HTML
HTML
HTML
HTML Elements
HTML Elements
An HTML element is everything from the start tag to the end tag:
* The start tag is often called the opening tag. The end tag is often called the closing tag.
(You will learn about element attributes in the next chapter of this tutorial)
<body>
<p>This is my first paragraph</p>
</body>
</html>
Example Explained
The <p> element:
<body>
<p>This is my first paragraph</p>
</body>
<html>
<body>
<p>This is my first paragraph</p>
</body>
</html>
<p>This is a paragraph
<p>This is a paragraph
The example above will work in most browsers, but don't rely on it. Forgetting the end tag can
produce unexpected results or errors.
Note: Future version of HTML will not allow you to skip end tags.
HTML elements without content are called empty elements. Empty elements can be closed in the
start tag.
<br> is an empty element without a closing tag (it defines a line break).
In XHTML, XML, and future versions of HTML, all elements must be closed.
Adding a slash to the start tag, like <br />, is the proper way of closing empty elements, accepted
by HTML, XHTML and XML.
Even if <br> works in all browsers, writing <br /> instead is more future proof.
W3Schools use lowercase tags because the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends
lowercase in HTML 4, and demands lowercase tags in future versions of (X)HTML.
HTML Attributes
HTML Attributes
• HTML elements can have attributes
• Attributes provide additional information about the element
• Attributes are always specified in the start tag
• Attributes come in name/value pairs like: name="value"
Attribute Example
HTML links are defined with the <a> tag. The link address is provided as an attribute:
Example
Double style quotes are the most common, but single style quotes are also allowed.
In some rare situations, like when the attribute value itself contains quotes, it is necessary to use
single quotes:
However, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends lowercase attributes/attribute values
in their HTML 4 recommendation
Below is a list of some attributes that are standard for most HTML elements:
HTML Headings
HTML Headings
Headings are defined with the <h1> to <h6> tags.
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<h1> defines the largest heading. <h6> defines the smallest heading.
Example
<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<h2>This is a heading</h2>
<h3>This is a heading</h3>
Note: Browsers automatically adds an empty line before and after headings.
Search engines use your headings to index the structure and content of your web pages.
Since users may skim your pages by its headings, it is important to use headings to show the
document structure.
H1 headings should be used as main headings, followed by H2 headings, then less important H3
headings, and so on.
Example
<p>This is a paragraph</p>
<hr />
<p>This is a paragraph</p>
<hr />
<p>This is a paragraph</p>
HTML Comments
Comments can be inserted in the HTML code to make it more readable and understandable.
Comments are ignored by the browser and are not displayed.
Example
Note: There is an exclamation point after the opening bracket, but not before the closing bracket.
To find out, click the VIEW option in your browser's toolbar and select SOURCE or PAGE SOURCE.
This will open a window that shows you the HTML code of the page.
Headings
This example demonstrates the tags that display headings in an HTML document.
Hidden comments
This example demonstrates how to insert a hidden comment in the HTML source code.
Horizontal rule
This example demonstrates how to insert a horizontal rule.
You will learn more about HTML tags and attributes in the next chapters of this tutorial.
Tag Description
<html> Defines an HTML document
<body> Defines the document's body
<h1> to <h6> Defines header 1 to header 6
<hr /> Defines a horizontal rule
<!--> Defines a comment
HTML Paragraphs
HTML Paragraphs
Paragraphs are defined with the <p> tag.
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Example
<p>This is a paragraph</p>
<p>This is another paragraph</p>
Note: Browsers automatically adds an empty line before and after paragraphs.
Example
<p>This is a paragraph
<p>This is another paragraph
The example above will work in most browsers, but don't rely on it. Forgetting the end tag can
produce unexpected results or errors.
Note: Future version of HTML will not allow you to skip end tags.
Example
The <br /> element is an empty HTML element. It has no end tag.
Even if <br> works in all browsers, writing <br /> instead is more future proof.
With HTML, you cannot change the output by adding extra spaces or extra lines in your HTML code.
The browser will remove extra spaces and extra lines when the page is displayed. Any number of
lines count as one space, and any number of spaces count as one space.
Try it yourself
HTML paragraphs
This example demonstrates how HTML paragraphs are displayed in a browser.
Line breaks
This example demonstrates the use of line breaks in an HTML document.
Poem problems
This example demonstrates some problems with HTML formatting.
More Examples
More paragraphs
This example demonstrates some of the default behaviors of paragraph elements.
Tag Description
<p> Defines a paragraph
<br /> Inserts a single line break
superscript
This is subscript and
Text formatting
This example demonstrates how you can format text in an HTML document.
Preformatted text
This example demonstrates how you can control the line breaks and spaces with the pre tag.
Address
This example demonstrates how to write an address in an HTML document.
Text direction
This example demonstrates how to change the text direction.
Quotations
This example demonstrates how to handle long and short quotations.
HTML Styles
Styles was introduced with HTML 4, as the new and preferred way to style HTML elements. With
HTML styles, styles can be added to HTML elements directly by using the style attribute, or
indirectly by in separate style sheets (CSS files).
You can learn everything about styles and CSS in our CSS tutorial.
In our HTML tutorial we use the style attribute to introduce you to HTML styles.
style="font-size:10px"
style="font-family:Times"
style="text-align:center"
The message is clear: Avoid the use of deprecated tags and attributes.
Tags Description
<center> Defines centered content
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Attributes Description
align Defines the alignment of text
bgcolor Defines the background color
color Defines the text color
Style Examples:
Background Color
<body style="background-color:yellow">
The new style attribute makes the "old" bgcolor attribute obsolete.
The new style attribute makes the old <font> tag obsolete.
Text Alignment
<h1 style="text-align:center">
The new style attribute makes the old "align" attribute obsolete.
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HTML Links
HTML links
This example demonstrates how to create links in an HTML document.
Hyperlinks can point to any resource on the web: an HTML page, an image, a sound file, a movie,
etc.
The HTML anchor element <a>, is used to define both hyperlinks and anchors.
We will use the term HTML link when the <a> element points to a resource, and the term HTML
anchor when the <a> elements defines an address inside a document..
An HTML Link
Link syntax:
Note: The element content doesn't have to be text. You can link from an image or any other HTML
element.
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Visit W3Schools!
The code below will open the document in a new browser window:
Example
<a href="http://www.w3schools.com/"
target="_blank">Visit W3Schools!</a>
Named anchor are not displayed in any special way. They are invisible to the reader.
Example:
A named anchor inside an HTML document:
<a href="#tips">
Jump to the Useful Tips Section</a>
<a href="http://www.w3schools.com/html_tutorial.htm#tips">
Jump to the Useful Tips Section</a>
Named anchors are often used to create "table of contents" at the beginning of a large document.
Each chapter within the document is given a named anchor, and links to each of these anchors are
put at the top of the document.
If a browser cannot find a named anchor that has been specified, it goes to the top of the
document. No error occurs.
More Examples
An image as a link
This example demonstrates how to use an image as a link.
Link Tags
Tag Description
<a> Defines an anchor
HTML Images
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Example
Insert images
This example demonstrates how to display images in your Web page.
The <img> tag is empty, which means that it contains attributes only and it has no closing tag.
To display an image on a page, you need to use the src attribute. Src stands for "source". The value
of the src attribute is the URL of the image you want to display on your page.
The URL points to the location where the image is stored. An image named "boat.gif" located in the
directory "images" on "www.w3schools.com" has the URL:
http://www.w3schools.com/images/boat.gif.
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The browser puts the image where the image tag occurs in the document. If you put an image tag
between two paragraphs, the browser shows the first paragraph, then the image, and then the
second paragraph.
The "alt" attribute tells the reader what he or she is missing on a page if the browser can't load
images. The browser will then display the alternate text instead of the image. It is a good practice
to include the "alt" attribute for each image on a page, to improve the display and usefulness of
your document for people who have text-only browsers.
More Examples
Background image
This example demonstrates how to add a background image to an HTML page.
Aligning images
This example demonstrates how to align an image within the text.
Image Tags
Tag Description
<img> Defines an image
<map> Defines an image map
<area> Defines a clickable area inside an image map
HTML Tables
HTML Tables
Apples 44%
Bananas 23%
Oranges 13%
Other 10%
Tables
How to define tables in an HTML document.
Table borders
This example demonstrates different table borders.
Tables
Tables are defined with the <table> tag. A table is divided into rows (with the <tr> tag), and each
row is divided into data cells (with the <td> tag). The letters td stands for "table data," which is the
content of a data cell. A data cell can contain text, images, lists, paragraphs, forms, horizontal
rules, tables, etc.
<table border="1">
<tr>
<td>row 1, cell 1</td>
<td>row 1, cell 2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>row 2, cell 1</td>
<td>row 2, cell 2</td>
</tr>
</table>
To display a table with borders, you will have to use the border attribute:
<table border="1">
<tr>
<td>Row 1, cell 1</td>
<td>Row 1, cell 2</td>
</tr>
</table>
Headings in a Table
Headings in a table are defined with the <th> tag.
<table border="1">
<tr>
<th>Heading</th>
<th>Another Heading</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>row 1, cell 1</td>
<td>row 1, cell 2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>row 2, cell 1</td>
<td>row 2, cell 2</td>
</tr>
</table>
<table border="1">
<tr>
<td>row 1, cell 1</td>
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Note that the borders around the empty table cell are missing (NB! Mozilla Firefox displays the
border).
To avoid this, add a non-breaking space ( ) to empty data cells, to make the borders visible:
<table border="1">
<tr>
<td>row 1, cell 1</td>
<td>row 1, cell 2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>row 2, cell 1</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</table>
More Examples
Headings in a table
This example demonstrates how to display table headers.
Empty cells
This example demonstrates how to use " " to handle cells that have no content.
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Cell padding
This example demonstrates how to use cellpadding to create more white space between the cell
content and its borders.
Cell spacing
This example demonstrates how to use cellspacing to increase the distance between the cells.
Table Tags
Tag Description
<table> Defines a table
<th> Defines a table header
<tr> Defines a table row
<td> Defines a table cell
<caption> Defines a table caption
<colgroup> Defines groups of table columns
<col> Defines the attribute values for one or more columns in a table
<thead> Defines a table head
<tbody> Defines a table body
<tfoot> Defines a table footer
HTML Lists
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HTML Lists
Try-It-Yourself Examples
Unordered list
Ordered list
Unordered Lists
An unordered list is a list of items. The list items are marked with bullets (typically small black
circles).
An unordered list starts with the <ul> tag. Each list item starts with the <li> tag.
<ul>
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ul>
• Coffee
• Milk
Inside a list item you can put paragraphs, line breaks, images, links, other lists, etc.
Ordered Lists
An ordered list is also a list of items. The list items are marked with numbers.
An ordered list starts with the <ol> tag. Each list item starts with the <li> tag.
<ol>
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Milk</li>
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</ol>
1. Coffee
2. Milk
Inside a list item you can put paragraphs, line breaks, images, links, other lists, etc.
Definition Lists
A definition list is not a list of single items. It is a list of items (terms), with a description of each
item (term).
<dl>
<dt>Coffee</dt>
<dd>Black hot drink</dd>
<dt>Milk</dt>
<dd>White cold drink</dd>
</dl>
Coffee
Black hot drink
Milk
White cold drink
Inside the <dd> tag you can put paragraphs, line breaks, images, links, other lists, etc.
More Examples
Nested list
Demonstrates how you can nest lists.
Nested list 2
Demonstrates a more complicated nested list.
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Definition list
Demonstrates a definition list.
List Tags
Tag Description
<ol> Defines an ordered list
<ul> Defines an unordered list
<li> Defines a list item
<dl> Defines a definition list
<dt> Defines a term (an item) in a definition list
<dd> Defines a description of a term in a definition list
<dir> Deprecated. Use <ul> instead
<menu> Deprecated. Use <ul> instead
Try-It-Yourself Examples
Text fields
This example demonstrates how to create text fields on an HTML page. A user can write text in a
text field.
Password fields
This example demonstrates how to create a password field on an HTML page.
Forms
A form is an area that can contain form elements.
Form elements are elements that allow the user to enter information (like text fields, textarea
fields, drop-down menus, radio buttons, checkboxes, etc.) in a form.
<form>
.
input elements
.
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</form>
Input
The most used form tag is the <input> tag. The type of input is specified with the type attribute.
The most commonly used input types are explained below.
Text Fields
Text fields are used when you want the user to type letters, numbers, etc. in a form.
<form>
First name:
<input type="text" name="firstname" />
<br />
Last name:
<input type="text" name="lastname" />
</form>
First name:
Last name:
Note that the form itself is not visible. Also note that in most browsers, the width of the text field is
20 characters by default.
Radio Buttons
Radio Buttons are used when you want the user to select one of a limited number of choices.
<form>
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="male" /> Male
<br />
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="female" /> Female
</form>
Male
Female
Checkboxes
Checkboxes are used when you want the user to select one or more options of a limited number of
choices.
<form>
I have a bike:
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Username:
If you type some characters in the text field above, and click the "Submit" button, the browser will
send your input to a page called "html_form_submit.asp". The page will show you the received
input.
More Examples
Checkboxes
This example demonstrates how to create check-boxes on an HTML page. A user can select or
unselect a checkbox.
Radio buttons
This example demonstrates how to create radio-buttons on an HTML page.
Textarea
This example demonstrates how to create a text-area (a multi-line text input control). A user can
write text in the text-area. In a text-area you can write an unlimited number of characters.
Create a button
This example demonstrates how to create a button. On the button you can define your own text.
Form Examples
Form with input fields and a submit button
This example demonstrates how to add a form to a page. The form contains two input fields and a
submit button.
Form Tags
Tag Description
<form> Defines a form for user input
<input> Defines an input field
<textarea> Defines a text-area (a multi-line text input control)
<label> Defines a label to a control
<fieldset> Defines a fieldset
<legend> Defines a caption for a fieldset
<select> Defines a selectable list (a drop-down box)
<optgroup> Defines an option group
<option> Defines an option in the drop-down box
<button> Defines a push button
<isindex> Deprecated. Use <input> instead
HTML Colors
Color Values
HTML colors are defined using a hexadecimal (hex) notation for the combination of Red, Green, and
Blue color values (RGB).
The lowest value that can be given to one of the light sources is 0 (hex 00). The highest value is
255 (hex FF).
Hex values are written as 3 double digit numbers, starting with a # sign.
Color Values
#000000 rgb(0,0,0)
#FF0000 rgb(255,0,0)
#00FF00 rgb(0,255,0)
#0000FF rgb(0,0,255)
#FFFF00 rgb(255,255,0)
#00FFFF rgb(0,255,255)
#FF00FF rgb(255,0,255)
#C0C0C0 rgb(192,192,192)
#FFFFFF rgb(255,255,255)
Most modern monitors are capable of displaying at least 16384 different colors.
If you look at the color table below, you will see the result of varying the red light from 0 to 255,
while keeping the green and blue light at zero.
To see a full list of color mixes when the red light varies from 0 to 255, click on one of the hex or
rgb values below.
#380000 rgb(56,0,0)
#400000 rgb(64,0,0)
#480000 rgb(72,0,0)
#500000 rgb(80,0,0)
#580000 rgb(88,0,0)
#600000 rgb(96,0,0)
#680000 rgb(104,0,0)
#700000 rgb(112,0,0)
#780000 rgb(120,0,0)
#800000 rgb(128,0,0)
#880000 rgb(136,0,0)
#900000 rgb(144,0,0)
#980000 rgb(152,0,0)
#A00000 rgb(160,0,0)
#A80000 rgb(168,0,0)
#B00000 rgb(176,0,0)
#B80000 rgb(184,0,0)
#C00000 rgb(192,0,0)
#C80000 rgb(200,0,0)
#D00000 rgb(208,0,0)
#D80000 rgb(216,0,0)
#E00000 rgb(224,0,0)
#E80000 rgb(232,0,0)
#F00000 rgb(240,0,0)
#F80000 rgb(248,0,0)
#FF0000 rgb(255,0,0)
Shades of Gray
Gray colors are displayed using an equal amount of power to all of the light sources. To make it
easier for you to select the right gray color we have compiled a table of gray shades for you:
#484848 rgb(72,72,72)
#505050 rgb(80,80,80)
#585858 rgb(88,88,88)
#606060 rgb(96,96,96)
#686868 rgb(104,104,104)
#707070 rgb(112,112,112)
#787878 rgb(120,120,120)
#808080 rgb(128,128,128)
#888888 rgb(136,136,136)
#909090 rgb(144,144,144)
#989898 rgb(152,152,152)
#A0A0A0 rgb(160,160,160)
#A8A8A8 rgb(168,168,168)
#B0B0B0 rgb(176,176,176)
#B8B8B8 rgb(184,184,184)
#C0C0C0 rgb(192,192,192)
#C8C8C8 rgb(200,200,200)
#D0D0D0 rgb(208,208,208)
#D8D8D8 rgb(216,216,216)
#E0E0E0 rgb(224,224,224)
#E8E8E8 rgb(232,232,232)
#F0F0F0 rgb(240,240,240)
#F8F8F8 rgb(248,248,248)
#FFFFFF rgb(255,255,255)
aqua, black, blue, fuchsia, gray, green, lime, maroon, navy, olive, purple, red, silver, teal, white,
and yellow.
If you want to use other colors, you should specify their HEX value.
Some years ago, when computers supported max 256 different colors, a list of 216 "Web Safe
Colors" was suggested as a Web standard, reserving 40 fixed system colors.
The 216 cross-browser color palette was created to ensure that all computers would display the
colors correctly when running a 256 color palette.
This is not important now, since most computers can display millions of different colors. Anyway
here is the list:
You can click on a color name (or a hex value) to view the color as the background-color along with
different text colors.
Sorted by Names
Link: Same list sorted by values
DarkKhaki #BDB76B
DarkMagenta #8B008B
DarkOliveGreen #556B2F
Darkorange #FF8C00
DarkOrchid #9932CC
DarkRed #8B0000
DarkSalmon #E9967A
DarkSeaGreen #8FBC8F
DarkSlateBlue #483D8B
DarkSlateGray #2F4F4F
DarkTurquoise #00CED1
DarkViolet #9400D3
DeepPink #FF1493
DeepSkyBlue #00BFFF
DimGray #696969
DodgerBlue #1E90FF
FireBrick #B22222
FloralWhite #FFFAF0
ForestGreen #228B22
Fuchsia #FF00FF
Gainsboro #DCDCDC
GhostWhite #F8F8FF
Gold #FFD700
GoldenRod #DAA520
Gray #808080
Green #008000
GreenYellow #ADFF2F
HoneyDew #F0FFF0
HotPink #FF69B4
IndianRed #CD5C5C
Indigo #4B0082
Ivory #FFFFF0
Khaki #F0E68C
Lavender #E6E6FA
LavenderBlush #FFF0F5
LawnGreen #7CFC00
LemonChiffon #FFFACD
LightBlue #ADD8E6
LightCoral #F08080
LightCyan #E0FFFF
LightGoldenRodYellow #FAFAD2
LightGrey #D3D3D3
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LightGreen #90EE90
LightPink #FFB6C1
LightSalmon #FFA07A
LightSeaGreen #20B2AA
LightSkyBlue #87CEFA
LightSlateGray #778899
LightSteelBlue #B0C4DE
LightYellow #FFFFE0
Lime #00FF00
LimeGreen #32CD32
Linen #FAF0E6
Magenta #FF00FF
Maroon #800000
MediumAquaMarine #66CDAA
MediumBlue #0000CD
MediumOrchid #BA55D3
MediumPurple #9370D8
MediumSeaGreen #3CB371
MediumSlateBlue #7B68EE
MediumSpringGreen #00FA9A
MediumTurquoise #48D1CC
MediumVioletRed #C71585
MidnightBlue #191970
MintCream #F5FFFA
MistyRose #FFE4E1
Moccasin #FFE4B5
NavajoWhite #FFDEAD
Navy #000080
OldLace #FDF5E6
Olive #808000
OliveDrab #6B8E23
Orange #FFA500
OrangeRed #FF4500
Orchid #DA70D6
PaleGoldenRod #EEE8AA
PaleGreen #98FB98
PaleTurquoise #AFEEEE
PaleVioletRed #D87093
PapayaWhip #FFEFD5
PeachPuff #FFDAB9
Peru #CD853F
Pink #FFC0CB
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Plum #DDA0DD
PowderBlue #B0E0E6
Purple #800080
Red #FF0000
RosyBrown #BC8F8F
RoyalBlue #4169E1
SaddleBrown #8B4513
Salmon #FA8072
SandyBrown #F4A460
SeaGreen #2E8B57
SeaShell #FFF5EE
Sienna #A0522D
Silver #C0C0C0
SkyBlue #87CEEB
SlateBlue #6A5ACD
SlateGray #708090
Snow #FFFAFA
SpringGreen #00FF7F
SteelBlue #4682B4
Tan #D2B48C
Teal #008080
Thistle #D8BFD8
Tomato #FF6347
Turquoise #40E0D0
Violet #EE82EE
Wheat #F5DEB3
White #FFFFFF
WhiteSmoke #F5F5F5
Yellow #FFFF00
YellowGreen #9ACD32
Note: The names above are not a part of the W3C web standard.
The W3C HTML and CSS standards have listed only 16 valid color names:
aqua, black, blue, fuchsia, gray, green, lime, maroon, navy, olive, purple, red, silver, teal, white,
and yellow.
If you want valid HTML or CSS use the HEX values instead.
HTML Quick List from W3Schools. Print it, fold it, and put it in your pocket.
<html>
<head>
<title>Document name goes here</title>
</head>
<body>
Visible text goes here
</body>
</html>
Heading Elements
<h1>Largest Heading</h1>
<h2> . . . </h2>
<h3> . . . </h3>
<h4> . . . </h4>
<h5> . . . </h5>
<h6>Smallest Heading</h6>
Text Elements
<p>This is a paragraph</p>
<br> (line break)
<hr> (horizontal rule)
<pre>This text is preformatted</pre>
Logical Styles
Physical Styles
A named anchor:
<a name="tips">Useful Tips Section</a>
<a href="#tips">Jump to the Useful Tips Section</a>
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Unordered list
<ul>
<li>First item</li>
<li>Next item</li>
</ul>
Ordered list
<ol>
<li>First item</li>
<li>Next item</li>
</ol>
Definition list
<dl>
<dt>First term</dt>
<dd>Definition</dd>
<dt>Next term</dt>
<dd>Definition</dd>
</dl>
Tables
<table border="1">
<tr>
<th>someheader</th>
<th>someheader</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>sometext</td>
<td>sometext</td>
</tr>
</table>
Frames
<frameset cols="25%,75%">
<frame src="page1.htm">
<frame src="page2.htm">
</frameset>
Forms
<select>
<option>Apples
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<option selected>Bananas
<option>Cherries
</select>
</form>
Entities
Other Elements
<blockquote>
Text quoted from some source.
</blockquote>
<address>
Address 1<br>
Address 2<br>
City<br>
</address>
Source : http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_quick.asp
HTML Layout
Everywhere on the Web you will find pages that are formatted like newspaper pages
using HTML columns.
Examples
Dividing a part of an HTML page into table columns is very easy to do. To let you experiment with it,
we have put together this simple example.
HTML Joke
Student: "How do you spell HTML?"
HTML Frames
With frames, you can display more than one Web page in the same browser window.
Examples
Vertical frameset
This example demonstrates how to make a vertical frameset with three different documents.
Horizontal frameset
This example demonstrates how to make a horizontal frameset with three different documents.
Frames
With frames, you can display more than one HTML document in the same browser window. Each
HTML document is called a frame, and each frame is independent of the others.
In the example below we have a frameset with two columns. The first column is set to 25% of the
width of the browser window. The second column is set to 75% of the width of the browser window.
The HTML document "frame_a.htm" is put into the first column, and the HTML document
"frame_b.htm" is put into the second column:
<frameset cols="25%,75%">
<frame src="frame_a.htm">
<frame src="frame_b.htm">
</frameset>
Note: The frameset column size value can also be set in pixels (cols="200,500"), and one of the
columns can be set to use the remaining space (cols="25%,*").
Add the <noframes> tag for browsers that do not support frames.
Important: You cannot use the <body></body> tags together with the <frameset></frameset>
tags! However, if you add a <noframes> tag containing some text for browsers that do not support
frames, you will have to enclose the text in <body></body> tags! See how it is done in the first
example below.
More Examples
How to use the <noframes> tag
This example demonstrates how to use the <noframes> tag.
Mixed frameset
This example demonstrates how to make a frameset with three documents, and how to mix them in
rows and columns.
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Navigation frame
This example demonstrates how to make a navigation frame. The navigation frame contains a list of
links with the second frame as the target. The file called "tryhtml_contents.htm" contains three
links. The source code of the links:
<a href ="frame_a.htm" target ="showframe">Frame a</a><br>
<a href ="frame_b.htm" target ="showframe">Frame b</a><br>
<a href ="frame_c.htm" target ="showframe">Frame c</a>
The second frame will show the linked document.
Inline frame
This example demonstrates how to create an inline frame (a frame inside an HTML page).
Frame Tags
Tag Description
<frameset> Defines a set of frames
<frame> Defines a sub window (a frame)
<noframes> Defines a noframe section for browsers that do not handle frames
<iframe> Defines an inline sub window (frame)
HTML Fonts
Even if a lot of people are using it, you should try to avoid it, and use styles instead.
Example
<p>
<font size="2" face="Verdana">
This is a paragraph.
</font>
</p>
<p>
<font size="3" face="Times">
This is another paragraph.
</font>
</p>
Font Attributes
Attribute Example Purpose
size="number" size="2" Defines the font size
size="+number" size="+1" Increases the font size
size="-number" size="-1" Decreases the font size
face="face-name" face="Times" Defines the font-name
color="color-value" color="#eeff00" Defines the font color
color="color-name" color="red" Defines the font color
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has removed the <font> tag from its recommendations. In
future versions of HTML, style sheets (CSS) will be used to define the layout and display properties
of HTML elements.
First off: Finish the last chapters in our HTML tutorial !!! In the following chapters we will explain
why some tags, like <font>, are to be removed from the HTML recommendations, and how to insert
a style sheet in an HTML document.
HTML Styles
With HTML 4.0 all formatting can be moved out of the HTML document and into a
separate style sheet.
Examples
Styles in HTML
This example demonstrates how to format an HTML document with style information added to the
<head> section.
An external style sheet is ideal when the style is applied to many pages. With an external style
sheet, you can change the look of an entire Web site by changing one file. Each page must link to
the style sheet using the <link> tag. The <link> tag goes inside the head section.
<head>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="mystyle.css">
</head>
An internal style sheet should be used when a single document has a unique style. You define
internal styles in the head section with the <style> tag.
<head>
<style type="text/css">
body {background-color: red}
p {margin-left: 20px}
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</style>
</head>
Inline Styles
An inline style should be used when a unique style is to be applied to a single occurrence of an
element.
To use inline styles you use the style attribute in the relevant tag. The style attribute can contain
any CSS property. The example shows how to change the color and the left margin of a paragraph:
Style Tags
Tag Description
<style> Defines a style definition
<link> Defines a resource reference
<div> Defines a section in a document
<span> Defines a section in a document
<font> Deprecated. Use styles instead
<basefont> Deprecated. Use styles instead
<center> Deprecated. Use styles instead
Character Entities
Some characters are reserved in HTML. For example, you cannot use the greater than or less than
signs within your text because the browser could mistake them for markup.
If we want the browser to actually display these characters we must insert character entities in the
HTML source.
The advantage of using an entity name instead of a number is that the name often is easier to
remember. However, the disadvantage is that browsers may not support all entity names (while the
support for entity numbers is very good).
Non-breaking Space
The most common character entity in HTML is the non-breaking space.
Normally HTML will truncate spaces in your text. If you write 10 spaces in your text HTML will
remove 9 of them. To add lots of spaces to your text, use the character entity.
Try It Yourself
This example lets you experiment with character entities: Try it yourself
For a complete reference of all character entities, visit our HTML Entities Reference.
HTML Head
Examples
The title of a document
The title information inside a head element is not displayed in the browser window.
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You can say that meta-data means information about data, or meta-information means information
about information.
According to the HTML standard, only a few tags are legal inside the head section. These are:
<base>, <link>, <meta>, <title>, <style>, and <script>.
<head>
<p>This is some text</p>
</head>
If you put an HTML element like <h1> or <p> inside a head element like this, most browsers will
display it, even if it is illegal.
Should browsers forgive you for errors like this? We don't think so. Others do.
Head Tags
Tag Description
<head> Defines information about the document
<title> Defines the document title
<base> Defines a base URL for all the links on a page
<link> Defines a resource reference
<meta> Defines meta information
Tag Description
<!DOCTYPE> Defines the document type. This tag goes before the <html> start tag.
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HTML Meta
Examples
Document description
Information inside a meta element describes the document.
Document keywords
Information inside a meta element describes the document's keywords.
Redirect a user
This example demonstrates how to redirect a user if your site address has changed.
HTML also includes a meta element that goes inside the head element. The purpose of the meta
element is to provide meta-information about the document.
Most often the meta element is used to provide information that is relevant to browsers or search
engines like describing the content of your document.
Note: W3C states that "Some user agents support the use of META to refresh the current page
after a specified number of seconds, with the option of replacing it by a different URI. Authors
should not use this technique to forward users to different pages, as this makes the page
inaccessible to some users. Instead, automatic page forwarding should be done using server-side
redirects" at http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/struct/global.html#adef-http-equiv.
The intention of the name and content attributes is to describe the content of a page.
However, since too many webmasters have used meta tags for spamming, like repeating keywords
to give pages a higher ranking, some search engines have stopped using them entirely.
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You can read more about search engines in our Web Building Tutorial.
Then you just have to accept that this is something unique to the site or to the author of the site,
and that it has probably no relevance to you.
You can see a complete list of the meta element attributes in our
Complete HTML 4.01 Tag Reference.
HTML Links
When you click on a link in an HTML document like this: Last Page, an underlying <a> tag points to
a place (an address) on the Web with an href attribute value like this: <a href="lastpage.htm">Last
Page</a>.
The Last Page link in the example is a link that is relative to the Web site that you are browsing,
and your browser will construct a full Web address like
http://www.w3schools.com/html/lastpage.htm to access the page.
scheme://host.domain:port/path/filename
The scheme is defining the type of Internet service. The most common type is http.
The host is defining the domain host. If omitted, the default host for http is www.
The :port is defining the port number at the host. The port number is normally omitted. The
default port number for http is 80.
The path is defining a path (a sub directory) at the server. If the path is omitted, the resource (the
document) must be located at the root directory of the Web site.
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The filename is defining the name of a document. The default filename might be default.asp, or
index.html or something else depending on the settings of the Web server.
URL Schemes
Some examples of the most common schemes can be found below:
Schemes Access
file a file on your local PC
ftp a file on an FTP server
http a file on a World Wide Web Server
gopher a file on a Gopher server
news a Usenet newsgroup
telnet a Telnet connection
WAIS a file on a WAIS server
Accessing a Newsgroup
The following HTML code:
(The link doesn't work. Don't try it. It is just an example. W3Schools doesn't really have an ftp
directory.)
<a href="mailto:someone@w3schools.com">someone@w3schools.com</a>
someone@w3schools.com
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HTML Scripts
Add scripts to HTML pages to make them more dynamic and interactive.
Examples
Insert a script
This example demonstrates how to insert a script into your HTML document.
<html>
<body>
<script type="text/javascript">
document.write("Hello World!")
</script>
</body>
</html>
Hello World!
Note: To learn more about scripting in HTML, visit our JavaScript School.
Example
JavaScript:
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
document.write("Hello World!")
//-->
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</script>
VBScript:
<script type="text/vbscript">
<!--
document.write("Hello World!")
'-->
</script>
The <noscript> tag is used to define an alternate text if a script is NOT executed. This tag is used
for browsers that recognize the <script> tag, but do not support the script inside, so these browsers
will display the text inside the <noscript> tag instead. However, if a browser supports the script
inside the <script> tag it will ignore the <noscript> tag.
Example
JavaScript:
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
document.write("Hello World!")
//-->
</script>
<noscript>Your browser does not support JavaScript!</noscript>
VBScript:
<script type="text/vbscript">
<!--
document.write("Hello World!")
'-->
</script>
<noscript>Your browser does not support VBScript!</noscript>
Script Tags
Tag Description
<script> Defines a script
<noscript> Defines an alternate text if the script is not executed
<object> Defines an embedded object
<param> Defines run-time settings (parameters) for an object
<applet> Deprecated. Use <object> instead
HTML tags can have attributes. The special attributes for each tag are listed under each tag
description. The attributes listed here are the core and language attributes that are standard for all
tags (with a few exceptions):
Core Attributes
Not valid in base, head, html, meta, param, script, style, and title elements.
Language Attributes
Not valid in base, br, frame, frameset, hr, iframe, param, and script elements.
Keyboard Attributes
Attribute Value Description
accesskey character Sets a keyboard shortcut to access an
element
tabindex number Sets the tab order of an element
New to HTML 4.0 is the ability to let HTML events trigger actions in the browser, like starting a
JavaScript when a user clicks on an HTML element. Below is a list of attributes that can be inserted
into HTML tags to define event actions.
If you want to learn more about programming with these events, you should study our JavaScript
tutorial and our DHTML tutorial.
Window Events
Only valid in body and frameset elements.
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Keyboard Events
Not valid in base, bdo, br, frame, frameset, head, html, iframe, meta, param, script, style, and title
elements.
Mouse Events
Not valid in base, bdo, br, frame, frameset, head, html, iframe, meta, param, script, style, title
elements.
URL encoding converts characters into a format that can be safely transmitted over
the Internet.
URL Encoding
URLs can only be sent over the Internet using the ASCII character-set.
Since URLs often contains characters outside the ASCII set, the URL has to be converted. URL
encoding converts the URL into a valid ASCII format.
URL encoding replaces unsafe ASCII characters with "%" followed by two hexadecimal digits
corresponding to the character values in the ISO-8859-1 character-set.
URLs cannot contain spaces. URL encoding normally replaces a space with a + sign.
Try It Yourself
If you click the "Submit" button below, the browser will URL encode the input before it is sent to the
server. A page at the server will display the received input.
For a complete reference of all URL encodings, visit our URL Encoding Reference.