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HTML Intoduction

What is HTML?

HTML is the standard markup language for creating Web pages.

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language
HTML describes the structure of Web pages using markup
HTML elements are the building blocks of HTML pages
HTML elements are represented by tags
HTML tags label pieces of content such as "heading", "paragraph", "table", and so on
Browsers do not display the HTML tags, but use them to render the content of the page

A Simple HTML Document

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Page Title</title>
</head>
<body>

<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

Example Explained

The <!DOCTYPE html> declaration defines this document to be HTML5
The <html> element is the root element of an HTML page
The <head> element contains meta information about the document
The <title> element specifies a title for the document
The <body> element contains the visible page content
The <h1> element defines a large heading
The <p> element defines a paragraph

HTML Tags

HTML tags are element names surrounded by angle brackets:

<tagname>content goes here...</tagname>

HTML tags normally come in pairs like <p> and </p>
The first tag in a pair is the start tag, the second tag is the end tag
The end tag is written like the start tag, but with a forward slash inserted before the tag name

Web Browsers

The purpose of a web browser (Chrome, IE, Firefox, Safari) is to read HTML documents and display them.

The browser does not display the HTML tags, but uses them to determine how to display the document:

HTML Page Structure

Below is a visualization of an HTML page structure:

<html>

<head>

<title>Page title</title>

</head>

<body>

<h1>This is a heading</h1>

<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

<p>This is another paragraph.</p>

</body>

</html>

Note: Only the content inside the <body> section (the white area above) is displayed in a browser.

The <!DOCTYPE> Declaration

The <!DOCTYPE> declaration represents the document type, and helps browsers to display web pages correctly.

It must only appear once, at the top of the page (before any HTML tags).

The <!DOCTYPE> declaration is not case sensitive.

The <!DOCTYPE> declaration for HTML5 is:

HTML Editors

Write HTML Using Notepad or TextEdit

Web pages can be created and modified by using professional HTML editors.

However, for learning HTML we recommend a simple text editor like Notepad (PC) or TextEdit (Mac).

We believe using a simple text editor is a good way to learn HTML.

Follow the four steps below to create your first web page with Notepad or TextEdit.

Step 1: Open Notepad (PC)

Windows 8 or later:

Open the Start Screen (the window symbol at the bottom left on your screen). Type Notepad.

Windows 7 or earlier:

Open Start > Programs > Accessories > Notepad

Step 1: Open TextEdit (Mac)

Open Finder > Applications > TextEdit

Also change some preferences to get the application to save files correctly. In Preferences > Format > choose "Plain Text"

Then under "Open and Save", check the box that says "Display HTML files as HTML code instead of formatted text".

Then open a new document to place the code.

Step 2: Write Some HTML

Write or copy some HTML into Notepad.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<h1>My First Heading</h1>

<p>My first paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

Step 3: Save the HTML Page

Save the file on your computer. Select File > Save as in the Notepad menu.

Name the file "index.htm" and set the encoding to UTF-8 (which is the preferred encoding for HTML files).

You can use either .htm or .html as file extension. There is no difference, it is up to you.

Step 4: View the HTML Page in Your Browser

Open the saved HTML file in your favorite browser (double click on the file, or right-click - and choose "Open with").

The result will look much like this:

W3Schools Online Editor

With our free online editor, you can edit HTML code and view the result in your browser.

It is the perfect tool when you want to test code fast. It also has color coding and the ability to save and share code with others:

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Page Title</title>
</head>
<body>

<h1>This is a Heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

HTML Basic Examples

Don't worry if these examples use tags you have not learned.

You will learn about them in the next chapters.

HTML Documents

All HTML documents must start with a document type declaration: <!DOCTYPE html>.

The HTML document itself begins with <html> and ends with </html>.

The visible part of the HTML document is between <body> and </body>.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

HTML Headings

HTML headings are defined with the <h1> to <h6> tags.

<h1> defines the most important heading. <h6> defines the least important heading:

Example

<h1>This is heading 1</h1>
<h2>This is heading 2</h2>
<h3>This is heading 3</h3>

HTML Paragraphs

HTML paragraphs are defined with the <p> tag:

Example

<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
<p>This is another paragraph.</p>

HTML Links

HTML links are defined with the <a> tag:

Example

<a href="https://www.w3schools.com">This is a link</a>

The link's destination is specified in the href attribute.

Attributes are used to provide additional information about HTML elements.

You will learn more about attributes in a later chapter.

HTML Images

HTML images are defined with the <img> tag.

The source file (src), alternative text (alt), width, and height are provided as attributes:

Example

<img src="w3schools.jpg" alt="W3Schools.com" width="104" height="142">

HTML Buttons

HTML buttons are defined with the <button> tag:

Example

<button>Click me</button>

HTML Lists

HTML lists are defined with the <ul> (unordered/bullet list) or the <ol> (ordered/numbered list) tag, followed by <li>tags (list items):

Example

<ul>
  <li>Coffee</li>
  <li>Tea</li>
  <li>Milk</li>
</ul>

HTML Elements

An HTML element usually consists of a start tag and end tag, with the content inserted in between:

<tagname>Content goes here...</tagname>

The HTML element is everything from the start tag to the end tag:

<p>My first paragraph.</p>

Start tag	Element content	End tag
<h1>	My First Heading	</h1>
<p>	My first paragraph.	</p>
<br>

HTML elements with no content are called empty elements. Empty elements do not have an end tag, such as the <br> element (which indicates a line break).

Nested HTML Elements

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

All HTML documents consist of nested HTML elements.

This example contains four HTML elements:

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

Example Explained

The <html> element defines the whole document.

It has a start tag <html> and an end tag </html>.

The element content is another HTML element (the <body> element).

<html>
<body>

<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>

The <body> element defines the document body.

It has a start tag <body> and an end tag </body>.

The element content is two other HTML elements (<h1> and <p>).

<body>

<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>

</body>

The <h1> element defines a heading.

It has a start tag <h1> and an end tag </h1>.

The element content is: My First Heading.

<h1>My First Heading</h1>

The <p> element defines a paragraph.

It has a start tag <p> and an end tag </p>.

The element content is: My first paragraph.

<p>My first paragraph.</p>

Do Not Forget the End Tag

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

Example

<html>
<body>

<p>This is a paragraph
<p>This is a paragraph

</body>
</html>

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

Never rely on this. It might 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).

Empty elements can be "closed" in the opening tag like this: <br />.

HTML5 does not require empty elements to be closed. But if you want stricter validation, or if you need to make your document readable by XML parsers, you must close all HTML elements properly.

Use Lowercase Tags

HTML tags are not case sensitive: <P> means the same as <p>.

The HTML5 standard does not require lowercase tags, but W3C recommends lowercase in HTML, and demands lowercase for stricter document types like XHTML.

HTML Attributes

Attributes provide additional information about HTML elements.

HTML Attributes

All HTML elements can have attributes
Attributes provide additional information about an element
Attributes are always specified in the start tag
Attributes usually come in name/value pairs like: name="value"

The href Attribute

HTML links are defined with the <a> tag. The link address is specified in the href attribute:

Example

<a href="https://www.w3schools.com">This is a link</a>

You will learn more about links and the <a> tag later in this tutorial.

The src Attribute

HTML images are defined with the <img> tag.

The filename of the image source is specified in the src attribute:

Example

<img src="img_girl.jpg">

The width and height Attributes

Images in HTML have a set of size attributes, which specifies the width and height of the image:

Example

<img src="img_girl.jpg" width="500" height="600">

The image size is specified in pixels: width="500" means 500 pixels wide.

You will learn more about images in our HTML Images chapter.

The alt Attribute

The alt attribute specifies an alternative text to be used, when an image cannot be displayed.

The value of the attribute can be read by screen readers. This way, someone "listening" to the webpage, e.g. a vision impaired person, can "hear" the element.

Example

<img src="img_girl.jpg" alt="Girl with a jacket">

The alt attribute is also useful if the image does not exist:

Example

See what happens if we try to display an image that does not exist:

<img src="img_typo.jpg" alt="Girl with a jacket">

The style Attribute

The style attribute is used to specify the styling of an element, like color, font, size etc.

Example

<p style="color:red">I am a paragraph</p>

You will learn more about styling later in this tutorial, and in our CSS Tutorial.

The lang Attribute

The language of the document can be declared in the <html> tag.

The language is declared with the lang attribute.

Declaring a language is important for accessibility applications (screen readers) and search engines:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en-US">
<body>

...

</body>
</html>

The first two letters specify the language (en). If there is a dialect, use two more letters (US).

The title Attribute

Here, a title attribute is added to the <p> element. The value of the title attribute will be displayed as a tooltip when you mouse over the paragraph:

Example

<p title="I'm a tooltip">
This is a paragraph.
</p>

We Suggest: Use Lowercase Attributes

The HTML5 standard does not require lowercase attribute names.

The title attribute can be written with uppercase or lowercase like title or TITLE.

W3C recommends lowercase in HTML, and demands lowercase for stricter document types like XHTML.

At W3Schools we always use lowercase attribute names.

We Suggest: Quote Attribute Values

The HTML5 standard does not require quotes around attribute values.

The href attribute, demonstrated above, can be written without quotes:

Bad

<a href=https://www.w3schools.com>

Good

<a href="https://www.w3schools.com">

SJ Creative recommends quotes in HTML, and demands quotes for stricter document types like XHTML.

Sometimes it is necessary to use quotes. This example will not display the title attribute correctly, because it contains a space:

Example

<p title=About W3Schools>

Using quotes are the most common. Omitting quotes can produce errors.
At W3Schools we always use quotes around attribute values.

Single or Double Quotes?

Double quotes around attribute values are the most common in HTML, but single quotes can also be used.

In some situations, when the attribute value itself contains double quotes, it is necessary to use single quotes:

<p title='John "ShotGun" Nelson'>

Or vice versa:

<p title="John 'ShotGun' Nelson">

HTML Attributes

Below is an alphabetical list of some attributes often used in HTML, which you will learn more about in this tutorial:

Attribute	Description
alt	Specifies an alternative text for an image, when the image cannot be displayed
disabled	Specifies that an input element should be disabled
href	Specifies the URL (web address) for a link
id	Specifies a unique id for an element
src	Specifies the URL (web address) for an image
style	Specifies an inline CSS style for an element
title	Specifies extra information about an element (displayed as a tool tip)

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Labels

Layout

Technology

HTML Intoduction

What is HTML?

A Simple HTML Document

Example

Example Explained

HTML Tags

Web Browsers

HTML Page Structure

The <!DOCTYPE> Declaration

HTML Editors

Write HTML Using Notepad or TextEdit

Step 1: Open Notepad (PC)

Step 1: Open TextEdit (Mac)

Step 2: Write Some HTML

Step 3: Save the HTML Page

Step 4: View the HTML Page in Your Browser

W3Schools Online Editor

Example

HTML Basic Examples

HTML Documents

Example

HTML Headings

Example

HTML Paragraphs

Example

HTML Links

Example

HTML Images

Example

HTML Buttons

Example

HTML Lists

Example

HTML Elements

HTML Elements

Nested HTML Elements

Example

Example Explained

Do Not Forget the End Tag

Example

Empty HTML Elements

Use Lowercase Tags

HTML Attributes

HTML Attributes

The href Attribute

Example

The src Attribute

Example

The width and height Attributes

Example

The alt Attribute

Example

Example

The style Attribute

Example

The lang Attribute

The title Attribute

Example

We Suggest: Use Lowercase Attributes

We Suggest: Quote Attribute Values

Bad

Good

Example

Single or Double Quotes?

HTML Attributes

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