTML.