HTML Tags & Definitions



Align - This attribute indicates the alignment of the text within the tag element where it is used. Ex: of the align value are center, left, right, bottom, top or justify

Anchor - an important element for hypertext links of any sort. The anchor tag can have one of several attributes:

HREF - indicates the destination URL

Name - defines the current line as the destination point. This is used for internal (local web site) jumps to specific lines in a document.

Target - The name of a window to be used when going to a hypertext link. If the window does not exist, a new browser window will be opened.

Address - indicates an address, typically the e-mail address of the web author.

<ADDRESS>email address</ADDRESS>

ASCII Text - a common set of characters that can be interpreted by computers throughout the world. The text entered whether for the first time or from an existing document - must be free of any special formatting.


Line Breaks - the <BR> code will insert a blank line or produce a return character in web document.

Body - this closed tag contains everything that the user will see. Any text, images and links used in the page must be placed between the body tags.

Background - this attribute used with the body tag allows a graphic image to be displayed behind the text in a browser window. The full graphic name including the path (if required) and name extension must be used. ex: <BODY BACKGROUND="graphic.jpg"> or <BODY BACKGROUND="graphic.gif">.

Bold - this tag will cause the browser to display the text enclosed within the tag as bold. Tag: <B></B>. Does require a closing tag!

Blockquotes - normally used to quote long blocks of text. This will force the text to indent from the left and right margins. This will higlight the text. All codes that can be used with other text can be used within block quote.


Center - Centers all enclosed text. Tag = <CENTER> </CENTER>

Closing Tags - most of the tags used with HTML require a closing tag to tell the browser where the tag ends. All closing tags consist of </Tag Name>.. The forward slash is required as part of the closing tag!




Font - used to control the size of a displayed font. Tag: <FONT Size=_ or - Number between 1 - 7>

Frame - Splits the browser window into 2 or more windows. Each window can then display a different html document.

<FRAME SRC="http://source document URL">

The frame tag has the following attributes:
Name - the name assigned to the frame. This will be used with the target command for a HREF link

NORESIZE - turns off the ability of the user to resize the displayed frame.

SCROLLING - can be set to either yers, no or auto. Displays a scroll bar in the window. Defaults to auto.

Frameset - used instead of the body tag. Sets up the size of the frame windows



GIF - Compuserve Graphic Interchange Format. A commonly used graphics file format that can be displayed with the browser window.


HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language - The tag which tells the browser that the text and codes that follow are HTML. The browser will then interput the codes and display the text appropriately. It is the main container for a web page. All other html tags are contained here. This tag requires a closing tag.

Head - contains information about the html document. Nothing here will display in the browser. Common items found here are the author, search engine keywords etc.

Heading - Sets the size of the enclosed text base in level of importance. Range is from H1 (the largest) to H6 (the smallest)

Tag: <H1> </H1>

HR tag - Horizontal Rule, used to display a graphic line across the browser window

Attributes -

Size=X - the thickness of the line in pixels

Width=X - the width of the line as a percentage % or the number of pixels


Italic - italicize the text within the tag: <I> </I>

Image - allows the web author to display a graphic image at the location of his choice in the document. Attributes include:

<IMG SRC="graphic name">

Align - alignment of text on the line, left, middle, right, top or bottom.

Border - the thickness of the border around a graphic

Height - height of the graphic in pixels

Width - width of the graphic in pixels

SRC - the source (name) for the graphic image

IMG SRC - the name an of the graphic file to be displayed in the web browser. This may also contain the URL of the graphic image if the image is found on a remote server. Tag - <IMG SRC="Graphic name>"


JPG - Joint Photographic Experts Group - another graphics format that a browser can display within the browser window.



List Item - takes the enclosed text and makes it a part of a list

Tag: <LI> </LI>


Align - specifies the item alignment, justify, left, right or center

Type - for the <UL> list type this can be circle, disc or square. For the <OL> type this indicates the starting number, defaults to 1.

Link - specifies the relationship between the current web page and other HTML documents.

Tag: <A HREF="URL or address of page"> </A>


Meta - The meta tag contains information about the document beyond the tile and other things defined in the head section. Meta tags are used to imbed specialized into the document header.

The following attributes are used:

Mailto: - this tag allows the users browser to send email to the mail account that has been linked by this tag. Use the tag like this:

<a href=mailto:"user address">Persons Name</A>



Ordered List - a list type the when displayed in the browser shows each item in the list on a seperate numbered line. The number sequence will start with one (1) and add 1 to each number through the entire list.


Paragraphs - the paragraph tag allows the browser to display text similiar to the way a book is printed. Line word wrap at the proper place, a blank line is generated above and below the text being displayed.

Preformatted Text - text that has been generated in a database, word processor or some other program that has formatted the output to include tabs or spaces. Text that needs to be in columns are good examples. The tag is: <PRE>. Since this tag will not delete a line of blank spaces, the browser will not word wrap text enclosed by the PRE tag.

Pixel - the smallest character that can be displayed on the screen. Refers to a colored dot.



Remarks - <!--> allows the web page designer (author) to insert comments into the web page. These comments will not display in the web browser. The tag must end with -->

Rules - a graphic line that is displayed on the screen. The size (thickness) of the rule can be controlled as well as the length of the line across the display. Size is controlled by the size=X attribute, width can be expressed as a percentage width = 75% or by pixels width = 150

<HR size=10>
<HR width=80%> or <HR width=150>


Subscripts - subscripts are just like the subscripts used in word processing docurments. The text enclosed in this tag will display as a subscript

<Sub>Text to be displayed</Sub>

Superscripts -

<Sup>Text to be displayed</Sup>

Special Characters

Non Breaking space a browser by default will eliminate all but one blank space in any line of text. This prevents the web author from indenting the first line of a paragraph or otherwise highligting text. HTML allows the use of the non breaking space code to insert a blank character in a line of text. The code is &nbsp;. Use this code for each blank space needed a line of text.

Less than - the less than bracket (left pointing arrow) is normally used with a HTML tag. If the browser does not display the less than bracket use the following code; &lt;

Greater than - the greater than bracket (right pointing arrow) works just like the less than backet above. Use; &gt;

Note: These codes require the use of the ; to show this is the end of the tag.


Title - tells the browser the title for the page. This will be displayed on the title line of the browser. Try to make this no more than about 60 characters.

Tags - an html code or instruction that is contained with an opening < and a > brackets. Some tags are considered open. They consist of just the brackets and the code. Closed tags have both an opening tag "<code>" and a closing tag, "</code>". Please note the "/" as it is required to show this is a closing tag.

Table - tables are similiar to a spreadsheet display in that each contains columns and rows. Tables must be defined with an opening tag of <TABLE> with the closing tag of </TABLE>

Table Data - this is the individual cell or data that will be displayed by the browser. To define the cell use: <TD>, Data to be displayed </TD>

Table Row - This tag defines the row element of the table. Each row that is displayed will use the following tags: <TR>, closing tag </TR>

Ex: 2 cell, 2 row table

     <TD>This is a cell</TD>
     <TD>This is cell 2</TD>

     <TD>This is a cell</TD>
     <TD>This is cell 2</TD>


Unordered List - a list of items that will be indented with a bullet character in front of the line item. The opening and closing tags for an unordered list are: <UL> and </UL> Each line in the list must be contained with the the l ist item tag: <LI> and </LI>.

Underline - places and underline character under the selected text. Tag: <U>. Must use a closing tag.

Uniform Resource Locator - the standard world wide web address used to locate web pages.