HTML Tag References - HTML Tags - XHTML Elements

The a tag or anchor tag is used to create links and anchors in HTML and XHTML.

Semantic HTML tags are tags that convey meaning beyond the simple presenational value that they provide in a browser. This means that a web page marked up with semantic HTML could convey meaning in scenarios beyond just visual web page renderings. Learn why using semantic HTML and using it correctly is important.

The base tag helps Web designers work on testing servers without having to do a lot of editing when a page is ready to go live. Plus you can use it to change the default frame target.

Block-level elements and inline elements are the two types of elements that you\'ll see in HTML. But why does it matter what an element is? If you know whether an element is a block-level element or an inline element, you\'ll have a better idea of how it will react when you apply positioning rules on it in your CSS.

There are many good reasons to use H1 tags to structure your content, and yet many Web designers still don't use them. Why don't you use H1 tags?

Explanation of the XHTML attribute - xmlns

There are a number of HTML tags that do not require closing tags to be valid HTML. Find out what they are and why you might leave off the tags or keep writing them.

Many HTML tags in HTML4 and HTML5 do not require end tags. They are not technically singleton or void elements because they do have contents, but their end tags are implied and can thus be omitted and still have valid HTML.

The p tag defines paragraphs within documents.

The rel=nofollow attribute has been added to links all around the Internet. But what does it mean? It's one of the few instances of a rel or rev attribute having a very distinct meaning and use. rel=nofollow is put on links to prevent comment spam from being indexed.

The HTML link tag can be somewhat confusing because it has a lot of different possible functions. The most common use of the link tag is to link external style sheets to the current document. But you can also define related documents, such as previous and next pages in a series, alternate versions of the page, and index pages.

The accesskey attribute is a powerful accessibility tool in your Web toolbox, as it lets you set up keyboard shortcuts for links and form fields on your page. If you're creating a Web application, this is one more trick to make your application look and act more like an offline application.

Definition of the HTML term singleton.

Linking images is just as easy as linking text.

If you don't change any of the styles, Web browsers have default colors they use for links. You can change the link color, the active link color, the followed link color, and the color when a mouse hovers over the link.

Simple steps to write a definition list in HTML.

Definition lists are a great tool in HTML that are often overlooked. Learn several ways you can use definition lists to create more effective web pages.

Simple steps to write an unordered list in HTML.

Simple steps to write an ordered list in HTML.

The PRE tag tells the web browser to display the text exactly as you type it. This is called pre-formatted, because the text is formatted in the way it is typed, rather than by the HTML tags that surround it.

When you're writing text in a web page, you sometimes want to call out a block of text as a quotation. In publishing this is sometimes called a pull-quote, and in web design it's called a blockquote.

Use emphasis tags to divide up your Web pages semantically and provide information about the structure of your Web pages.

Change the look of your text with header, italics, and bold tags.

Learn to use the two basic text formatting tags - p for paragraphs and br for line breaks - well

Box elements or block-level elements can be difficult to understand as they have different properties than standard in-line elements. Some commonly used box elements are p, div, and h1.

Short quotations are an important part of most writing, but many Web designers don't know about the Q tag or how to use it. Or if they know about it they refuse to use it because of browser quirks.

XHTML 1.0 and HTML 4.0 elements starting with letter z - as well as other elements not part of the specification

A listing of the valid and invalid HTML tags available for use. Includes the DTD they are a part of and what browsers support them.

A listing of the valid and invalid HTML tags available for use. Includes the DTD they are a part of and what browsers support them.

The id attribute is important to understand because it provides a way to identify unique sections of your Web page. You can give any element on your Web page a unique identifier using the ID attribute.

Definition of the HTML term logical division and how it relates to Web pages and sections of Web pages.

This article about the SPAN tag is for beginning and intermediate Web developers who are interested in learning how to use the SPAN tag to create XHTML+CSS layouts, align page content, and define changes to inline content on your Web pages.

Description of the body and table attribute credits.

Description of the body and table attribute topmargin.

Description of the body and table attribute marginheight.

Description of the body and table attribute bgproperties.

Description of the body and table attribute instructions.

Description of the body and table attribute leftmargin.

Description of the body and table attribute logo.

When people think lists, they usually think of numbered or bulletted lists, but there is another type of list that can be very useful to Web designers - the definition list. This article covers when to use the definition list and how to style them so that they look nice on your Web page.

Many people use the alt attribute to create a pop-up tool tip which is incorrect. Instead, you should be use the title attribute. Most browsers support displaying titles as hover tool tips, and even if they don't a quick CSS style or JavaScript can make it display.

Learn the functions of various HTML tags. This tag library includes all the HTML elements for HTML 4.01 as well as proprietary tags used by Internet Explorer, Netscape, and WebTV. The tags are all presented in valid XHTML 1.0 format.

HTML 4.0 and below is not written in XML, but there are many tags that behave in the same function as XML elements. XML describes the content, and there are HTML tags that act in a similar fashion.

HTML attributes are an important part of your Web site, and these attributes are often forgotten

HTML comments allow you to write notes about the code, hide old information, and hold reminders on the page. Comments are not seen by the people viewing the page, but they show up in the HTML code.

This article about the DIV element is for beginning and intermediate web developers who are interested in learning how to use the DIV element to create HTML and CSS layouts, align page content, and create non-semantic divisions in your page content.

Many sites will tell you that the font tag has been deprecated. This article explains how you can use CSS to do the same things as the font tag. Plus there are a lot of other things you can do with text that the font tag won't do. It's easy to switch today.

This article for beginning Web developers who are new to HTML and CSS will help you learn how to use the DIV tag and CSS to center text or images on your pages.

This tip explains how the DIV tag works within most web pages and how you can affect that standard behavior using Cascading Style Sheets.

Learn how to use the DIV tag to create valid XHTML+CSS Web pages that are easy to read and change whenever you want to change them.

The Personal Web Guide at About explains some of the basic tags needed to create a Web page.

An explanation of the HTML 3.2 tags and how they work with Netscape 4.0.

A concise listing of HTML 4.0 tags. Not a lot of information about each tag, more like a rewrite of the specification.

A concise listing of many of the more commonly used HTML tags, divided by usage within a page.

An easy to use framed reference guide to the XHTML 1.0 tags. Includes examples so you can see how the tags work.

Global attributes are the attributes available to nearly every HTML tag. They include attributes for core techniques like class and ID as well as internationalization attributes like lang.

Event attributes are the attributes available to nearly every HTML tag. They include attributes for dynamic events like onmouseover and onclick.

Description of the frameborder attribute.

Description of the codebase attribute.

Description of the code attribute.

Learn how to use the various attributes to input tags, to make your HTML forms more accurate.

Learn the many different HTML tags that have been deprecated and what you can use in their place.

Learn how to use lists to outline and organize your Web page content. Lists make Web pages much easier to read.

A description of the HTML type attribute for form elements.

An explanation of the value attribute for HTML forms.

A description of the HTML BUTTON tag.

The IFRAME tag creates inline frames within the document. This is the tag definition.

A description of the HTML table tag to create tables for your website.

Learn how to use the IMG HTML tag in your web pages.

Create frames of your web pages with the HTML FRAMESET tag.

The embed tag allows you to place non-HTML content in your web pages. This is the tag definition.

Description of the border attribute when used with the IMG, OBJECT, and EMBED tags.

Learn about the border attribute for the TABLE tag

Learn about the border attribute for the FRAMESET tag

An explanation of the HTML table tag TR.

A description of the HTML attribute classid.

A deprecated tag that puts a line (strikeout) through the enclosed text.

A deprecated tag that puts a line (strikeout) through the enclosed text.

The U tag is a deprecated tag that underlines the enclosed text.

A tag that indicates the enclosed text is emphasized.

Explanation of the Netscape HTML tag, KEYGEN

A description of the HTML attribute vlink.

A description of the HTML attribute alink.

A description of the HTML attribute link.

The FRAME tag creates frames within a frameset. This is a description of the HTML FRAME tag.

Explanation of the DD tag - used in HTML to define the definition in a definition list or the value in a name/value pairs list.

Explanation of the DT tag - used in HTML to define the term in a definition list or name in a name/value pair list.

Explanation of the DL tag - used in HTML to create definition lists and name/value pair lists.

The TH tag defines the contents of table header cells.

The TD tag defines the contents of table cells.

An explanation of the AUDIOSCOPE WebTV tag.

Many designers refuse to use the Q tag because Internet Explorer does not support it. But this is a bad idea because the Q tag provides markup for your text and lets you style quotations more readily. So rather than not using the Q tag you can use this quick fix to make quote marks surround all Q tags regardless of what browser they are in. And the best thing is, this solution is upward compatible - if IE ever does start to support this tag, these styles will still work.

Turn text into subscript text with the HTML SUB tag.

Turn text into superscript text with the HTML SUP tag.

Add short quotations to your HTML with the Q tag.

Description of the TT tag that identifies the text as teletype or monospaced.

Description of the VAR tag that identifies the text as a variable or as user input.

Description of the CODE tag that identifies the text as computer or programming code.

Learn how to use the style tag to add embedded style sheets into your HTML documents.

Description of the Netscape-specific tag LAYER.

Learn more about the attributes associated with all the XHTML elements and other HTML tags.

Description of the Netscape-specific attribute above for the LAYER tag.

Description of the Netscape-specific attribute above for the LAYER tag.

Description of the KBD tag that identifies the text as user input.

A description of the HTML attribute text.

Understanding the HTML tag BLOCKQUOTE. A tag for long quotations.

Description of the NOFRAMES tag to create accessible HTML framesets.

An explanation of the SCRIPT tag in HTML. This tag is used to run scripts on web pages.

An explanation of the NOSCRIPT tag in HTML. This tag is used as alternative content when a script cannot run.

An explanation of the SIDEBAR WebTV tag.

An explanation of the BLACKFACE WebTV tag.

An explanation of the HTML table tag THEAD.

An explanation of the HTML table tag TFOOT.

An explanation of the HTML table tag TBODY.

A description of the HTML PARAM tag used with applets and objects.

A description of the HTML PARAM tag attribute: type.

This article for beginning Web developers who are new to HTML and CSS will help you learn how to use the SPAN tag and CSS to change the color of individual words on your pages.

Microsoft Internet Explorer has a number of proprietary tags and features that can extend how you use the browser. This article discusses conditional comments and the comment element.

The INPUT Text tag creates a text input field in your HTML form. It is the default type of input tag. It is an HTML 4 and HTML 5 tag.

The INPUT Submit tag is used to send the form data to the script defined in the HTML form tag. It is an HTML 4 and HTML 5 tag.

The INPUT Reset tag is used to bring HTML forms back to their initial state. It is an HTML 4 and HTML 5 tag.

The INPUT Password tag is used to collect passwords in HTML forms. It is an HTML 4 and HTML 5 tag.

The INPUT Image tag is used to display images as input fields. It is an HTML 4 and HTML 5 tag.

The INPUT Hidden tag is used to submit data that is hidden from the form users. It is an HTML 4 and HTML 5 tag.

The INPUT File tag is used to upload files to web forms. It is an HTML 4 and HTML 5 tag.

Learn about the INPUT tag for inputting HTML form data.

The INPUT Button tag is used to display text buttons. It is an HTML 4 and HTML 5 tag.

The INPUT Checkbox tag is used to add checkboxes to forms. It is an HTML 4 and HTML 5 tag.

The INPUT Radio tag is used to add radio buttons to forms. It is an HTML 4 and HTML 5 tag.

Explanation of the HTML attribute src and how it applies to various tags.

A definition of the term void element as it applies to web design.

HTML void elements are elements that do not have a required closing tag to end them. These elements are usually elements that either stand alone on the page, or where the end of their contents is obvious from the context of the page itself.

The optgroup HTML tag defines a group of options in a select list of an HTML form. It allows designers to style portions of the select list drop-down field and allows for labels of those groups within the list.

The colgroup tag creates and defines an explicit column group in an HTML table.

The base tag provides a way of including relative information in web pages.

Paragraphs make up the bulk of web page text, and yet most people ignore the paragraph tag. They just slap it around their blocks of text and move on. Learn how to style paragraphs, align them, work with typography inside paragraphs, and the correct use of the P tag. The links and resources in this article will help you get the most out of your...

A description of the HTML attribute readonly. Learn how to make HTML form controls read only so that your users can't change them.

The SPAN and DIV elements are extremely useful when using CSS style sheets to build layout and manage your pages. Learn how these two tags work and how you can use them in your web pages.