Creating a Website: The Missing Manual, 4th Edition

Appendix B. HTML Quick Reference

HTML is the language of the Web. You can use it to create any web page, whether you’re promoting a local bake sale or running a Fortune 500 company. Chapter 1 introduced you to HTML, and since then, you’ve steadily added to your arsenal of HTML elements.

This appendix provides a quick reference of all the HTML elements you’ve seen in this book (and a few more). Each entry features a brief description of the element, and many entries provide cross-references to more detailed examples in the book. The list includes the most usable new elements from the latest version of HTML, HTML5. You’ll also get a quick refresher on HTML character entities, which let you display special characters on a web page.

HTML Elements

As you know, the HTML standard is based on elements—specialized codes in angle brackets that tell a browser how to format text, when to insert images, and how to link different documents together.

The elements listed below are arranged in alphabetical order. The beginning of each section details the type of element it is:

• A block or inline element. Block elements are separated from other elements with a bit of extra white space. For example, the <h1> block element adds a heading to your page on its own line and separates it from the preceding and following content with some padding and margin space. (Of course, you can alter or remove this space using the margin and padding style properties.)

  Note

  In official HTML5 lingo, block elements are called ...