HTML vs CSS: What's the Difference?

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HTML vs CSS: What's the Difference?
vinaykhatri

Vinay Khatri
Last updated on March 29, 2024

    To build a website, we require some tools to give a proper structure to web pages and style them. A website is a collection of multiple web pages, and to design those pages we use languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. These three languages are essential for client-side or front-end development. Also, among these languages, HTML is a markup language, CSS is a styling language, and JavaScript is a scripting and programming language .

    For individuals who are new to web development, HTML vs CSS is a debate that they likely come across. This article contains all the essential information that you need to understand the difference between HTML and CSS. So, let's get started!

    HTML vs CSS: Overview

    Both HTML and CSS are essential for building modern websites and web applications. While HTML defines the general structure of a web page, CSS helps to style the elements on a web page and also defines the layout. HTML uses tags and attributes to specify the proper structure, whereas CSS uses those tags and attributes to style the webpage content.

    Also, CSS is responsible for controlling the webpage presentation, which includes page color, fonts, and layout. The upcoming sections have covered all the significant differences between HTML and CSS that you must know if you want to work as a web developer.

    What is HTML?

    Tim Berners-Lee introduced HTML in 1989 as a standard language for the web. The main objective of HTML is to provide the necessary structure to the web page so the content of the page can be described easily. HTML uses tags to describe the overall structure of the webpage as well as the structure of the content.

    Every HTML document contains a” HTML document type declaration” <!Doctype HTML>, which describes the basic version of HTML. The latest version of HTML is HTML5. The document type declaration helps the browser to identify the version of the document, and the browser parses that HTML document accordingly.

    Example:

    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
         <head>
             <title>Example</title>
         </head>
         <body>
           <h1>TechGeekBuzz</h1>
         </body>
    </html>

    Pros of HTML

    • It is very easy to learn, even a person with no programming background can learn and use HTML to build web pages.
    • To use HTML, we do not require any license.
    • Almost all browsers can easily interpret the HTML code.
    • It is a lightweight language.
    • It has extensive community support.

    Cons of HTML

    • Anyone can view the HTML code of a live web page.
    • The security offered by HTML is quite limited.

    What is CSS?

    In 1996, CSS was developed by Håkon Wium Lie, Bert Bos, and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). CSS was designed to manipulate the styling of HTML elements , which includes font size, text color,  layout, etc. Right now W3C maintains CSS. CSS use a pair of property and value {property:value} to change the default HTML style. Also, CSS uses the selector to target the HTML tag that needs to be styled and uses the property-value pair to change the style.

    Example:

    h1 {
    color: green;
    }

    This styling will change the color of the heading from the standard black color to the green color.

    Pros of CSS

    • CSS has many attributes as compared to HTML.
    • It increases webpage loading speed.
    • It provides better styling properties than HTML.

    Cons of CSS

    • Due to the fragmentation problem, its performance may vary from browser to browser.
    • CSS code is also not secure.

    HTML vs CSS: Head-to-Head Comparison

    HTML CSS

    Basic Definition

    HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language, and it is a standard markup language for the web. CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets, and it is a Style Sheet language for the web page presentation.

    Objective

    HTML is used to provide the structure to a web page using tags. CSS is used to style HTML content and structure.

    Format

    HTML uses tags and attributes to define the content of a web page. CSS uses HTML tags and attributes to select specific elements for styling.

    Code dependency

    HTML code can be executed alone using a web browser. CSS code depend on HTML.

    File dependency

    CSS code can be used inside HTML Files. HTML code can not be used within CSS files.

    Community Support

    HTML has huge community support. It is an essential language for web development, which simply means that every web developer should know how to work with HTML. CSS also has huge active community support, and it is also an essential language for styling web pages.

    Conclusion

    Both HTML and CSS are the core languages for web development . For any individual who wants to become a web developer, the knowledge of HTML and CSS is essential. While comparing HTML and CSS, it is important to keep in mind that both languages have their own importance and objectives.

    While HTML is a markup language that allows you to create the basic structure of a website and add various elements, CSS lets you stylize those elements. In a nutshell, HTML and CSS go hand in hand when it comes to the development of modern websites and web applications. Also, it does not matter if you want to be a front-end developer or a back-end developer, you first need to learn these two languages.

    We hope that this article helped you develop a clear understanding of the difference between HTML and CSS. If you have any suggestions or queries related to the topic, feel free to share them through the comments below.

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    FAQs


    While HTML is a markup language for creating the structure of websites, CSS is a style sheet language for styling web pages and websites.

    To create simple, static, and appealing websites, you will need both HTML and CSS together. You will have to work with HTML and CSS together to create websites. So, you can learn HTML and CSS together as both of them are easy languages.

    To learn the basics of HTML and CSS, you will need around 2 weeks. However, to master both languages, you need a month or more, depending upon the number of hours you invest every day.

    Technically, HTML and CSS are not programming languages. HTML only creates the structure of websites, and CSS can only style those websites. Both of them do not support loops, decision-making statements, and other features as other programming languages support.

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