What Is HTML
What Is HTML
HTML elements label pieces of content such as "this is a heading", "this is a paragraph", "this
is a link", etc.
Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Page Title</title>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
Example Explained
The <!DOCTYPE html> declaration defines that this document is an HTML5 document
The <head> element contains meta information about the HTML page
The <title> element specifies a title for the HTML page (which is shown in the browser's title
bar or in the page's tab)
The <body> element defines the document's body, and is a container for all the visible
contents, such as headings, paragraphs, images, hyperlinks, tables, lists, etc.
The <h1> element defines a large heading
An HTML element is defined by a start tag, some content, and an end tag:
The HTML element is everything from the start tag to the end tag:
Note: Some HTML elements have no content (like the <br> element). These elements are
called empty elements. Empty elements do not have an end tag!
eb Browsers
The purpose of a web browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) is to read HTML documents and
display them correctly.
A browser does not display the HTML tags, but uses them to determine how to display the
document:
HTML Page Structure
HTML Documents
All HTML documents must start with a document type declaration: <!DOCTYPE html>.
The HTML document itself begins with <html> and ends with </html>.
The visible part of the HTML document is between <body> and </body>.
The <!DOCTYPE> declaration represents the document type and helps browsers to display web
pages correctly.
It must only appear once, at the top of the page (before any HTML tags).
<!DOCTYPE html>
HTML Headings
<h1> defines the most important heading. <h6> defines the least important heading:
HTML Paragraphs
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
HTML Links
HTML Images
The source file (src), alternative text (alt), width, and height are provided as attributes:
Example
<img src="w3schools.jpg" alt="W3Schools.com" width="104" height="142">
HTML elements can be nested (this means that elements can contain other elements).
The following example contains four HTML elements (<html>, <body>, <h1> and <p>):
Example Explained
The <html> element is the root element and it defines the whole HTML document.
<body>
</body>
Some HTML elements will display correctly, even if you forget the end tag:
HTML tags are not case sensitive: <P> means the same as <p>.
The HTML standard does not require lowercase tags, but W3C recommends lowercase in
HTML, and demands lowercase for stricter document types like XHTML.
W3Schools' tag reference contains additional information about these tags and their
attributes.
Tag Description
Formatting
Tag Description
Not supported in HTML5. Use <abbr> instead.
<acronym>
Defines an acronym
<abbr> Defines an abbreviation or an acronym
Defines contact information for the author/owner of a
<address>
document/article
<b> Defines bold text
Isolates a part of text that might be formatted in a different direction
<bdi>
from other text outside it
<bdo> Overrides the current text direction
Not supported in HTML5. Use CSS instead.
<big>
Defines big text
<blockquote> Defines a section that is quoted from another source
Not supported in HTML5. Use CSS instead.
<center>
Defines centered text
<cite> Defines the title of a work
<code> Defines a piece of computer code
<del> Defines text that has been deleted from a document
<dfn> Specifies a term that is going to be defined within the content
<em> Defines emphasized text
Not supported in HTML5. Use CSS instead.
<font>
Defines font, color, and size for text
<i> Defines a part of text in an alternate voice or mood
<ins> Defines a text that has been inserted into a document
<kbd> Defines keyboard input
<mark> Defines marked/highlighted text
<meter> Defines a scalar measurement within a known range (a gauge)
<pre> Defines preformatted text
<progress> Represents the progress of a task
<q> Defines a short quotation
Defines what to show in browsers that do not support ruby
<rp>
annotations
Defines an explanation/pronunciation of characters (for East Asian
<rt>
typography)
<ruby> Defines a ruby annotation (for East Asian typography)
<s> Defines text that is no longer correct
<samp> Defines sample output from a computer program
<small> Defines smaller text
Not supported in HTML5. Use <del> or <s> instead.
<strike>
Defines strikethrough text
<strong> Defines important text
<sub> Defines subscripted text
<sup> Defines superscripted text
Defines a container for content that should be hidden when the page
<template>
loads
<time> Defines a specific time (or datetime)
Not supported in HTML5. Use CSS instead.
<tt>
Defines teletype text
Defines some text that is unarticulated and styled differently from
<u>
normal text
<var> Defines a variable
<wbr> Defines a possible line-break
Frames
Tag Description
Not supported in HTML5.
<frame>
Defines a window (a frame) in a frameset
Not supported in HTML5.
<frameset>
Defines a set of frames
Not supported in HTML5.
<noframes>
Defines an alternate content for users that do not support frames
<iframe> Defines an inline frame
Images
Tag Description
<img> Defines an image
<map> Defines a client-side image map
<area> Defines an area inside an image map
<canvas> Used to draw graphics, on the fly, via scripting (usually JavaScript)
<figcaption> Defines a caption for a <figure> element
<figure> Specifies self-contained content
<picture> Defines a container for multiple image resources
<svg> Defines a container for SVG graphics
Audio / Video
Tag Description
<audio> Defines sound content
Defines multiple media resources for media elements (<video>,
<source>
<audio> and <picture>)
<track> Defines text tracks for media elements (<video> and <audio>)
<video> Defines a video or movie
Links
Tag Description
<a> Defines a hyperlink
Defines the relationship between a document and an external resource
<link>
(most used to link to style sheets)
<nav> Defines navigation links
Lists
Tag Description
<ul> Defines an unordered list
<ol> Defines an ordered list
<li> Defines a list item
Not supported in HTML5. Use <ul> instead.
<dir>
Defines a directory list
<dl> Defines a description list
<dt> Defines a term/name in a description list
<dd> Defines a description of a term/name in a description list
Tables
Tag Description
<table> Defines a table
<caption> Defines a table caption
<th> Defines a header cell in a table
<tr> Defines a row in a table
<td> Defines a cell in a table
<thead> Groups the header content in a table
<tbody> Groups the body content in a table
<tfoot> Groups the footer content in a table
Specifies column properties for each column within a <colgroup>
<col>
element
<colgroup> Specifies a group of one or more columns in a table for formatting
Meta Info
Tag Description
<head> Defines information about the document
<meta> Defines metadata about an HTML document
<base> Specifies the base URL/target for all relative URLs in a document
Not supported in HTML5. Use CSS instead.
<basefont>
Specifies a default color, size, and font for all text in a document
Programming
Tag Description
<script> Defines a client-side script
Defines an alternate content for users that do not support client-side
<noscript>
scripts
Not supported in HTML5. Use <embed> or <object> instead.
<applet>
Defines an embedded applet
<embed> Defines a container for an external (non-HTML) application
<object> Defines an embedded object
<param> Defines a parameter for an object