Have you decided to learn how to develop a site or an application? The very first step to achieve this is to learn a first computer language.
HTML and CSS are an entry point that most beginners choose. They are useful for structuring text and images, among other superpowers.
Without ever having learned to develop, everyone can easily acquire the basics of these two languages by taking the free "Learn to create your website with HTML5 and CSS3" course. This course is part of the "Web Developer" and "FrontEnd Application Developer" distance learning courses.
This article is an introduction to these two languages. Following this reading, everyone will be armed to start the course.
What are HTML and CSS?
HTML (Hypertext Markeup Language) is a tool for building web pages.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is what we use to create their visual aspect.
These two aspects are perfect and complementary to start learning computer code. Here's how it works exactly.
Imagine a web page. It is composed of content (titles, text and images) that have a certain appearance (a font, a color palette, a style).
HTML is the language for creating structured content to tell a story. CSS takes care of the appearance: set it up and set in motion what needs to be done.
Why use two languages, if they are so linked? This makes life easier for developers. They focus on content and then on appearance, without having to do both at the same time.
For example, if OpenClassrooms wanted to completely change its brand colors to improve them, as well as its design, we could use CSS. We could indeed modify the appearance of the site without touching the content (videos, course texts...). However, if we wanted to change the content, we would have to use HTML.
Is the distinction clear? Well done, this is the information to remember to start the course on these two languages with confidence. No need to understand the syntax yet, because that is the purpose of the course!