PHP Developers

Saturday, August 11, 2012

HTML Text Formatting

This text is bold

This text is big

This text is italic

This is computer output

This is_subscript and ^superscript

HTML Formatting Tags

HTML uses tags like <b> and <i> for formatting output, like bold or italic text.

These HTML tags are called formatting tags (look at the bottom of this page for a complete reference).

Often <strong> renders as <b>, and <em> renders as <i>.

However, there is a difference in the meaning of these tags:

<b> or <i> defines bold or italic text only.

<strong> or <em> means that you want the text to be rendered in a way that the user understands as "important". Today, all major browsers render strong as bold and em as italics. However, if a browser one day wants to make a text highlighted with the strong feature, it might be cursive for example and not bold!

Try it Yourself - Examples

Text formatting
How to format text in an HTML document.

Preformatted text
How to control the line breaks and spaces with the pre tag.

"Computer output" tags
How different "computer output" tags will be displayed.

Address
How to define contact information for the author/owner of an HTML document.

Abbreviations and acronyms
How to handle abbreviations and acronyms.

Text direction
How to change the text direction.

Quotations
How to handle long and short quotations.

Deleted and inserted text
How to mark deleted and inserted text.

HTML Text Formatting Tags

Tag	Description
<b>	Defines bold text
<big>	Defines big text
<em>	Defines emphasized text
<i>	Defines italic text
<small>	Defines small text
<strong>	Defines strong text
<sub>	Defines subscripted text
<sup>	Defines superscripted text
<ins>	Defines inserted text
<del>	Defines deleted text

HTML "Computer Output" Tags

Tag	Description
<code>	Defines computer code text
<kbd>	Defines keyboard text
<samp>	Defines sample computer code
<tt>	Defines teletype text
<var>	Defines a variable
<pre>	Defines preformatted text

HTML Citations, Quotations, and Definition Tags

Tag	Description
<abbr>	Defines an abbreviation
<acronym>	Defines an acronym
<address>	Defines contact information for the author/owner of a document
<bdo>	Defines the text direction
<blockquote>	Defines a long quotation
<q>	Defines a short quotation
<cite>	Defines a citation
<dfn>	Defines a definition term

HTML Paragraphs

HTML documents are divided into paragraphs.

HTML Paragraphs

Paragraphs are defined with the <p> tag.

Example

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

Note: Browsers automatically add an empty line before and after a paragraph.

Don't Forget the End Tag

Most browsers will display HTML correctly even if you forget the end tag:

Example

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

The example above will work in most browsers, but don't rely on it. Forgetting the end tag can produce unexpected results or errors.

Note: Future version of HTML will not allow you to skip end tags.

HTML Line Breaks

Use the <br /> tag if you want a line break (a new line) without starting a new paragraph:

Example

<p>This is<br />a para<br />graph with line breaks</p>

The <br /> element is an empty HTML element. It has no end tag.

In XHTML, XML, elements with no end tag (closing tag) are not allowed.

Even if <br> works in all browsers, writing <br /> instead works better in XHTML and XML applications.

HTML Output - Useful Tips

You cannot be sure how HTML will be displayed. Large or small screens, and resized windows will create different results.

With HTML, you cannot change the output by adding extra spaces or extra lines in your HTML code.

The browser will remove extra spaces and extra lines when the page is displayed. Any number of lines count as one line, and any number of spaces count as one space.

Try it yourself

(The example demonstrates some HTML formatting problems)

Examples from this page

HTML paragraphs
How HTML paragraphs are displayed in a browser.

Line breaks
The use of line breaks in an HTML document.

Poem problems
Some problems with HTML formatting.

More Examples

More paragraphs
The default behaviors of paragraphs.

HTML Tag Reference

W3Schools' tag reference contains additional information about HTML elements and their attributes.

Tag	Description
<p>	Defines a paragraph
<br />	Inserts a single line break

HTML Headings

Headings are important in HTML documents.

HTML Headings

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 a heading</h1>
<h2>This is a heading</h2>
<h3>This is a heading</h3>

Note: Browsers automatically add some empty space (a margin) before and after each heading.

Headings Are Important

Use HTML headings for headings only. Don't use headings to make text BIG or bold.

Search engines use your headings to index the structure and content of your web pages.

Since users may skim your pages by its headings, it is important to use headings to show the document structure.

H1 headings should be used as main headings, followed by H2 headings, then the less important H3 headings, and so on.

HTML Lines

The <hr /> tag creates a horizontal line in an HTML page.

The hr element can be used to separate content:

Example

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

HTML Comments

Comments can be inserted into the HTML code to make it more readable and understandable. Comments are ignored by the browser and are not displayed.

Comments are written like this:

Example

Note: There is an exclamation point after the opening bracket, but not before the closing bracket.

HTML Tip - How to View HTML Source

Have you ever seen a Web page and wondered "Hey! How did they do that?"

To find out, right-click in the page and select "View Source" (IE) or "View Page Source" (Firefox), or similar for other browsers. This will open a window containing the HTML code of the page.

Examples From This Page

Headings

How to display headings in an HTML document.

Hidden comments

How to insert comments in the HTML source code.

Horizontal lines

How to insert a horizontal line.

HTML Tag Reference

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

You will learn more about HTML tags and attributes in the next chapters of this tutorial.

Tag	Description
<html>	Defines an HTML document
<body>	Defines the document's body
<h1> to <h6>	Defines HTML headings
<hr />	Defines a horizontal line
<!-->	Defines a comment

HTML: Attributes

Attributes provide additional information about HTML elements.

HTML Attributes

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

Attribute Example

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

Example

Always Quote Attribute Values

Attribute values should always be enclosed in quotes.

Double style quotes are the most common, but single style quotes are also allowed.

Tip: In some rare situations, when the attribute value itself contains quotes, it is necessary to use single quotes: name='John "ShotGun" Nelson'

HTML Tip: Use Lowercase Attributes

Attribute names and attribute values are case-insensitive.

However, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends lowercase attributes/attribute values in their HTML 4 recommendation.

Newer versions of (X)HTML will demand lowercase attributes.

HTML Attributes Reference

A complete list of legal attributes for each HTML element is listed in our:

Complete HTML Reference

Below is a list of some attributes that are standard for most HTML elements:

Attribute	Value	Description
class	classname	Specifies a classname for an element
id	id	Specifies a unique id for an element
style	style_definition	Specifies an inline style for an element
title	tooltip_text	Specifies extra information about an element (displayed as a tool tip)

For more information about standard attributes:

HTML Standard Attributes Reference