What are markup tags in HTML?

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the set of markup symbols or codes inserted into a file intended for display on the Internet. The markup tells web browsers how to display a web page's words and images.

Each individual piece markup code (which would fall between "<" and ">" characters) is referred to as an element, though many people also refer to it as a tag. Some elements come in pairs that indicate when some display effect is to begin and when it is to end.

  • HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the basic scripting language used by web browsers to render pages on the world wide web.
  • HyperText allows a user to click a link and be redirected to a new page referenced by that link.
  • Early versions of HTML were static (Web 1.0), while newer iterations feature a great deal of dynamic flexibility (Web 2.0, 3.0).
  • Markup is the text that appears between two pointed brackets (e.g., ), and content is everything else.

HyperText Markup Language is the computer language that facilitates website creation. The language, which has code words and syntax just like any other language, is relatively easy to comprehend and, as time goes on, increasingly powerful in what it allows someone to create. HTML continues to evolve to meet the demands and requirements of the Internet under the guise of the World Wide Web Consortium, the organization that designs and maintains the language; for instance, with the transition to Web 2.0.

HyperText is the method by which Internet users navigate the web. By clicking on special text called hyperlinks, users are brought to new pages. The use of hyper means it is not linear, so users can go anywhere on the Internet simply by clicking on the available links. Markup is what HTML tags do to the text inside of them; they mark it as a specific type of text. For example, markup text could come in the form of boldface or italicized type to draw specific attention to a word or phrase.

At its core, HTML is a series of short codes typed into a text-file. These are the tags that power HTML’s capabilities. The text is saved as an HTML file and viewed through a web browser. The browser reads the file and translates the text into a visible form, as directed by the codes the author used to write what becomes the visible rendering. Writing HTML requires tags to be used correctly to create the author’s vision.

The tags are what separate normal text from HTML code. Tags are the words between what are known as angle-brackets, which allow graphics, images, and tables to appear on the webpage. Different tags perform different functions. The most basic tags apply formatting to text. As web interfaces need to become more dynamic, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript applications may be used. CSS makes web pages more accessible and JavaScript adds power to basic HTML.

Unlike HTML, Extensible Markup Language, or XML, allows users to define their own markup. For instance, using XML, one user could choose to denote a footnote with the tag , while another user could opt for .

Using HTML, only one pre-determined tag can be used to denote a specific type of information. XML documents are meant to be easy to read since they contain user-defined tags and since the documents only consist of markup and content.

This page lists all the HTML elements, which are created using tags.

They are grouped by function to help you find what you have in mind easily. An alphabetical list of all elements is provided in the sidebar on every element's page as well as this one.

Metadata contains information about the page. This includes information about styles, scripts and data to help software (search engines, browsers, etc.) use and render the page. Metadata for styles and scripts may be defined in the page or link to another file that has the information.

Content sectioning elements allow you to organize the document content into logical pieces. Use the sectioning elements to create a broad outline for your page content, including header and footer navigation, and heading elements to identify sections of content.

Use HTML text content elements to organize blocks or sections of content placed between the opening <body> and closing </body> tags. Important for accessibility and SEO, these elements identify the purpose or structure of that content.

Use the HTML inline text semantic to define the meaning, structure, or style of a word, line, or any arbitrary piece of text.

HTML supports various multimedia resources such as images, audio, and video.

In addition to regular multimedia content, HTML can include a variety of other content, even if it's not always easy to interact with.

You can embed SVG and MathML content directly into HTML documents, using the <svg> and <math> elements.

In order to create dynamic content and Web applications, HTML supports the use of scripting languages, most prominently JavaScript. Certain elements support this capability.

These elements let you provide indications that specific parts of the text have been altered.

The elements here are used to create and handle tabular data.

HTML provides a number of elements which can be used together to create forms which the user can fill out and submit to the Web site or application. There's a great deal of further information about this available in the HTML forms guide.

HTML offers a selection of elements which help to create interactive user interface objects.

Web Components is an HTML-related technology which makes it possible to, essentially, create and use custom elements as if it were regular HTML. In addition, you can create custom versions of standard HTML elements.

Warning: These are old HTML elements which are deprecated and should not be used. You should never use them in new projects, and you should replace them in old projects as soon as you can. They are listed here for completeness only.

A �markup tag� is the fundamental characteristic of HTML.  Every markup tag is a command placed between �wickets� or �angle brackets��a left bracket (<) and a right bracket (>).  Markup tags are not revealed by a web browser; they are invisible.

In most cases, markup tags (containing commands) come in pairs, with text or a graphic image located between the beginning and ending tags:

  • <COMMAND>text or graphic image</COMMAND>: controls or regulates the text or graphic image information between the two non-empty markup tags.

Pairs of markup tags are referred to as �non-empty� tags, because something is contained between the beginning tag and the ending tag.  A beginning tag and an ending tag are identical, except a �slash� (/) is placed before the command of the ending tag to tell the browser that the command has been completed.

Frequently, certain parameters are included within the beginning command tag, placed before the second bracket:

  • PARAMETER1="X" PARAMETER2="Y": provide supplementary instructions (such as colorization, measurement, location, alignment, or other appearances) to the data between the markup tags.

Some HTML tags are referred to as �empty� tags, because they consist only of a single tag rather than a pair of tags.  That is, an �empty� tag consists only of a <COMMAND> tag and lacks an ending </COMMAND> tag.  Examples of non-empty and empty tags will be given in other sections.

I recommend using UPPERCASE letters for all HTML commands and associated parameters, because it is easier to distinguish them from regular text whenever one creates or proofreads an HTML source code document.

Copyright � 1998� by Ted M. Montgomery.  All rights reserved.