HTML text tags indicate the structure of HTML pages; that is, they indicate what role a text segment is playing in the page organization. Using these text tags you can indicate which text segments are headings, subheadings, lists, quotes, and paragraphs.
David Siegel, a Web designer in the 1990s, once said of the basic Web style in early HTML:
"First generation sites were designed by technical people. Some sites had headline banners and were well organized; most had edge-to-edge text that ran on for pages, separated by meaningless blank lines. At best, they looked like slide presentations shown on a concrete wall."