While HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are separate coding languages, they’re not so much distinct choices as they are two connected and essential pieces for building a web page. HTML and CSS are best used together to create a functional and appealing page.

The majority of a page’s content is defined in the HTML. Images, links, text formatting, and all of the text content are found here. Inside the HTML code is also where the information gets organized: headers, paragraphs, numbered lists, and bulleted lists are just a few of simple functions for organizing information.

CSS describes the presentation of all of this information that’s been defined in the HTML. For example, what the headers say is defined in the HTML code, but what the headers look like will be defined in the CSS code. This includes font, color, size, and other visual attributes. Instead of having to go into the HTML to make sure every header is coded separately with identical font properties, one small section in the CSS can define what every header will look like.

While it’s possible to create a simple HTML page without linking it to a CSS file, CSS is by far the most efficient way to ensure consistency throughout a web page.

(And keep checking back! We’ll be posting more guides to web basics soon!)