- Rachel Bistricer
- Dec 30, 2025
- 5 min read
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Ever wondered what makes the internet tick? When you load a website, you see a polished page with text, images and buttons all neatly arranged. But behind that visual design is a language that tells your web browser what to do. That language is HTML and it lives inside simple files that are the fundamental building blocks of almost every web page you visit.
Understanding what HTML files are might sound like something only developers need to know but having a basic grasp of them as document files can be useful for any creator or business owner. It helps you understand how your own website works, gives you more control over your content and demystifies the structure of the web. This guide will pull back the curtain on HTML files, showing you what they are, how they work and why they’re not as scary as you might think.
TL;DR: The HTML file cheat sheet
Here’s a quick summary of what makes an HTML file work.
Component | What is it | Why it matters |
HTML File | A plain text file with a .html extension. | It’s the skeleton that holds all your web page content. |
Tags | Keywords surrounded by angle brackets (< >). | They define the structure and meaning of your content. |
Elements | A start tag, an end tag, and the content in between. | This is how you create headings, paragraphs, and links. |
Attributes | Extra information added to a tag. | They provide details, like the source of an image (src). |
Boilerplate | The basic code needed in every HTML file. | It tells the browser what kind of document it’s reading. |
CSS | A separate language for styling. | It controls colors, fonts, and layout (the "look"). |
JavaScript | A separate language for interactivity. | It adds behavior, like pop-ups and animations (the "feel"). |
What are HTML files?
At its core, an HTML file is just a plain text document with a special .html or .htm extension. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. Let's break that down:
HyperText: This refers to the "links" that connect web pages to one another. It's the "hyper" that lets you jump from one page to another, creating the web-like structure of the internet.
Markup Language: This means it's not a programming language that performs actions. Instead, it's a language that describes the content. It uses special tags to tell a web browser how to structure the information on a page.
If a website is a house, the HTML file is the architectural blueprint. It defines where the walls go (headings), where the furniture is placed (paragraphs) and where the doors are (links). It provides the essential structure but it doesn't handle the paint colors or the electricity—that's where other languages like CSS and JavaScript come in.
The 4 core components of an HTML file
An HTML file might look like a jumble of code at first but it’s built from just a few simple, repeating parts. Once you recognize these patterns, reading HTML becomes much easier.
01. Tags: the instruction labels
Tags are the heart of HTML. They're keywords enclosed in angle brackets, like <p> or <h1>. They act as labels that tell the browser what kind of content it's looking at.
Most tags come in pairs:
An opening tag: <h1> (This says, "a main heading starts here.")
A closing tag: </h1> (This says, "the main heading ends here.")
The closing tag is identical to the opening tag but with a forward slash / before the keyword. Some tags, called "empty" tags, don't need a closing tag because they insert something on their own, like an image (<img>) or a line break (<br>).
02. Elements: the complete building blocks
An HTML element is the whole package: the opening tag, the content inside and the closing tag.
For example, this is a complete paragraph element:<p>This is a paragraph of text.</p>
And this is a complete heading element:<h1>This is a Major Heading</h1>
Your entire web page is just a series of these elements nested inside one another to create a logical structure.
03. Attributes: the extra details
Attributes provide additional information about an element and are always included in the opening tag. They usually come in name/value pairs, like name="value".
The two most common attributes you’ll see are:
href: Used in an anchor tag (<a>) to specify the URL a link should go to.
<a href="https://truebalancehub.org/span%3E%3C/a%3E%3Cspan%3E Wix</a>
src: Used in an image tag (<img>) to specify the source (the URL or file path) of the image.
Write or paste your HTML code. You can start with the boilerplate code from above.
Save the file. Go to File > Save As. In the "Save as type" dropdown, select "All Files."
Name the file with an .html extension. For example, name it my-first-page.html. This is the most crucial step. If you save it as a .txt file, it won't work.
Open the file in your browser. Find the file on your computer and double-click it. It will open in your default web browser (like Chrome, Firefox, or Safari) and you’ll see your code rendered as a real web page.
Learn more:
What are HTML files FAQ
Are HTML files secure?
By themselves, HTML files are completely safe. They're just text files that describe content. They cannot run malicious programs on their own. Security risks typically come from other technologies that are used alongside HTML, such as JavaScript or server-side scripts that handle form submissions.
How do I edit an existing HMTL file?
You can open any .html file in a plain text editor to see and edit its code. Right-click the file and choose "Open with," then select Notepad, TextEdit or a more advanced code editor like VS Code or Sublime Text. You can make your changes, save the file and then refresh the page in your browser to see the updates.