Skip to main content

HTML Elements

 


 

An HTML element is defined by a start tag, some content, and an end tag.

HTML Elements

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

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

Examples of some HTML elements:

<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>
Start tag Element content End tag
<h1> My First Heading </h1>
<p> My first paragraph. </p>
<br> none none

Note: Some HTML elements have no content (like the <br> element). These elements are called empty elements. Empty elements do not have an end tag!

Nested HTML Elements

HTML elements can be nested (this means that elements can contain other elements).

All HTML documents consist of nested HTML elements.

The following example contains four HTML elements (<html>, <body>, <h1> and <p>):

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

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

</body>
</html>

Example Explained

The <html> element is the root element and it defines the whole HTML document.

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

Then, inside the <html> element there is a <body> element:

<body>

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

</body>

The <body> element defines the document's body.

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

Then, inside the <body> element there are two other elements: <h1> and <p>:

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

The <h1> element defines a heading.

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

<h1>My First Heading</h1>

The <p> element defines a paragraph.

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

<p>My first paragraph.</p>

Never Skip 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>

However, never rely on this! Unexpected results and errors may occur if you forget the end tag!

Empty HTML Elements

HTML elements with no content are called empty elements.

The <br> tag defines a line break, and is an empty element without a closing tag:

Example

<p>This is a <br> paragraph with a line break.</p>

HTML is Not Case Sensitive

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

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

At W3Schools we always use lowercase tag names.

HTML Tag Reference

W3Schools' tag reference contains additional information about these tags and their attributes.

Tag Description
<html> Defines the root of an HTML document
<body> Defines the document's body
<h1> to <h6> Defines HTML headings

For a complete list of all available HTML tags, visit our HTML Tag Reference.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HTML Basic Examples

In this chapter we will show some basic HTML examples.   Don't worry if we use tags you have not learned about yet. 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 > < p > My  lost fire. < /p > < p > My string vote . < /p > < p > My  electro bike. < /p > < p > My  surep cat. < /p > < p > My underdog select . < /p > < p > My  eyes is wet. < /p > < /body > < /html >   The <!DOCTYPE> Declaration The <!DOCTYPE> declaration represents the document type , and he...
Post a Comment
Read more

HTML Text Formatting

    HTML contains several elements for defining text with a special meaning. Example This text is bold This text is italic This is subscript and superscript HTML Formatting Elements Formatting elements were designed to display special types of text: <b> - Bold text <strong> - Important text <i> - Italic text <em> - Emphasized text <mark> - Marked text <small> - Smaller text <del> - Deleted text <ins> - Inserted text <sub> - Subscript text <sup> - Superscript text HTML <b> and <strong> Elements The HTML <b> element defines bold text, without any extra importance. Example < b > This text is bold < /b > The HTML <strong> element defines text with strong importance. The content inside is typically displayed in bold. Example < strong > This text is important ! < /strong > ADVERTISEMENT HTML <i> a...
Post a Comment
Read more