If you have used HTML in your web design tasks or have just started learning HTML, then terms like HTML elements, HTML tags, and HTML attributes should be familiar.
However, there is a high likelihood that the trio will often confuse you. You can’t tell the difference between two or more items if you don’t understand their meanings. In that case, this is the place to be. In this article, we will define and differentiate elements, tags, and attributes in HTML. Here are the details as we dive into the meaning of the various terms.
What are HTML Tags
A HTML tag is like a keyword that describes how the content will be formatted and displayed by the web browser. Tags allow web browsers to distinguish between HTML content and simple content. HTML tags consist of three main parts: opening tag, content tag, and closing tag. HTML tags can also be unclosed.
When a web browser reads an HTML document, it reads it top-to-bottom and left-to-right. HTML tags are used to create HTML documents and display their properties. There are different properties associated with each HTML tag.
HTML files must contain some essential tags so that web browsers can differentiate between simple text and HTML texts. As per your code requirement, you can use as many tags as you want. There are several types of tags in HTML. First, there is the start tag Examples include:
- <title>
- <p>
- <b>
There is also an end tag. Similar to the start tag, it has angle brackets. After the first angle bracket, there is a forward slash. Below are examples of end tags corresponding to start tags.
- </title>
- </p>
- </b>
Here are a few common HTML tags:
- Heading tags: Each document has a heading. It is possible that your headings are different sizes. HTML headings are h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 and h6. Before and after each heading, a line is added.
- Tags for paragraphs: You can divide your text into paragraphs using the p tag. There should be a p tag between each paragraph.
- Tag for line breaks: When you use the element, the next line begins. Using this tag, you can create an empty part without opening or closing tags. When using the tag, a blank space follows each character. The gap is required for earlier browsers to render the line break, and omitting it leads to an invalid XHTML line break.
- Tag formatting: There are times when you want your text to look exactly like the HTML content. Use the preformatted tag <pre> in these circumstances.
- Tags with horizontal lines: Lines on the horizontal divide a document into sections. This tag creates a line from the current document position to the right margin and breaks it. A space must appear between hr and the forward-slash in hr/. Without this space, older browsers will have trouble rendering the horizontal line, and using hr without the forward-slash character is not valid XHTML.
What is an HTML Element?
HTML elements represent the building blocks of this language. On a web page or document, each element is an individual component. Every part of the page contains them, including the header, footer, body, and text. A tag consists of a start tag, followed by content and an end tag. It is important to note, however, that not all HTML elements have closing words. These elements are known as void, singletons, or empty elements.
Types of HTML Elements
An HTML element can be grouped into two broad categories. There are inline-level and block-level HTML elements. Block-level elements form the document’s structure. The entire width of the page is devoted to it. It is always necessary to have a line before and after a block HTML element. Examples include <div>,< p>,< h1>, <h6>, <form>, <ol>, <ul> and <li>, etc.
On the other hand, inline-level elements appear mostly in block contents. Additionally, their width depends on how much space each element needs. They include <img>, <a>, <span>, <strong>, <b>, <em>, <i>, <code>, <input> and <button> among others.
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Final Thoughts
It can be concluded from the above discussion that HTML elements and HTML tags are related. It is important to note that tags and attributes are both part of an element. Elements tell the browser what to display, but attributes determine how they behave. Tags indicate the beginning and end of an element. For some elements, especially the closing tags, they may not be necessary. With such information at your disposal, we hope that you will have an easy time using HTML.
Every website you’ve ever visited is composed of just a few elements, along with some clever CSS and JavaScript. That’s the gist of it – to build an effective page, you need to use all the elements at your disposal. The best way to learn elements is to use them. Try building your own web pages, experiment with different elements, and see how it all comes together.