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HTML documents are defined by HTML elements.
*HTML Elements*
An HTML element is everything from the start tag to the end tag:
Start tag * Element content End tag * <p> This is a paragraph </p> <a href="default.htm" > This is a link </a> <br /> *** The start tag is often called the *opening tag*. The end tag is often called the *closing tag*.
*HTML Element Syntax*
* An HTML element starts with a *start tag / opening tag*
* An HTML element ends with an *end tag / closing tag*
* The *element content* is everything between the start and the end tag
* Some HTML elements have *empty content*
* Empty elements are *closed in the start tag*
* Most HTML elements can have *attributes*
(You will learn about element attributes in the next chapter of this tutorial)
*Nested HTML Elements*
Most HTML elements can be nested (can contain other HTML elements).
HTML documents consist of nested HTML elements.
*HTML Document Example*
<html>
<body>
<p>This is my first paragraph</p>
</body>
</html>
The example above contains 3 HTML elements.
*Example Explained*
*The <p> element:*
<p>This is my first paragraph</p> The <p> element defines a paragraph in the HTML document
The element has a start tag <p> and an end tag </p>
The element content is: This is my first paragraph
*The <body> element:*
<body>
<p>This is my first paragraph</p>
</body> The <body> element defines the body of the HTML document
The element has a start tag <body> and an end tag </body>
The element content is another HTML element (a paragraph)
*The <html> element:*
<html>
<body>
<p>This is my first paragraph</p>
</body>
</html> The <html> element defines the whole HTML document.
The element has a start tag <html> and an end tag </html>
The element content is another HTML element (the body)
*Don't Forget the End Tag*
Most browsers will display HTML correctly even if you forget the end tag:
<p>This is a paragraph
<p>This is a 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.
*Empty HTML Elements*
HTML elements without content are called empty elements. Empty elements can be closed in the start tag.
<br> is an empty element without a closing tag (it defines a line break).
In XHTML, XML, and future versions of HTML, all elements must be closed.
Adding a slash to the start tag, like <br />, is the proper way of closing empty elements, accepted by HTML, XHTML and XML.
Even if <br> works in all browsers, writing <br /> instead is more future proof.
*HTML Tip: Use Lowercase Tags*
HTML tags are not case sensitive: <P> means the same as <p>. Plenty of web sites use uppercase HTML tags in their pages.
W3Schools use lowercase tags because the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) *recommends* lowercase in HTML 4, and *demands* lowercase tags in future versions of (X)HTML.
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