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Elements and Atributes


HTML documents are defined by 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.


HTML Element Syntax

Tip: You will learn about attributes in the next chapter of this tutorial.


Nested HTML Elements

Most HTML elements can be nested (can contain other HTML elements).

HTML documents consist of nested HTML elements.


HTML Document Example

The example above contains 3 HTML elements.


HTML Example Explained

The <p> element:

The <p> element defines a paragraph in the HTML document.
The element has a start tag <p> and an end tag </p>.
The element content is: This is my first paragraph.

The <body> element:

The <body> element defines the body of the HTML document.
The element has a start tag <body> and an end tag </body>.
The element content is another HTML element (a p element).

The <html> element:

The <html> element defines the whole HTML document.
The element has a start tag <html> and an end tag </html>.
The element content is another HTML element (the body element).


Don’t Forget the End Tag

Some HTML elements might display correctly even if you forget the end tag:

The example above works in most browsers, because the closing tag is considered optional.

Never rely on this. Many HTML elements will produce unexpected results and/or errors if you forget the end tag .


Empty HTML Elements

HTML elements with no content are called empty elements.

<br> is an empty element without a closing tag (the <br> tag defines a line break).

Tip: In XHTML, all elements must be closed. Adding a slash inside the start tag, like <br />, is the proper way of closing empty elements in XHTML (and XML).


HTML Tip: Use Lowercase Tags

HTML tags are not case sensitive: <P> means the same as <p>. Many web sites use uppercase HTML tags.

W3Schools use lowercase tags because the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendslowercase in HTML 4, and demands lowercase tags in XHTML.

Start tag * Element content End tag * <p> This is a paragraph </p> <a href=”default.htm” > This is a link </a> <br />     <html>

<body>
<p>This is my first paragraph.</p>
</body>

</html> <p>This is my first paragraph.</p> <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

Example

<a href=”http://www.w3schools.com”>This is a link</a>
Try it yourself » Attribute Value Description class classname Specifies a classname for an element id id Specifies a unique id for an element style style_definition Specifies an inline style for an element title tooltip_text  Specifies extra information about an element (displayed as a tool tip)
· 22/1/11 · Reblog