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HTML Elements Reference

The document provides information about HTML elements, grouping them by their function and purpose. It lists many common elements like headings, paragraphs, lists, links and others along with a brief description of each.

Uploaded by

Aldo Hall
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
34 views

HTML Elements Reference

The document provides information about HTML elements, grouping them by their function and purpose. It lists many common elements like headings, paragraphs, lists, links and others along with a brief description of each.

Uploaded by

Aldo Hall
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HTML elements reference

This page lists all the HTML elements, which are created using tags. They are grouped by
function to help you find what you have in mind easily. An alphabetical list of all elements is
provided in the sidebar on every element's page as well as this one.

For more information about the basics of HTML elements and attributes, see the section on
elements in the Introduction to HTML article.

Main root
Element Description

<html>
The HTML <html> element represents the root (top-level element) of an HTML
document, so it is also referred to as the root element. All other elements must be
descendants of this element.

Document metadata
Metadata contains information about the page. This includes information about styles, scripts
and data to help software (search engines, browsers, etc.) use and render the page. Metadata
for styles and scripts may be defined in the page or link to another file that has the information.
Element Description

<base> The HTML <base> element specifies the base URL to use for all relative URLs in a
document.

<head> The HTML <head> element contains machine-readable information (metadata) about
the document, like its title, scripts, and style sheets.

<link> The HTML External Resource Link element (<link>) specifies relationships between
the current document and an external resource. This element is most commonly used to
link to CSS, but is also used to establish site icons (both "favicon" style icons and icons
for the home screen and apps on mobile devices) among other things.

<meta> The HTML <meta> element represents Metadata that cannot be represented by other
HTML meta-related elements, like base, link, script, style or title.

<style> The HTML <style> element contains style information for a document, or part of a
document.

<title> The HTML Title element (<title>) defines the document's title that is shown in a
Browser's title bar or a page's tab.
Sectioning root
Element Description

<body> The HTML <body> Element represents the content of an HTML document. There can
be only one <body> element in a document.

Content sectioning
Content sectioning elements allow you to organize the document content into logical pieces.
Use the sectioning elements to create a broad outline for your page content, including header
and footer navigation, and heading elements to identify sections of content.

Element Description

<address> The HTML <address> element indicates that the enclosed


HTML provides contact information for a person or people, or
for an organization.

<article> The HTML <article> element represents a self-contained


composition in a document, page, application, or site, which is
intended to be independently distributable or reusable (e.g., in
syndication).

<aside> The HTML <aside> element represents a portion of a


document whose content is only indirectly related to the
document's main content.

<footer> The HTML <footer> element represents a footer for its


nearest sectioning content or sectioning root element. A footer
typically contains information about the author of the section,
copyright data or links to related documents.

<header> The HTML <header> element represents introductory


content, typically a group of introductory or navigational aids.
It may contain some heading elements but also a logo, a search
form, an author name, and other elements.

<h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, <h6> The HTML <h1>–<h6> elements represent six levels of
section headings. <h1> is the highest section level and <h6> is
the lowest.

<main> The HTML <main> element represents the dominant content


of the body of a document. The main content area consists of
Element Description

content that is directly related to or expands upon the central


topic of a document, or the central functionality of an
application.

<nav> The HTML <nav> element represents a section of a page


whose purpose is to provide navigation links, either within the
current document or to other documents. Common examples
of navigation sections are menus, tables of contents, and
indexes.

<section> The HTML <section> element represents a generic


standalone section of a document, which doesn't have a more
specific semantic element to represent it.

Text content
Use HTML text content elements to organize blocks or sections of content placed between the
opening <body> and closing </body> tags. Important for accessibility and SEO, these elements
identify the purpose or structure of that content.

Element Description

<blockquote> The HTML <blockquote> Element (or HTML Block Quotation Element)
indicates that the enclosed text is an extended quotation. Usually, this is rendered
visually by indentation (see Notes for how to change it). A URL for the source of
the quotation may be given using the cite attribute, while a text representation of
the source can be given using the cite element.

<dd> The HTML <dd> element provides the description, definition, or value for the
preceding term (dt) in a description list (dl).

<div> The HTML Content Division element (<div>) is the generic container for flow
content. It has no effect on the content or layout until styled in some way using
CSS (e.g. styling is directly applied to it, or some kind of layout model
like Flexbox is applied to its parent element).

<dl> The HTML <dl> element represents a description list. The element encloses a list
of groups of terms (specified using the dt element) and descriptions (provided
by dd elements). Common uses for this element are to implement a glossary or to
display metadata (a list of key-value pairs).
Element Description

<dt> The HTML <dt> element specifies a term in a description or definition list, and as
such must be used inside a dl element.

<figcaption> The HTML <figcaption> or Figure Caption element represents a caption or


legend describing the rest of the contents of its parent figure element.

<figure> The HTML <figure> (Figure With Optional Caption) element represents self-
contained content, potentially with an optional caption, which is specified using the
(figcaption) element.

<hr> The HTML <hr> element represents a thematic break between paragraph-level
elements: for example, a change of scene in a story, or a shift of topic within a
section.

<li> The HTML <li> element is used to represent an item in a list.

<ol> The HTML <ol> element represents an ordered list of items — typically rendered
as a numbered list.

<p> The HTML <p> element represents a paragraph.

<pre> The HTML <pre> element represents preformatted text which is to be presented
exactly as written in the HTML file.

<ul> The HTML <ul> element represents an unordered list of items, typically rendered
as a bulleted list.

Inline text semantics


Use the HTML inline text semantic to define the meaning, structure, or style of a word, line, or
any arbitrary piece of text.
Element Description

<a> The HTML <a> element (or anchor element), with its href attribute, creates a
hyperlink to web pages, files, email addresses, locations in the same page, or anything
else a URL can address.

<abbr> The HTML Abbreviation element (<abbr>) represents an abbreviation or acronym;


the optional title attribute can provide an expansion or description for the
abbreviation.
Element Description

<b> The HTML Bring Attention To element (<b>) is used to draw the reader's attention to
the element's contents, which are not otherwise granted special importance.

<bdi> The HTML Bidirectional Isolate element (<bdi>) tells the browser's bidirectional
algorithm to treat the text it contains in isolation from its surrounding text.

<bdo> The HTML Bidirectional Text Override element (<bdo>) overrides the current
directionality of text, so that the text within is rendered in a different direction.

<br> The HTML <br> element produces a line break in text (carriage-return). It is useful for
writing a poem or an address, where the division of lines is significant.

<cite> The HTML Citation element (<cite>) is used to describe a reference to a cited creative
work, and must include the title of that work.

<code> The HTML <code> element displays its contents styled in a fashion intended to
indicate that the text is a short fragment of computer code.

<data> The HTML <data> element links a given piece of content with a machine-readable
translation. If the content is time- or date-related, the time element must be used.

<dfn> The HTML Definition element (<dfn>) is used to indicate the term being defined
within the context of a definition phrase or sentence.

<em> The HTML <em> element marks text that has stress emphasis. The <em> element can be
nested, with each level of nesting indicating a greater degree of emphasis.

<i> The HTML Idiomatic Text element (<i>) represents a range of text that is set off from
the normal text for some reason, such as idiomatic text, technical terms, taxonomical
designations, among others.

<kbd> The HTML Keyboard Input element (<kbd>) represents a span of inline text denoting
textual user input from a keyboard, voice input, or any other text entry device.

<mark> The HTML Mark Text element (<mark>) represents text which
is marked or highlighted for reference or notation purposes, due to the marked
passage's relevance or importance in the enclosing context.

<q> The HTML <q> element indicates that the enclosed text is a short inline quotation.
Most modern browsers implement this by surrounding the text in quotation marks.
Element Description

<rb> The HTML Ruby Base (<rb>) element is used to delimit the base text component of
a ruby annotation, i.e. the text that is being annotated.

<rp> The HTML Ruby Fallback Parenthesis (<rp>) element is used to provide fall-back
parentheses for browsers that do not support display of ruby annotations using
the ruby element.

<rt> The HTML Ruby Text (<rt>) element specifies the ruby text component of a ruby
annotation, which is used to provide pronunciation, translation, or transliteration
information for East Asian typography. The <rt> element must always be contained
within a ruby element.

<rtc> The HTML Ruby Text Container (<rtc>) element embraces semantic annotations of
characters presented in a ruby of rb elements used inside of ruby element. rb elements
can have both pronunciation (rt) and semantic (rtc) annotations.

<ruby> The HTML <ruby> element represents small annotations that are rendered above,
below, or next to base text, usually used for showing the pronunciation of East Asian
characters. It can also be used for annotating other kinds of text, but this usage is less
common.

<s> The HTML <s> element renders text with a strikethrough, or a line through it. Use
the <s> element to represent things that are no longer relevant or no longer accurate.
However, <s> is not appropriate when indicating document edits; for that, use
the del and ins elements, as appropriate.

<samp> The HTML Sample Element (<samp>) is used to enclose inline text which represents
sample (or quoted) output from a computer program.

<small> The HTML <small> element represents side-comments and small print, like copyright
and legal text, independent of its styled presentation. By default, it renders text within
it one font-size smaller, such as from small to x-small.

<span> The HTML <span> element is a generic inline container for phrasing content, which
does not inherently represent anything. It can be used to group elements for styling
purposes (using the class or id attributes), or because they share attribute values, such
as lang.

<strong> The HTML Strong Importance Element (<strong>) indicates that its contents have
strong importance, seriousness, or urgency. Browsers typically render the contents in
bold type.
Element Description

<sub> The HTML Subscript element (<sub>) specifies inline text which should be displayed
as subscript for solely typographical reasons.

<sup> The HTML Superscript element (<sup>) specifies inline text which is to be displayed
as superscript for solely typographical reasons.

<time> The HTML <time> element represents a specific period in time.

<u> The HTML Unarticulated Annotation element (<u>) represents a span of inline text
which should be rendered in a way that indicates that it has a non-textual annotation.

<var> The HTML Variable element (<var>) represents the name of a variable in a
mathematical expression or a programming context.

<wbr> The HTML <wbr> element represents a word break opportunity—a position within text
where the browser may optionally break a line, though its line-breaking rules would not
otherwise create a break at that location.

Image and multimedia


HTML supports various multimedia resources such as images, audio, and video.

Element Description

<area> The HTML <area> element defines an area inside an image map that has predefined
clickable areas. An image map allows geometric areas on an image to be associated with
Hyperlink.

<audio> The HTML <audio> element is used to embed sound content in documents. It may
contain one or more audio sources, represented using the src attribute or
the source element: the browser will choose the most suitable one. It can also be the
destination for streamed media, using a MediaStream.

<img> The HTML <img> element embeds an image into the document.

<map> The HTML <map> element is used with area elements to define an image map (a
clickable link area).

<track> The HTML <track> element is used as a child of the media elements, audio and video.
It lets you specify timed text tracks (or time-based data), for example to automatically
handle subtitles.
Element Description

<video> The HTML Video element (<video>) embeds a media player which supports video
playback into the document. You can use <video> for audio content as well, but
the audio element may provide a more appropriate user experience.

Embedded content
In addition to regular multimedia content, HTML can include a variety of other content, even if
it's not always easy to interact with.

Element Description

<embed> The HTML <embed> element embeds external content at the specified point in the
document. This content is provided by an external application or other source of
interactive content such as a browser plug-in.

<iframe> The HTML Inline Frame element (<iframe>) represents a nested browsing context,
embedding another HTML page into the current one.

<object> The HTML <object> element represents an external resource, which can be treated
as an image, a nested browsing context, or a resource to be handled by a plugin.

<param> The HTML <param> element defines parameters for an object element.

<picture> The HTML <picture> element contains zero or more source elements and
one img element to offer alternative versions of an image for different display/device
scenarios.

<portal> The HTML Portal element (<portal>) enables the embedding of another HTML
page into the current one for the purposes of allowing smoother navigation into new
pages.

<source> The HTML <source> element specifies multiple media resources for the picture,
the audio element, or the video element.
SVG and MathML
You can embed SVG and MathML content directly into HTML documents, using
the <svg> and <math> elements.

Element Description

<svg> The svg element is a container that defines a new coordinate system and viewport. It is
used as the outermost element of SVG documents, but it can also be used to embed an
SVG fragment inside an SVG or HTML document.

<math> The top-level element in MathML is <math>. Every valid MathML instance must be
wrapped in <math> tags. In addition you must not nest a second <math> element in
another, but you can have an arbitrary number of other child elements in it.

Scripting
In order to create dynamic content and Web applications, HTML supports the use of scripting
languages, most prominently JavaScript. Certain elements support this capability.

Element Description

<canvas> Use the HTML <canvas> element with either the canvas scripting API or
the WebGL API to draw graphics and animations.

<noscript> The HTML <noscript> element defines a section of HTML to be inserted if a script
type on the page is unsupported or if scripting is currently turned off in the browser.

<script> The HTML <script> element is used to embed executable code or data; this is
typically used to embed or refer to JavaScript code.

Demarcating edits
These elements let you provide indications that specific parts of the text have been altered.

Element Description

<del> The HTML <del> element represents a range of text that has been deleted from a
document.

<ins> The HTML <ins> element represents a range of text that has been added to a
document.
Table content
The elements here are used to create and handle tabular data.
Element Description

<caption> The HTML <caption> element specifies the caption (or title) of a table.

<col> The HTML <col> element defines a column within a table and is used for defining
common semantics on all common cells. It is generally found within
a colgroup element.

<colgroup> The HTML <colgroup> element defines a group of columns within a table.

<table> The HTML <table> element represents tabular data — that is, information
presented in a two-dimensional table comprised of rows and columns of cells
containing data.

<tbody> The HTML Table Body element (<tbody>) encapsulates a set of table rows
(tr elements), indicating that they comprise the body of the table (table).

<td> The HTML <td> element defines a cell of a table that contains data. It participates
in the table model.

<tfoot> The HTML <tfoot> element defines a set of rows summarizing the columns of the
table.

<th> The HTML <th> element defines a cell as header of a group of table cells. The exact
nature of this group is defined by the scope and headers attributes.

<thead> The HTML <thead> element defines a set of rows defining the head of the columns
of the table.

<tr> The HTML <tr> element defines a row of cells in a table. The row's cells can then
be established using a mix of td (data cell) and th (header cell) elements.

Forms
HTML provides a number of elements which can be used together to create forms which the
user can fill out and submit to the Web site or application. There's a great deal of further
information about this available in the HTML forms guide.
Element Description

<button> The HTML <button> element represents a clickable button, used to submit forms or
anywhere in a document for accessible, standard button functionality.

<datalist> The HTML <datalist> element contains a set of option elements that represent the
permissible or recommended options available to choose from within other controls.

<fieldset> The HTML <fieldset> element is used to group several controls as well as labels
(label) within a web form.

<form> The HTML <form> element represents a document section containing interactive
controls for submitting information.

<input> The HTML <input> element is used to create interactive controls for web-based
forms in order to accept data from the user; a wide variety of types of input data and
control widgets are available, depending on the device and user agent.

<label> The HTML <label> element represents a caption for an item in a user interface.

<legend> The HTML <legend> element represents a caption for the content of its
parent fieldset.

<meter> The HTML <meter> element represents either a scalar value within a known range
or a fractional value.

<optgroup> The HTML <optgroup> element creates a grouping of options within


a select element.

<option> The HTML <option> element is used to define an item contained in a select,
an optgroup, or a datalist element. As such, <option> can represent menu items in
popups and other lists of items in an HTML document.

<output> The HTML Output element (<output>) is a container element into which a site or
app can inject the results of a calculation or the outcome of a user action.

<progress> The HTML <progress> element displays an indicator showing the completion
progress of a task, typically displayed as a progress bar.

<select> The HTML <select> element represents a control that provides a menu of options
Element Description

<textarea> The HTML <textarea> element represents a multi-line plain-text editing control,
useful when you want to allow users to enter a sizeable amount of free-form text, for
example a comment on a review or feedback form.

Interactive elements
HTML offers a selection of elements which help to create interactive user interface objects.
Element Description

<details> The HTML Details Element (<details>) creates a disclosure widget in which
information is visible only when the widget is toggled into an "open" state.

<dialog> The HTML <dialog> element represents a dialog box or other interactive component,
such as a dismissible alert, inspector, or subwindow.

<menu> The HTML <menu> element represents a group of commands that a user can perform
or activate. This includes both list menus, which might appear across the top of a
screen, as well as context menus, such as those that might appear underneath a button
after it has been clicked.

<summary> The HTML Disclosure Summary element (<summary>) element specifies a


summary, caption, or legend for a details element's disclosure box.

Web Components
Web Components is an HTML-related technology which makes it possible to, essentially, create
and use custom elements as if it were regular HTML. In addition, you can create custom
versions of standard HTML elements.
Element Description

<slot> The HTML <slot> element—part of the Web Components technology suite—is a
placeholder inside a web component that you can fill with your own markup, which
lets you create separate DOM trees and present them together.

<template> The HTML Content Template (<template>) element is a mechanism for holding
HTML that is not to be rendered immediately when a page is loaded but may be
instantiated subsequently during runtime using JavaScript.

Obsolete and deprecated elements


Warning: These are old HTML elements which are deprecated and should not be used. You
should never use them in new projects, and should replace them in old projects as soon
as you can. They are listed here for informational purposes only.
Element Description

<acronym> The HTML Acronym Element (<acronym>) allows authors to clearly indicate a
sequence of characters that compose an acronym or abbreviation for a word.

<applet> The obsolete HTML Applet Element (<applet>) embeds a Java applet into the
document; this element has been deprecated in favor of object.

<basefont> The obsolete HTML Base Font element (<basefont>) sets a default font face, size,
and color for the other elements which are descended from its parent element.

<bgsound> The Internet Explorer only HTML Background Sound element (<bgsound>) sets
up a sound file to play in the background while the page is used; use audio instead.

<big> The obsolete HTML Big Element (<big>) renders the enclosed text at a font size
one level larger than the surrounding text (medium becomes large, for example).

<blink> The HTML Blink Element (<blink>) is a non-standard element which causes the
enclosed text to flash slowly.

<center> The obsolete HTML Center Element (<center>) is a block-level element that
displays its block-level or inline contents centered horizontally within its containing
element.

<content> The HTML <content> element—an obsolete part of the Web Components suite of
technologies—was used inside of Shadow DOM as an insertion point, and wasn't
meant to be used in ordinary HTML.

<dir> The obsolete HTML Directory element (<dir>) is used as a container for a
directory of files and/or folders, potentially with styles and icons applied by the user
agent.

<font> The HTML Font Element (<font>) defines the font size, color and face for its
content.

<frame> is an HTML element which defines a particular area in which another


<frame>
HTML document can be displayed. A frame should be used within a frameset.

<frameset> The HTML <frameset> element is used to contain frame elements.


Element Description

<hgroup> The HTML <hgroup> element represents a multi-level heading for a section of a
document. It groups a set of <h1>–<h6> elements.

<image> The obsolete HTML Image element (<image>) is an obsolete remnant of an ancient
version of HTML lost in the mists of time; use the standard img element instead.

<isindex> <isindex>was an obsolete HTML element that put a text field in a page for querying
the document.

<keygen> The HTML <keygen> element exists to facilitate generation of key material, and
submission of the public key as part of an HTML form. This mechanism is designed
for use with Web-based certificate management systems. It is expected that
the <keygen> element will be used in an HTML form along with other information
needed to construct a certificate request, and that the result of the process will be a
signed certificate.

<listing> The HTML Listing Element (<listing>) renders text between the start and end tags
without interpreting the HTML in between and using a monospaced font. The
HTML 2 standard recommended that lines shouldn't be broken when not greater
than 132 characters.

<marquee> The HTML <marquee> element is used to insert a scrolling area of text. You can
control what happens when the text reaches the edges of its content area using its
attributes.

<menuitem> The HTML <menuitem> element represents a command that a user is able to invoke
through a popup menu. This includes context menus, as well as menus that might be
attached to a menu button.

<multicol> The HTML Multi-Column Layout element (<multicol>) was an experimental


element designed to allow multi-column layouts and must not be used.

<nextid> <nextid> is an obsolete HTML element that served to enable the NeXT web
designing tool to generate automatic NAME labels for its anchors.

<nobr> The non-standard, obsolete HTML <nobr> element prevents the text it contains from
automatically wrapping across multiple lines, potentially resulting in the user having
to scroll horizontally to see the entire width of the text.

<noembed> The <noembed> element is an obsolete, non-standard way to provide alternative, or


"fallback", content for browsers that do not support the embed element or do not
support the type of embedded content an author wishes to use.
Element Description

<noframes> The obsolete HTML No Frames or frame fallback element, <noframes>, provides
content to be presented in browsers that don't support (or have disabled support for)
the frame element.

<plaintext> The HTML Plaintext Element (<plaintext>) renders everything following the start
tag as raw text, ignoring any following HTML.

<rb> The HTML Ruby Base (<rb>) element is used to delimit the base text component
of a ruby annotation, i.e. the text that is being annotated.

<rtc> The HTML Ruby Text Container (<rtc>) element embraces semantic annotations
of characters presented in a ruby of rb elements used inside
of ruby element. rb elements can have both pronunciation (rt) and semantic (rtc)
annotations.

<shadow> The HTML <shadow> element—an obsolete part of the Web


Components technology suite—was intended to be used as a shadow DOM insertion
point.

<spacer> <spacer> is an obsolete HTML element which allowed insertion of empty spaces on
pages. It was devised by Netscape to accomplish the same effect as a single-pixel
layout image, which was something web designers used to use to add white spaces
to web pages without actually using an image. However, <spacer> no longer
supported by any major browser and the same effects can now be achieved using
simple CSS.

<strike> The HTML <strike> element (or HTML Strikethrough Element) places a
strikethrough (horizontal line) over text.

<tt> The obsolete HTML Teletype Text element (<tt>) creates inline text which is
presented using the user agent default monospace font face.

<xmp> The HTML Example Element (<xmp>) renders text between the start and end tags
without interpreting the HTML in between and using a monospaced font. The
HTML2 specification recommended that it should be rendered wide enough to allow
80 characters per line.

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