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Website & HTML 101

HTML, short for Hypertext Markup Language, is the primary and most basic form of computer code for creating web pages and websites. It is an open format language, which means that the specifications for writing HTML code are available for viewing by the public. HTML code standards are maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which was formed in late 1994. Almost all online content exists in the form of web pages and websites which use some form of HTML code. Web browser software reads HTML and uses the code as an instruction set for laying out text and other content in human readable format. HTML has undergone several revisions, and it comes in static or dynamic form. Static HTML, from which static web pages are made, comprises of basic code and includes content that does not change. Dynamic HTML uses interactive elements and client-side scripting such as Javascript or Active-X. Whether the web page is static or dynamic, however, they typically need to employ HTML tags to display their content. Because of this, all web designers will need to become intimately familiar with various HTML code tags in order to begin producing functional and attractive online content.

HTML/Head/Body Tags

The HTML tag is the root tag of a document. It should occur in the HTML document, and the last tag that should be closed out. The HEAD tag is used to define information that pertains to the document, and typically includes the TITLE tag, among others. The tag is the root tag for the HTML document’s visible data. All visible web page text and content should be contained within the Body, which should itself, along with the HEAD tag, be contained within the HTML tag.

A (anchor) Tags

The A tag is a hyperlink tag which takes a web browser to another web page. A typical example of implementing this tag is http://site.com”> where http://site.com is the address of the web page that is being referenced.

IMG / SRC / Height / Width Tags

The IMG tag is for images. The SRC is the location of the graphic itself in URL format, while the height and width sub-tags define how tall and wide the graphic should be, measured in pixels.

H1-6 Tags

The Header tag is the text heading tag. The smaller the number, the larger the headline text. For instance, text contained within the H1 tag is larger than text contained in the H2 tag, which is much larger than text contained in the H6 tag.

HR Tags

HR means a line rule tag, and it represents a physical line drawn horizontally across the page. It is used to separate major parts of the document, or sometimes for aesthetic reasons.

BR Tags

A sentence or paragraph line break is created by the BR tag. Multiple BR tags can be used to create additional vertical space between sections of content.

B/I/U Tags

The B tag is used for making bold text, the I tag is for italicizing text, and the U tag is for underlined text. It is possible to make text bolded, italicized and underlined at the same time.

Table Tags

The Table tag, and its sub-tags, make a powerful tool for controlling a web page’s layout. It does so by using rows and columns to arrange content. This is a popular tag, especially among commercial websites that wish to list large amounts of merchandise in rows and columns on a single page.

Ol/ul li Tags

The OL, UL and LI tags are for arranging data into lists. LI is the actual tag that is used to list the data, and OL and UL affect how LI works. The OL tag is an ordered list tag and it directs the LI tag to list data in numbered lists, while the UL tag is for unordered lists, and directs the LI tag to list data using bullet points. Without the OL or UL tags, LI will list data using bullet points.

P Tags

The P tag is the paragraph tag. It marks the start and end of a paragraph, and authors can also add parameters within the P tag to justify text.