HTML is the standard markup language used to create web pages. It provides a structure and layout for text, images, and other content. The document explains the basic components of an HTML page, including the <head> and <body> tags, common text formatting tags, links, lists, and tables. It recommends learning HTML tags through online resources or by examining the source code of existing web pages, and emphasizes starting simply with tags like <head>, <title>, <h2>, and <p>.