HTML Complete Reference
HTML Complete Reference
Ordered Alphabetically
NN: indicates the earliest version of Netscape that supports the tag
IE: indicates the earliest version of Internet Explorer that supports the tag
DTD: indicates in which XHTML 1.0 DTD the tag is allowed. S=Strict, T=Transitional, and
F=Frameset
Basic Tags
<!DOCTYPE> Defines the document type STF
<html> Defines an html document 3.0 3.0 STF
<body> Defines the body element 3.0 3.0 STF
<h1> to <h6> Defines header 1 to header 6 3.0 3.0 STF
<p> Defines a paragraph 3.0 3.0 STF
<br> Inserts a single line break 3.0 3.0 STF
<hr> Defines a horizontal rule 3.0 3.0 STF
<!--...--> Defines a comment 3.0 3.0 STF
Char Format
<b> Defines bold text 3.0 3.0 STF
<font> Deprecated. Defines text font, size, and color 3.0 3.0 TF
<i> Defines italic text 3.0 3.0 STF
<em> Defines emphasized text 3.0 3.0 STF
<big> Defines big text 3.0 3.0 STF
<strong> Defines strong text 3.0 3.0 STF
<small> Defines small text 3.0 3.0 STF
<sup> Defines superscripted text 3.0 3.0 STF
<sub> Defines subscripted text 3.0 3.0 STF
<bdo> Defines the direction of text display 6.2 5.0 STF
<u> Deprecated. Defines underlined text 3.0 3.0 TF
Output
<pre> Defines preformatted text 3.0 3.0 STF
<code> Defines computer code text 3.0 3.0 STF
<tt> Defines teletype text 3.0 3.0 STF
<kbd> Defines keyboard text 3.0 3.0 STF
<var> Defines a variable 3.0 3.0 STF
<dfn> Defines a definition term 3.0 STF
<samp> Defines sample computer code 3.0 3.0 STF
<xmp> Deprecated. Defines preformatted text 3.0 3.0
Blocks
<acronym> Defines an acronym 6.2 4.0 STF
<abbr> Defines an abbreviation 6.2 STF
<address> Defines an address element 4.0 4.0 STF
<blockquote> Defines a long quotation 3.0 3.0 STF
<center> Deprecated. Defines centered text 3.0 3.0 TF
<q> Defines a short quotation 6.2 4.0 STF
<cite> Defines a citation 3.0 3.0 STF
<ins> Defines inserted text 6.2 4.0 STF
<del> Defines deleted text 6.2 4.0 STF
<s> Deprecated. Defines strikethrough text 3.0 3.0 TF
<strike> Deprecated. Defines strikethrough text 3.0 3.0 TF
Links
<a> Defines an anchor 3.0 3.0 STF
<link> Defines a resource reference 4.0 3.0 STF
Frames
<frame> Defines a sub window (a frame) 3.0 3.0 F
<frameset> Defines a set of frames 3.0 3.0 F
<noframes> Defines a noframe section 3.0 3.0 TF
<iframe> Defines an inline sub window (frame) 6.0 4.0 TF
Input
<form> Defines a form 3.0 3.0 STF
<input> Defines an input field 3.0 3.0 STF
<textarea> Defines a text area 3.0 3.0 STF
<button> Defines a push button 6.2 4.0 STF
<select> Defines a selectable list 3.0 3.0 STF
<optgroup> Defines an option group 6.0 6.0 STF
<option> Defines an item in a list box 3.0 3.0 STF
<label> Defines a label for a form control 6.2 4.0 STF
<fieldset> Defines a fieldset 6.2 4.0 STF
<legend> Defines a title in a fieldset 6.2 4.0 STF
<isindex> Deprecated. Defines a single-line input field 3.0 3.0 TF
Lists
<ul> Defines an unordered list 3.0 3.0 STF
<ol> Defines an ordered list 3.0 3.0 STF
<li> Defines a list item 3.0 3.0 STF
<dir> Deprecated. Defines a directory list 3.0 3.0 TF
<dl> Defines a definition list 3.0 3.0 STF
<dt> Defines a definition term 3.0 3.0 STF
<dd> Defines a definition description 3.0 3.0 STF
<menu> Deprecated. Defines a menu list 3.0 3.0 TF
Images
<img> Defines an image 3.0 3.0 STF
<map> Defines an image map 3.0 3.0 STF
<area> Defines an area inside an image map 3.0 3.0 STF
Tables
<table> Defines a table 3.0 3.0 STF
<caption> Defines a table caption 3.0 3.0 STF
<th> Defines a table header 3.0 3.0 STF
<tr> Defines a table row 3.0 3.0 STF
<td> Defines a table cell 3.0 3.0 STF
<thead> Defines a table header 4.0 STF
<tbody> Defines a table body 4.0 STF
<tfoot> Defines a table footer 4.0 STF
<col> Defines attributes for table columns 3.0 STF
<colgroup> Defines groups of table columns 3.0 STF
Styles
<style> Defines a style definition 4.0 3.0 STF
<div> Defines a section in a document 3.0 3.0 STF
<span> Defines a section in a document 4.0 3.0 STF
Meta Info
<head> Defines information about the document 3.0 3.0 STF
<title> Defines the document title 3.0 3.0 STF
<meta> Defines meta information 3.0 3.0 STF
<base> Defines a base URL for all the links in a page 3.0 3.0 STF
<basefont> Deprecated. Defines a base font 3.0 3.0 TF
Programming
<script> Defines a script 3.0 3.0 STF
<noscript> Defines a noscript section 3.0 3.0 STF
<applet> Deprecated. Defines an applet 2.0 3.0 TF
<object> Defines an embedded object 3.0 STF
<param> Defines a parameter for an object 3.0 3.0 STF
HTML tags can have attributes. The special attributes for each tag are listed under each tag
description. The attributes listed here are the core and language attributes that are standard for all
tags (with a few exceptions).
Core Attributes
Not valid in base, head, html, meta, param, script, style, and title elements.
Language Attributes
Not valid in base, br, frame, frameset, hr, iframe, param, and script elements.
Keyboard Attributes
Attribute Value Description
accesskey character Sets a keyboard shortcut to access an
element
tabindex number Sets the tab order of an element
New to HTML 4.0 was the ability to let HTML events trigger actions in the browser, like starting a
JavaScript when a user clicks on an HTML element. Below is a list of attributes that can be inserted
into HTML tags to define event actions.
If you want to learn more about programming with these events, you should study our JavaScript
tutorial and our DHTML tutorial.
Window Events
Keyboard Events
Not valid in base, bdo, br, frame, frameset, head, html, iframe, meta, param, script, style, and title
elements.
Mouse Events
Not valid in base, bdo, br, frame, frameset, head, html, iframe, meta, param, script, style, and title
elements.
Attribute Value Description
onclick script What to do on a mouse click
ondblclick script What to do on a mouse doubleclick
onmousedown script What to do when mouse button is pressed
onmousemove script What to do when mouse pointer moves
onmouseover script What to do when mouse pointer moves over an element
onmouseout script What to do when mouse pointer moves out of an element
onmouseup script What to do when mouse button is released
HTML Colors
The table below provides a list of the color names that are supported by all major browsers.
Note: If you want your pages to validate with an HTML or a CSS validator, W3C has listed 16 color
names that you can use: aqua, black, blue, fuchsia, gray, green, lime, maroon, navy, olive, purple,
red, silver, teal, white, and yellow. If you want to use other colors, you must specify their RGB or
HEX value.
Click on a color name (or a hex value) to view the color as the background-color along with different
text colors:
HTML and XHTML uses standard 7-BIT ASCII when transmitting data over the Web.
ASCII device control characters were originally designed to control hardware devices like teletypes,
printers and tape drives.
The lower part of ISO-8859-1 (codes from 0-127) is the original 7-BIT ASCII.
The higher part of ISO-8859-1 (codes from 160-255) all have character entity names.
Most of these characters can be used without an entity reference, but entity names or entity
numbers provide a method for expressing characters that cannot easily be entered on a keyboard.
Try It
Type some text or an ASCII value in the input field below, and click on the "URL Encode" button to
see the URL-encoding.
This
is
a
text
URL Encode
When a browser requests a service from a web server, an error might occur.
Message: Description:
100 Continue Only a part of the request has been received by the server,
but as long as it has not been rejected, the client should
continue with the request
101 Switching Protocols The server switches protocol
2xx: Successful
Message: Description:
200 OK The request is OK
201 Created The request is complete, and a new resource is created
202 Accepted The request is accepted for processing, but the processing
is not complete
203 Non-authoritative Information
204 No Content
205 Reset Content
206 Partial Content
3xx: Redirection
Message: Description:
300 Multiple Choices A link list. The user can select a link and go to that location.
Maximum five addresses
301 Moved Permanently The requested page has moved to a new url
302 Found The requested page has moved temporarily to a new url
303 See Other The requested page can be found under a different url
304 Not Modified
305 Use Proxy
306 Unused This code was used in a previous version. It is no longer
used, but the code is reserved
307 Temporary Redirect The requested page has moved temporarily to a new url
Message: Description:
400 Bad Request The server did not understand the request
401 Unauthorized The requested page needs a username and a password
402 Payment Required You can not use this code yet
403 Forbidden Access is forbidden to the requested page
404 Not Found The server can not find the requested page
405 Method Not Allowed The method specified in the request is not allowed
406 Not Acceptable The server can only generate a response that is not
accepted by the client
407 Proxy Authentication Required You must authenticate with a proxy server before this
request can be served
408 Request Timeout The request took longer than the server was prepared to
wait
409 Conflict The request could not be completed because of a conflict
410 Gone The requested page is no longer available
411 Length Required The "Content-Length" is not defined. The server will not
accept the request without it
412 Precondition Failed The precondition given in the request evaluated to false by
the server
413 Request Entity Too Large The server will not accept the request, because the request
entity is too large
414 Request-url Too Long The server will not accept the request, because the url is
too long. Occurs when you convert a "post" request to a
"get" request with a long query information
415 Unsupported Media Type The server will not accept the request, because the media
type is not supported
416
417 Expectation Failed
Message: Description:
500 Internal Server Error The request was not completed. The server met an
unexpected condition
501 Not Implemented The request was not completed. The server did not support
the functionality required
502 Bad Gateway The request was not completed. The server received an
invalid response from the upstream server
503 Service Unavailable The request was not completed. The server is temporarily
overloading or down
504 Gateway Timeout The gateway has timed out
505 HTTP Version Not Supported The server does not support the "http protocol" version