Internet Programming
HTML (Basic)
[Link] Awad Altarawneh.
Mu’tah University.
What is HTML?
• HTML is a language for describing web pages.
• HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language.
• HTML is not a programming language, it is a
markup language.
• A markup language is a set of markup tags.
• HTML uses markup tags to describe web
pages.
HTML Tags
• HTML markup tags are usually called HTML
tags
• HTML tags are keywords surrounded by angle
brackets like <html>
• HTML tags normally come in pairs like <b> and
</b>
• The first tag in a pair is the start tag, the second
tag is the end tag
• Start and end tags are also called opening tags
and closing tags
HTML Documents = Web Pages
• HTML documents describe web pages
• HTML documents contain HTML tags and plain
text
• HTML documents are also called web pages
• The purpose of a web browser (like Internet
Explorer or Firefox) is to read HTML documents
and display them as web pages. The browser
does not display the HTML tags, but uses the
tags to interpret the content of the page:
Example
• <html>
<body>
<h1>My First Heading</h1>
<p>My first paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
Example Explained
• The text between <html> and </html> describes
the web page
• The text between <body> and </body> is the
visible page content
• The text between <h1> and </h1> is displayed
as a heading
• The text between <p> and </p> is displayed as a
paragraph
.HTM or .HTML File Extension?
• When you save an HTML file, you can use either
the .htm or the .html file extension. There is no
difference, it is entirely up to you.
HTML Headings
• HTML headings are defined with the <h1> to
<h6> tags.
• Example
<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<h2>This is a heading</h2>
<h3>This is a heading</h3>
HTML Paragraphs
• HTML paragraphs are defined with the <p> tag.
• Example
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
<p>This is another paragraph.</p>
HTML Links
• HTML links are defined with the <a> tag.
• Example
• <a href="[Link] is a
link</a>
• Note: The link address is specified in the href
attribute.
HTML Images
• HTML images are defined with the <img> tag.
• Example
• <img src=“[Link]" width="104"
height="142" />
• Note: The name and the size of the image are
provided as attributes.
HTML Elements
• An HTML element is everything from the start
tag to the end tag:
Start tag * Element content End tag *
<p> This is a paragraph </p>
<a href="[Link]" > This is a link </a>
<br />
* The start tag is often called the opening tag.
The end tag is often called the closing tag.
HTML Element Syntax
• An HTML element starts with a start tag /
opening tag
• An HTML element ends with an end tag /
closing tag
• The element content is everything between the
start and the end tag
• Some HTML elements have empty content
• Empty elements are closed in the start tag
• Most HTML elements can have attributes
Nested HTML Elements
• Most HTML elements can be nested (can
contain other HTML elements).
• HTML documents consist of nested HTML
elements.
HTML Document Example
<html>
<body>
<p>This is my first paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
• The example above contains 3 HTML elements.
HTML Example Explained
• The <p> element:
<p>This is my first paragraph.</p>
• The <p> element defines a paragraph in the
HTML document.
• The element has a start tag <p> and an end tag
</p>.
• The element content is: This is my first
paragraph.
HTML Example Explained (Cont.)
• The <body> element:
<body>
<p>This is my first paragraph.</p>
</body>
• The <body> element defines the body of the HTML
document.
• The element has a start tag <body> and an end tag
</body>.
• The element content is another HTML element (a p
element).
HTML Example Explained (Cont.)
• The <html> element:
<html>
<body>
<p>This is my first paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
HTML Example Explained (Cont.)
• The <html> element defines the whole HTML
document.
• The element has a start tag <html> and an end
tag </html>.
• The element content is another HTML element
(the body element).
Don't Forget the End Tag!
• Some HTML elements might display correctly
even if you forget the end tag:
<p>This is a paragraph
<p>This is a paragraph
• The example above works in most browsers,
because the closing tag is considered optional.
• Never rely on this. Many HTML elements will
produce unexpected results and/or errors if you
forget the end tag .
Empty HTML Elements
• HTML elements with no content are called
empty elements.
• <br> is an empty element without a closing tag
(the <br> tag defines a line break).
HTML Tip: Use Lowercase Tags
• HTML tags are not case sensitive: <P> means
the same as <p>. Many web sites use
uppercase HTML tags.
• It’s better to use lowercase tags because the
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
recommends lowercase in HTML 4, and
demands lowercase tags in XHTML.
HTML Attributes
• HTML elements can have attributes
• Attributes provide additional information about
an element
• Attributes are always specified in the start tag
• Attributes come in name/value pairs like:
name="value"
Attribute Example
• HTML links are defined with the <a> tag. The
link address is specified in the href attribute:
• <a href="[Link] is a
link</a>
Always Quote Attribute Values
• Attribute values should always be enclosed in
quotes.
• Double style quotes are the most common, but
single style quotes are also allowed.
• Tip: In some rare situations, when the attribute
value itself contains quotes, it is necessary to
use single quotes: name='John "ShotGun"
Nelson'
HTML Tip: Use Lowercase
Attributes
• Attribute names and attribute values are case-
insensitive.
• However, the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) recommends lowercase attributes/
attribute values in their HTML 4
recommendation.
• Newer versions of (X)HTML will demand
lowercase attributes.
HTML Headings
• Headings are defined with the <h1> to
<h6> tags.
• <h1> defines the most important heading.
<h6> defines the least important heading.
Example
<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<h2>This is a heading</h2>
<h3>This is a heading</h3>
• Note: Browsers automatically add some empty
space (a margin) before and after each heading.
Headings Are Important!
• Use HTML headings for headings only. Don't use
headings to make text BIG or bold.
• Search engines use your headings to index the
structure and content of your web pages.
• Since users may skim your pages by its headings, it
is important to use headings to show the document
structure.
• H1 headings should be used as main headings,
followed by H2 headings, then the less important H3
headings, and so on.
HTML Lines
• The <hr /> tag creates a horizontal line in an
HTML page.
• The hr element can be used to separate content:
<p>This is a paragraph</p>
<hr />
<p>This is a paragraph</p>
<hr />
<p>This is a paragraph</p>
HTML Comments
• Comments can be inserted into the HTML code
to make it more readable and understandable.
• Comments are ignored by the browser and are
not displayed.
• Comments are written like this:
<!-- This is a comment --!>
Note: There is an exclamation point after the
opening bracket, but not before the closing
bracket.
HTML Paragraphs
• Paragraphs are defined with the <p> tag.
• Example:
<p>This is a paragraph</p>
<p>This is another paragraph</p>
• Note: Browsers automatically add an empty line
before and after a paragraph.
Don't Forget the End Tag!
• Most browsers will display HTML correctly even if you
forget the end tag:
• Example:
<p>This is a paragraph
<p>This is another paragraph
• The example above will work in most browsers, but don't
rely on it. Forgetting the end tag can produce
unexpected results or errors.
• Note: Future version of HTML will not allow you to skip
end tags.
HTML Line Breaks
• Use the <br /> tag if you want a line break (a
new line) without starting a new paragraph:
<p>This is<br />a para<br />graph with line
breaks</p>
• The <br /> element is an empty HTML element.
It has no end tag.
<br> or <br />
• In XHTML, XML, and future versions of HTML,
HTML elements with no end tag (closing tag) are
not allowed.
• Even if <br> works in all browsers, writing <br />
instead is more future proof.
HTML Output - Useful Tips
• You cannot be sure how HTML will be displayed.
Large or small screens, and resized windows will
create different results.
• With HTML, you cannot change the output by
adding extra spaces or extra lines in your HTML
code.
• The browser will remove extra spaces and extra
lines when the page is displayed. Any number of
lines count as one line, and any number of
spaces count as one space.
Example - Code
<html> Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me.
<body> </p>
<p>
My Bonnie lies over the ocean.
<p>Note that your browser
My Bonnie lies over the sea. ignores the layout!</p>
</body>
My Bonnie lies over the ocean. </html>
Example - Output
My Bonnie lies over the ocean. My Bonnie lies
over the sea. My Bonnie lies over the ocean. Oh,
bring back my Bonnie to me.
Note that your browser ignores the layout!
HTML Text Formatting
• This text is bold
This text is big
This text is italic
This is computer output
This is subscript and superscript
HTML Formatting Tags
Tag Description
<b> Defines bold text
<big> Defines big text
<em> Defines emphasized text
<i> Defines italic text
<small> Defines small text
<strong> Defines strong text
<sub> Defines subscripted text
<sup> Defines superscripted text
<ins> Defines inserted text
<del> Defines deleted text
HTML Styles - CSS
• CSS is used to style HTML elements.
• CSS was introduced with HTML 4, to provide a
common way to style HTML elements.
• CSS styling can be added to HTML in the
following ways:
in separate style sheet files (CSS files)
in the style element in the HTML head section
in the style attribute in single HTML elements.
HTML Style Example -
Background Color
• The background-color property defines the background
color for an element:
<html>
<body style="background-color:yellow">
<h2 style="background-color:red">This is a
heading</h2>
<p style="background-color:green">This is a
paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
HTML Style Example - Font,
Color and Size
• The font-family, color, and font-size properties defines
the font, color, and size of the text in an element:
<html>
<body>
<h1 style="font-family:verdana">A heading</h1>
<p style="font-family:arial;color:red;font-size:20px;">A
paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
HTML Style Example - Text
Alignment
• The text-align property specifies the horizontal alignment
of text in an element:
<html>
<body>
<h1 style="text-align:center">This is a heading</h1>
<p>The heading above is aligned to the center of this
page.</p>
</body>
</html>
HTML Hyperlinks (Links)
• A hyperlink (or link) is a word, group of words, or image
that you can click on to jump to a new document or a
new section within the current document.
• When you move the cursor over a link in a Web page,
the arrow will turn into a little hand.
• Links are specified in HTML using the <a> tag.
• The <a> tag can be used in two ways:
To create a link to another document, by using the href
attribute.
To create a bookmark inside a document, by using the
name attribute.
HTML Link Syntax
• The HTML code for a link is simple. It looks like
this:
<a href="url">Link text</a>
• The href attribute specifies the destination of a
link.
• Example:
<a href="[Link]
Google</a>
HTML Links - The target Attribute
• The target attribute specifies where to open the
linked document.
• The example below will open the linked
document in a new browser window:
<a href="[Link]
target="_blank">Visit Google!</a>
HTML Images - The <img> Tag
and the Src Attribute
• In HTML, images are defined with the <img>
tag.
• The <img> tag is empty, which means that it
contains attributes only, and has no closing tag.
• To display an image on a page, you need to use
the src attribute. Src stands for "source". The
value of the src attribute is the URL of the image
you want to display.
HTML Images - The <img> Tag
and the Src Attribute (Cont.)
• Syntax for defining an image:
<img src="url" alt="some_text"/>
• The URL points to the location where the image is
stored. An image named "[Link]", located in the
"images" directory on "[Link]" has the URL:
[Link]
• The browser displays the image where the <img> tag
occurs in the document. If you put an image tag between
two paragraphs, the browser shows the first paragraph,
then the image, and then the second paragraph.
HTML Images - The Alt Attribute
• The required alt attribute specifies an alternate
text for an image, if the image cannot be
displayed.
• The value of the alt attribute is an author-defined
text:
<img src="[Link]" alt="Big Boat" />
• The alt attribute provides alternative information
for an image if a user for some reason cannot
view it (because of slow connection, an error in
the src attribute, etc.)
HTML Images - Set Height and
Width of an Image
• The height and width attributes are used to specify the
height and width of an image.
• The attribute values are specified in pixels by default:
<img src="[Link]" alt="Pulpit rock" width="304"
height="228" />
Tip: It is a good practice to specify both the height and
width attributes for an image. If these attributes are set,
the space required for the image is reserved when the
page is loaded. However, without these attributes, the
browser does not know the size of the image. The effect
will be that the page layout will change during loading
(while the images load).
Basic Notes - Useful Tips
• Note: If an HTML file contains ten images - eleven
files are required to display the page right. Loading
images take time, so my best advice is: Use images
carefully.
• Note: When a web page is loaded, it is the browser,
at that moment, that actually gets the image from a
web server and inserts it into the page. Therefore,
make sure that the images actually stay in the same
spot in relation to the web page, otherwise your
visitors will get a broken link icon. The broken link
icon is shown if the browser cannot find the image.
HTML Tables
• Tables are defined with the <table> tag.
• A table is divided into rows (with the <tr> tag),
and each row is divided into data cells (with the
<td> tag). td stands for "table data," and holds
the content of a data cell. A <td> tag can contain
text, links, images, lists, forms, other tables, etc.
Table Example
<table border="1">
<tr>
<td>row 1, cell 1</td>
<td>row 1, cell 2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>row 2, cell 1</td>
<td>row 2, cell 2</td>
</tr>
</table>
HTML Tables and the Border
Attribute
• If you do not specify a border attribute, the table
will be displayed without borders. Sometimes
this can be useful, but most of the time, we want
the borders to show.
HTML Table Headers
• Header information in a table are defined with
the <th> tag.
• All major browsers will display the text in the
<th> element as bold and centered.
HTML Table Headers - Example
• <table border="1">
<tr>
<th>Header 1</th>
<th>Header 2</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>row 1, cell 1</td>
<td>row 1, cell 2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>row 2, cell 1</td>
<td>row 2, cell 2</td>
</tr>
</table>
HTML Lists - Unordered Lists
• An unordered list starts with the <ul> tag. Each
list item starts with the <li> tag.
• The list items are marked with bullets (typically
small black circles).
<ul>
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ul>
HTML Lists - Ordered Lists
• An ordered list starts with the <ol> tag. Each list
item starts with the <li> tag.
• The list items are marked with numbers.
<ol>
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ol>
HTML Lists - Definition Lists
• A definition list is a list of items, with a description of each
item.
• The <dl> tag defines a definition list.
• The <dl> tag is used in conjunction with <dt> (defines the
item in the list) and <dd> (describes the item in the list):
<dl>
<dt>Coffee</dt>
<dd>- black hot drink</dd>
<dt>Milk</dt>
<dd>- white cold drink</dd>
</dl>
HTML Forms and Input
• HTML Forms are used to select different kinds of user input.
• HTML forms are used to pass data to a server.
• A form can contain input elements like text fields, checkboxes,
radio-buttons, submit buttons and more. A form can also
contain select lists, textarea, fieldset, legend, and label
elements.
• The <form> tag is used to create an HTML form:
<form>
.
input elements
.
</form>
HTML Forms - The Input Element
• The most important form element is the input
element.
• The input element is used to select user information.
• An input element can vary in many ways, depending
on the type attribute. An input element can be of
type text field, checkbox, password, radio button,
submit button, and more.
• The most used input types are described next.
Text Fields
• <input type="text" /> defines a one-line input field
that a user can enter text into:
<form>
First name: <input type="text" name="firstname"
/><br />
Last name: <input type="text" name="lastname" />
</form>
• How the HTML code above looks in a browser?!
• Note: The form itself is not visible. Also note that the
default width of a text field is 20 characters.
Password Field
• <input type="password" /> defines a password
field:
<form>
Password: <input type="password"
name="pwd" />
</form>
• How the HTML code above looks in a browser?!
• Note: The characters in a password field are
masked (shown as asterisks or circles).
Radio Buttons
• <input type="radio" /> defines a radio button.
Radio buttons let a user select ONLY ONE one
of a limited number of choices:
<form>
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="male" />
Male<br />
<input type="radio" name="sex"
value="female" /> Female
</form>
• How the HTML code above looks in a browser?!
Checkboxes
• <input type="checkbox" /> defines a checkbox.
Checkboxes let a user select ONE or MORE options of a
limited number of choices.
<form>
<input type="checkbox" name="vehicle" value="Bike" /> I
have a bike<br />
<input type="checkbox" name="vehicle" value="Car" /> I
have a car
</form>
• How the HTML code above looks in a browser?1
Submit Button
• <input type="submit" /> defines a submit button.
• A submit button is used to send form data to a server.
The data is sent to the page specified in the form's action
attribute. The file defined in the action attribute usually
does something with the received input:
<form name="input" action="html_form_action.asp"
method="get">
Username: <input type="text" name="user" />
<input type="submit" value="Submit" />
</form>
• How the HTML code above looks in a browser?1
HTML Colors - Color Values
• Colors are displayed combining RED, GREEN,
and BLUE light.
• HTML colors are defined using a hexadecimal
notation (HEX) for the combination of Red,
Green, and Blue color values (RGB).
• The lowest value that can be given to one of the
light sources is 0 (in HEX: 00). The highest value
is 255 (in HEX: FF).
• HEX values are specified as 3 pairs of two-digit
numbers, starting with a # sign.
Color Values
16 Million Different Colors
• The combination of Red, Green, and Blue
values from 0 to 255, gives more than 16
million different colors (256 x 256 x 256).
