What Are HTML Tags?
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the standard language used to create webpages. Tags are the building blocks of HTML and are essential for structuring content on the web.
Basic Structure of HTML Tags
HTML tags are surrounded by angle brackets (<>) and generally come in pairs: an opening tag and a closing tag. The closing tag includes a forward slash (/) before the tag name. For example:
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
The opening tag is <p> which tells the browser to start a paragraph, and the closing tag </p> indicates where the paragraph ends.
Types of HTML Tags
Tags can be categorized into different types based on their purpose:
- Structural Tags: These include
<html>,<head>, and<body>. They define the structure of the HTML document. - Text Formatting Tags: Tags such as
<b>(bold),<i>(italic), and<u>(underline) are used to format text. - Link Tags: The
<a>tag is used to create hyperlinks, which allow users to navigate from one page to another. - List Tags: Tags like
<ul>and<ol>are used for unordered and ordered lists, respectively. - Image Tags: The
<img>tag is used to embed images in a webpage.
Self-Closing Tags
Some HTML tags do not need a closing tag because they do not wrap around any content. These are known as self-closing tags. Examples include:
<br> (line break), <hr> (horizontal rule), and <img>. The syntax for self-closing tags in XHTML is usually written as <tagname /> but in HTML5, the / is optional.
Common HTML Tag Attributes
Tags can also have attributes that provide additional information about the tag. Some common attributes include:
- class: Used to define a class for CSS styling.
- id: Uniquely identifies an element on the page.
- href: Used with the
<a>tag to specify the destination of a link. - src: Specifies the source of an image in the
<img>tag. - alt: Provides alternative text for images, improving accessibility.