Checkpoint: HTML Understanding

A checkpoint is different from a lesson: nothing new is taught. This is where you prove the module's ideas are yours. Work through the challenge below without re-reading the lessons first — struggling honestly is the point. The challenge mixes four kinds of thinking:

1. Fix — broken markup that looks fine in a browser but is subtly wrong.
2. Predict — read code and say what the browser will do before testing it.
3. Build — a tiny page from requirements only.
4. Accessibility judgment — choose the markup that serves every visitor.

Before you move on: the self-check

Passing the challenge proves you can do the work. Before starting CSS, also check that you can explain each of these — out loud, in one or two sentences, as if to a friend who missed the class:

• Why a page needs exactly one <h1>, and why heading levels step down without skipping.
• When you would reach for <section> instead of <div> — and when a <div> is fine.
• What the alt attribute is for: not describing the file, but standing in for the image when someone cannot see it.
• Why every <input> needs a <label>, and what the for/id pair actually wires up.
• The difference between <a> and <button>: navigation between places vs. actions.
• Why a <ul> for ingredients and an <ol> for steps — and what goes wrong when the list type and the content disagree.

Anything you cannot explain yet? That is not a failure — it is a precise reading assignment. Go back to the specific lesson, re-do its challenge from a blank editor, and try the explanation again.

If a test fails and you are stuck

First, read the failure message completely — the challenge tests describe the expected behavior, and most failures name the exact line to look at. If the message is not enough, use the test hints (Hint 1 points at the concept, not the code). Only after those two steps should you re-read a lesson — and re-read the specific one the failing test comes from, not the whole module. Guessing faster is not a strategy; targeted re-reading is.

When all tests pass, take a moment to notice what you could not do four lessons ago. That gap is the course working.

Next module: CSS Foundations — same pages, now with color, typography, and layout.