bugl
bugl
HomeLearnPatternsSearch
HomeLearnPatternsSearch

Loading lesson path

Learn/HTML/HTML Foundations
HTML•HTML Foundations

HTML Elements

Concept visual

HTML Elements

Graph traversalgraph
ABCDE
current
queued
1
4

Start from A

An HTML element is defined by a start tag, some content, and an end tag.

HTML Elements

The HTML

element is everything from the start tag to the end tag: < tagname > Content goes here... < /tagname >

Examples of some HTML elements:

< h1 > My

First Heading

< /h1 > < p > My first paragraph. < /p >

Start tag

Element content

End tag

<h1>

My First Heading

</h1> <p> My first paragraph. </p> <br> none none

Note:

Formula

Some HTML elements have no content (like the < br >

element). These elements are called empty elements. Empty elements do not have an end tag!

Nested HTML Elements

HTML elements can be nested (this means that elements can contain other elements). All HTML documents consist of nested HTML elements. The following example contains four HTML elements ( <html>, <body>, <h1> and <p> ):

Example

<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <body>

Formula

< h1 > My First Heading </h1 >
< p > My first paragraph.</p >

</body> </html>

Example Explained

The

<html> element is the root element and it defines the whole HTML document.

It has a start tag

<html> and an end tag </html>. Then, inside the <html> element there is a <body> element: <body>

Formula

< h1 > My First Heading </h1 >
< p > My first paragraph.</p >

</body>

The

<body> element defines the document's body.

It has a start tag

<body> and an end tag </body>. Then, inside the <body> element there are two other elements: <h1> and <p>

Formula

< h1 > My First Heading </h1 >
< p > My first paragraph.</p >

The

<h1> element defines a heading.

It has a start tag

<h1> and an end tag </h1>

Formula

< h1 > My First Heading </h1 >

The

<p> element defines a paragraph.

It has a start tag

<p> and an end tag </p>

Formula

< p > My first paragraph.</p >

Never Skip the End Tag

Some HTML elements will display correctly, even if you forget the end tag:

Example

<html> <body>

Formula

< p > This is a paragraph
< p > This is a paragraph

</body> </html> However, never rely on this! Unexpected results and errors may occur if you forget the end tag!

Empty HTML Elements

HTML elements with no content are called empty elements.

Previous

HTML Editors

Next

HTML Attributes