Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are two fundamental scripting languages used in building web pages and web-based applications. The main difference is that HTML describes the structure of web pages while CSS controls the styling and layout of web pages. Both are combined for surreal web interfaces and user experience.
Definitions
HTML is the standard markup language for defining web documents. A markup language is a group of markup tags that define a page structure, with each HTML tag describing different document contents. Typically, an HTML document comprises structures of nested HTML elements and tags.
CSS describes the presentation and design of web pages such as fonts, colors, and layouts. It can control several layouts of a website with a single code. CSS styles can be inline (used to apply a unique style for a single element), internal (used to define a style for a single HTML page), and external (used to change the look of an entire website by changing a file).
Pros
| HTML | CSS |
| Easy to learn and code | Has a broader range of attributes than HTML |
| It supports multiple languages | Easy to maintain |
| It is free; you need not buy any software | Also free, no license required |
| Lightweight code | Supports offline browsing with cache |
Cons
| HTML | CSS |
| It offers limited security features | It is open-based with no internal security |
| A static language, not dynamic | Fragmentation problems lead to performance variance on different browsers |
Key comparison
- Implementation: HTML describes the content and structure of web pages while CSS is the extension to the HTML that modifies the design and display of the web pages.
- Dependency: HTML files can contain CSS codes while CSS stylesheets can never be implemented in HTML codes.
- Architecture: HTML comprises elements and tags whereas CSS comprises selectors succeeded by block statement syntaxes.
- Support: Both languages have huge community support.
In conclusion, HTML is used for web page structure while CSS is used for web page enhancement. Both languages should be deployed sparingly to achieve desired results.