REGIEL: It wasa good journey, QUARTER 2!!!!

The HTML lesson in the ICT class was a really good start on the foundational blocks in which web development was based on. Being a first timer to coding, the structure and syntax of HTML seemed logic and easy to comprehend in that they provided an understanding for how websites were constructed.

The most fundamental thing learned from the lesson was that how HTML tags and elements interlink in the formulation of a webpage structure. HTML or hypertext markup language, is used for defining contents and structure on a webpage. Everything put up on the webpage is between tags which include <html>, <head>, and <body> tags. HTML specifies that where the document for an HTML document begins; the metadata of the webpage is stored in the head tag where the title for the webpage and links are provided. The <body> tag is where the visible content of the webpage is placed, such as text, images, links, and other elements.

What stood out to me the most was learning how to organize content using tables. While tables are primarily used for displaying data, they are an essential part of web design. The tag that defines an HTML table is <table>. A table's contents are made up of rows, defined using the <tr> (table row), table data by the <td> tags, and the header for tables by the <th> tags. That simple design makes it easier to make data presentation straightforward and clean, which would be ideal for most web sites - especially those featuring a list or statistics or heavily content-filled pages.

Understanding how rows and columns work in HTML tables was a huge "aha" moment for me. For instance, every row in a table is represented by a <tr> tag, and within each row, the individual data cells are represented by <td> tags. These cells can contain text, images, or other HTML elements. The <th> tag is used to create header cells, which are usually bolded and centered. This gives the table a clean and readable structure that users can easily navigate.

However, I also came to a realization that tables for designing purposes are now outdated in current web development. The advancement of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) allows designers and developers to design more versatile and responsive layouts without table structure. Nonetheless, studying tables is still essential due to the fact that there are still a lot of applications of tabular data and other content that is arranged in rows and columns for display.

One problem I faced while teaching the lesson was making sure to nest tags correctly and then close them properly. HTML requires opening and closing tags correctly, otherwise, even the smallest mistake may prevent a page from rendering. In addition, while HTML elements are pretty intuitive, the lesson went on to explain attributes, in this case, class and id. These attributes attribute specific styles or JavaScript functions to certain elements. To me, this was also a bit confusing, but in the back of my head, I thought, yeah it's just a lot but it gets important when going further in the development process.

In summary, the HTML lesson was an important step in my journey toward mastering web development. I am more comfortable understanding how websites are structured and how HTML elements work together to create functional, readable pages. While there is much still to learn, especially regarding integration with CSS and JavaScript for styling and interactivity, this lesson provided a solid foundation on which to build. More challenging elements in HTML, and create my well-designed websites will definitely be very exciting as I continue to practice.