Reference Guide


This Guide includes all the tags we have covered together with their attributes, arranged in logically related groups. Where the closing tag is shown in brackets, it is optional.

Overall Structure
<HTML>, </HTML> Contains the entire HTML page.
<HEAD>, </HEAD> Contains the Head section of the page, where the title and other information about the whole page is placed.
<BODY>, </BODY> Contains the Body section of the page, where the actual text that appears on the page is placed.
bgcolor=colourname | #RGB value. Specifies background colour for page.
text=colourname | #RGB value. Specifies default text colour for page.
link=colourname | #RGB value. Specifies colour for an unvisited hypertext link.
vlink=colourname | #RGB value. Specifies colour for a visited link.
alink=colourname | #RGB value. Specifies colour for a link when mouse is over it.
background=URL. Specifies background image (JPEG or GIF file).
<TITLE>, </TITLE> Contains the title (placed in the head).
<!-- ...to... --> All text between these symbols is treated as a comment, and ignored by the browser.
 
Page Layout
<P>, (</P>) Contains a paragraph. With no attributes the only effect is to leave a gap between paragraphs.
align=left | center | right
<P>&nbsp;<P> Idiom to give extra vertical space between paragraphs.
<BR> End-of-line break, without introducing a gap between paragraphs.
clear=none | left | right | all
<PRE>, </PRE> Contains a section of preformated text, to be displayed as written, in a fixed width typeface.
<CENTER>, </CENTER> Contains a section of text, to be centred horizontally in the browser window.
<HR> Creates a horizontal ruled line across the page.
width=pixels | percent%
align=left | center | right
size=pixels
noshade
 
Logical Text Formatting
<H1..H6>, </H1..H6> Enclose a heading. H1 is the largest, H6 is the smallest
 align = left | center | right
<EM>, </EM> Emphasised Text. (Usually displayed in italics.)
<STRONG>, </STRONG> Strong Text. (Usually displayed in bold.)
<CODE>, </CODE> Text is example of Code. (Displayed in fixed-width font.)
<ADDRESS>, </ADDRESS> Text is an address. (Usually displayed in a small font.)
<CITE>, </CITE> Text is a citation. (Usually displayed in italics.)
<Q>, </Q> Text is a short quotation.
cite=URL for hyperlink to source of quotation.
 
Physical Text Formatting
<B>, </B> Bold text.
<I>, </I> Italic text.
<U>, </U> Underlined text.
<S>, </S> Strike text. (Text with a horizontal line through it.)
<SMALL>, </SMALL> Small text.
<BIG>, </BIG> Big text.
<SUB>, </SUB> Subscript.
<SUP>, </SUP> Superscript.
<TT>, </TT> Teletype text. (Text displayed in a fixed-width font.)
<FONT>, </FONT> Specifies a specific font colour, face and size.
color=name | #RGB
face=face1, face2, face3 etc. Will use first recognised font-name from the list.
size=1 to 7 | +1 to +6 | -1 to -6 (1 is smallest, 7 is largest. With sign gives an increase or decrease relative to basefont).
<BASEFONT> Specifies default font for the page. Attributes as for <FONT> tag.
 
Data Structures
<OL>, </OL> Ordered List.
type=1 | i | I | a | A
<UL>, </UL> Unordered List.
type=disk | square | circle
<LI>, (</LI>) List Item for Ordered and Unordered lists.
<TABLE>, </TABLE> Contains a complete table.
border=pixels (Defaults to 1 if attribute present, 0 if attribute absent.)
bgcolor=name | #RGB
width=pixels | percent%
height=pixels | percent%
cellpadding=pixels
cellspacing=pixels
<TR>, (</TR>) Table Row (Can be omitted for first row.)
bgcolor=name | #RGB
align=left | center | right (Default is left for a TD cell, center for a TH cell.)
valign=top | middle | bottom (Default is middle.)
<TD>, (</TD>) Table Data Cell
bgcolor=name | #RGB
width=pixels | percent% (Widest cell sets width for whole column.)
height=pixels | percent% (Highest cell sets height for whole row.)
colspan=number
rowspan=number
align=left | center | right (Default is left.)
valign=top | middle | bottom (Default is middle.)
<TH>, (</TH>) Table Heading Cell. (As for Table Data cell, except text is emboldened and default for align attribute is center.)
 
Images
<IMG>, </IMG> Inserts an Image
src=URL Source file for image. (Should be in GIF or JPEG format.)
border=pixels (Defaults to 1 if attribute present, 0 if attribute absent.)
width=pixels
height=pixels
hspace=pixels
vspace=pixels
alt="Descriptive Text"
align (Avoid using this attribute. Browsers are unpredictable in their behaviour. To align images, either use a <P> paragraph container with an align attribute, or place the image in a table cell.)
 
Hyperlinks
<A>, </A> Anchor.
href=URL | #name | URL#name | mailto:emailaddress
name=text
 
Entity Characters
&lt; and &gt; < and >
&amp; &
&copy; or &#169; ©
&eacute; and &Eacute; é and É
Other accented letters follow same pattern.
&nbsp; Non-breaking Space
&#960; π(Greek Pi, if your browser permits)
 

Copyright © Alan Simpson 2000 Back to index. Last Updated 2000-04-28