A Noble History of Letters and Content

In some ways HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) is the heir to the finer arts of calligraphy, illumination, typesetting, and later layout and typography. Using “tags” (labels assigned to the data inside of carat marks like < and >) the authors of the web could make the data easier for the human eye to read, in the same way that newspapers use headlines, italics, and boldface to draw the eye across a page.

In fact, the early text HTML codes were directly lifted from the publishing industry, with tags such as “Header 1” or “bold.” As the web developed into what is popularly known as “Web 2.0” there has been a tendency to try to make the content of a web page independent of the presentation. In other words, since some view web pages on an iPhone just as easily as a desktop computer, the content needs to be clear on both. These standards also enable the content of sites to be more easily read by those with different needs for accessibility, such as the blind or the deaf.

Meeting these needs has resulted in the expansion of HTML into things like XHTML (Extensible HTML), XML (Extensible Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and RSS (Really Simple Syndication), in addition to the unfortunate side effect of TMA (Too Many Acronyms). However, with a couple of minor exceptions, the original tags are still used widely throughout the web.

A Quick Reference of Text HTML Codes

Within these paragraph styles, the text itself can be modified using the following tags:

Beyond these elements, there is also the FONT tag. While Cascading Style Sheets has largely replaced the use of the FONT elements, it is worth listing the various modifiers that can be included:

1. FONT FACE: This tag defines the look of the font itself, ranging from serif (such as Times-New Roman) to sans-serif (Arial-Helvetica, for example).
2. FONT SIZE: Usually defined by a number from 1 (smallest) to 6 (largest), this was inconsistently displayed on various web browsers.
3. FONT COLOR: This can be done using hexadecimal codes (FFFFFF = White, for example) or simply using words (FONT color = "red").

Moving into Web 2.0

As the web becomes "semantic," the use of text HTML codes has been phasing out. There is a movement to standardize web design. Until all the various browser platforms agree, though, these tags are the surest way to reach the widest audience with consistently displayed content. More and more web designers are moving away from HTML and into the more intuitive and flexible world of XML, XHTML, CSS, and other web coding tools.

Regardless of the methods used to make the words look pretty and easy to understand, the skill is not in knowing the codes, but in a designer's ability to know when to use them. The same principles of layout and design apply, with the end goal being to get the information efficiently to those who are looking for it.