Understanding HTML Tags

HTML tags and the attributes within the tag are used to create HTML documents so that you can view them in browsers, cell phones, and any device that can be used to visit the Internet.  You can use HTML codes to add images, create links, modify text, and much more.  When a visitor goes to your website, they will not see the text within the < >, but only the text between the tags with the applied attribute.  The attribute specifies what effect the code will have on the text (bold, underline, etc.). When using tags, remember that with many codes at the end of the line to place the same tag but with a / to tell the browser to stop reading the code.  We have used this in all the examples below just to show how important the "close" tag is.

Here are many of the most frequently used tags:

• <h1>Header Tag</h1> - The Header tag is used if you have a title and want the text to be bigger then the rest of the text on the page and also to help structure your webpage.  
• <strong>Bold Tag</strong> - Putting the word strong within the tag brackets will make your text bold.
• <u>Underline Tag</u> - A u within the brackets will underline the text.
• <i>Italics Tag</u> - An i within the brackets will make your text appear in italics.
• <center>Center Tag</center> - By default, text will be aligned to the left.  To center text, for example a header or a title, a <center> tag can be used.

This is just a list of the most popular tags, to help you see how they work and how they would be used on your website.  For more information on tags and using CSS, please see our Education Channel on using CSS on your website.  We go over using HTML to create links, insert images, and insert videos in later sections of this Education Channel.