HTML - Basic Tags

HTML tags are the fundamental elements of HTML used for defining the structure of the document. These are letters or words enclosed by angle brackets (< and >).

Usually, most HTML tags come in pairs, consisting of an opening tag and a closing tag. The opening tag marks the beginning of an element, while the closing tag, which includes a forward slash before the tag name, indicates the end of that element.. Each tag has a different meaning and the browser reads the tags and displays the contents enclosed by it accordingly.

For example, if we wrap any text with in the paragraph (<p></p>) tag browser displays it as a separate paragraph. In this tutorial we will discuss all the basic tags in HTML.

Examples of HTML Basic Tags

Below we have described all the basic tags of HTML with proper example that will you to understand the role of each tags.

Heading Tag

Heading tags are used to define headings of douments. You can use different sizes for your headings. HTML also has six levels of headings, which use the elements <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, and <h6>. While displaying any heading, browser adds one line before and one line after that heading.

Following HTML code demonstrates various levels of headings

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
   <title>Heading Example</title>
</head>

<body>
   <h1>This is heading 1</h1>
   <h2>This is heading 2</h2>
   <h3>This is heading 3</h3>
   <h4>This is heading 4</h4>
   <h5>This is heading 5</h5>
   <h6>This is heading 6</h6>
</body>

</html>

Paragraph Tag

The <p> tag offers a way to structure your text into different paragraphs which is essential for creating well-organized and readable web content. Each paragraph of text should go in between an opening <p> and a closing </p> tag as shown below in the example.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
   <title>Paragraph Example</title>
</head>

<body>
   <p>Here is a first paragraph of text.</p>
   <p>Here is a second paragraph of text.</p>
   <p>Here is a third paragraph of text.</p>
</body>

</html>

Line Break Tag

Whenever you use the <br /> element, anything following it starts from the next line. This tag is an example of an empty element, where you do not need opening and closing tags, as there is nothing to go in between them.

The <br /> tag has a space between the characters br and the forward slash. If you omit this space, older browsers will have trouble rendering the line break, while if you miss the forward slash character and just use <br> it is not valid in XHTML.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
   <title>Line Break Example</title>
</head>

<body>
   <p>
      Hello <br /> You are on time.<br />
      Thanks<br /> Mahnaz
   </p>
</body>

</html>

Centering the Content

You can use <center> tag to put any content in the center of the page or any table cell.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
   <title>Centering Content Example</title>
</head>

<body>
   <p>This text is not in the center.</p>
   <center>
      <p>This text is in the center.</p>
   </center>
</body>

</html>

Horizontal Lines

Horizontal lines are used to visually break-up sections of a document. The <hr> tag creates a line from the current position in the document to the right margin and breaks the line accordingly. The <hr /> tag is an example of the empty element, where you do not need opening and closing tags, as there is nothing to go in between them.

Following example draws a horizontal line between two paragraphs. On executing the code, you can see a straight line dividing the two paragraphs.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
   <title>Horizontal Line Example</title>
</head>

<body>
   <p>
      This is paragraph one and should be on top
   </p>
   <hr />
   <p>
      This is paragraph two and should be at bottom
   </p>
</body>

</html>

Preserve Formatting

Sometimes, you want your text to follow the exact format of how it is written in the HTML document. In these cases, you can use the preformatted tag <pre>.

Pre tag is generally used to render programmable codes in document. Any text between the opening <pre> tag and the closing </pre> tag will preserve the formatting of the source document, Which means if you add new line character between two letter that will be reflected in the document as it is.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
   <title>Preserve Formatting Example</title>
</head>

<body>
   <pre>
      This 
            text 
                  is 
                     pre-formatted.
   </pre>
</body>

</html>

Nonbreaking Spaces

Suppose, if you want to use the phrase "12 Angry Men." Here, you would not want a client browser to split the "12, Angry" and "Men" across two lines.

In cases, where you do not want the client browser to break text, you should use a nonbreaking space entity   instead of a normal space. For example, when coding the "12 Angry Men" in a paragraph, you should use something similar to the following code

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
   <title>Nonbreaking Spaces Example</title>
</head>

<body>
   <p>
      An example of this technique appears 
      in the movie "12        Angry Men."
   </p>
   <p>
      An example of this technique appears 
      in the movie "12&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Angry 
      Men."
   </p>
</body>

</html>

Please check our complete HTML Tag Reference to know more about other tags existed in HTML.

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