On the World Wide Web (the graphics-based portion of the Internet), a standard hypertext language used to create Web pages and other hypertext-based documents. Essentially, an HTML document creates text, as well as codes corresponding to linked files, which can be graphics, video, audio, or other pages. Thus, when you access a particular Web page, the pictures you view actually exist in separate files, which the HTML code imports from those linked files. The most notable feature of an HTML document is highlighted text (usually blue, but that depends on one's particular Web browser), which, when clicked on, opens another document, which can be on the same computer system, or on a computer system thousands of miles away. Essentially, the HTML code includes the Universal Resource Locator for the linked document and the Hypertext Transport Protocol controls the manner in which linked documents are accessed and opened. Since HTML is a markup language and not a program per se, any program capable of producing text can be used to create a Web page, although there are a panoply of programs on the market which facilitate the construction of Web pages. Many desktop publishing programs also now feature the ability to add HTML coding to documents, allowing pages to be prepared both for print and electronic dustrinution essentially simultaneously.
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