It is about someone wanting to learn html to make websites. It is not about someone wanting to master the known world of markup language soup. Do you really think the OP in this thread is going to be concerned over any of the issues you are raising? BTW Did you suggest a book?
Gator: You can get this FREE at the library if it's bigger than a gnat's ass: Build Your Own Web Site The Right Way Using HTML and CSS by Ian Lloyd. This is what you are looking for. He starts out with, What's HTML and what do I need to write it? to How do I add a blog (there are many options for blogs and he just shows one but it gets you started... blogger I think). www.bubbleunder.com is the site you build while learning. You will screw up and make mistakes (hopefully) while trying to follow his directions and you'll learn a lot from those too. He explains what to type and then WHY. You can take what you learn and either build another simple site or go from there and continue learning more CSS (he's real basic with that). I went from never hearing of HTML in like May 2007 to (re)building sites for an insurance company. If a retard like me can do it, anyone can.
Check it out, try it. If you can see it's an excellent tool for you, buy it (because you will start off using it as a reference even after you've built his site... while you're building your own).