Selected HTML 3.2 Elements

This is a partial listing, with only certain properties of each element listed. For complete information, please see the Web Design Group's site at <http://www.htmlhelp.com> . The elements are listed alphabetically in groups.

Block Level Elements

Block Level Elements (BLEs) are the big containers into which go the content of your document. They are listed here by what they can contain.

Block Level Elements That Cannot Contain Other Block Level Elements

These elements can only contain text or Text Level Elements (see below).

H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6 - These elements mark text as a heading. The importance of that heading is indicated by the number, with 1 being the most important.

P - This element marks text and Text Level Elements (TLEs) as being a paragraph.

PRE - This element contains preformatted text which the browser should display without alteration.

Block Level Elements That Can Contain Other Block Level Elements

These elements can contain Block Level Elements. Some can only contain other Block Level Elements; others can contain BLEs, Text Level Elements and/or text.

BLOCKQUOTE - This element marks a large quotation. It can contain BLEs, TLEs, and plain text.

CENTER - This element marks a centered division. It is the same as using the DIV element with the attribute align="center" (see below). It can contain BLEs, TLEs, and text.

DD - This element marks up a definition. It can contain BLEs, TLEs and text, but it can only occur inside a DL element. See DL below.

DIV - This element marks a group of BLEs as a contiguous division. One could then align that division to the left, center or right. It can contain BLEs, TLEs, and plain text.

DL - This element contains a Definition List. The only things it can contain are the BLEs DT and DD. It cannot contain other BLEs, TLEs or text.

DT - This element marks up a term to be defined by a DD in a definition list. It can contain BLEs, TLEs and text, but it can only occur inside a DL element. See DL above.

FORM - This element contains a form which can pass data from a visitor's computer to the Web server. It can contain BLEs (except for FORM); TLEs; and text. In other words, forms can't be nested.

HR - This element is content-less; that is, it has no content like other BLEs. Therefore, it has no ending tag, and nothing goes in it. It tells the browser to break up two sections with a Horizontal Rule, or line.

LI - This element contains a List Item. It can contain other BLEs, TLEs and text. However, it can only occur inside an OL or UL element. See OL and UL below.

OL - This element contains an Ordered List. List Items in an OL are automatically numbered or lettered. The 5 types of numbering you can specify with the TYPE attribute are 1 (the default), A, a, I (Upper case Roman numerals), and i (Lower case Roman numerals). The only thing OL can contain is the element LI; it cannot contain text or other elements.

TABLE - This element contains a table. The only elements it can contain TR, TH, TD and CAPTION. It cannot contain any text.

TD - This element contains Table Data. It marks a normal cell in a table. It can contain BLEs, TLEs, and text. It can only occur inside of a TR element. See below.

TH - This element contains a Table Header. It marks a cell in a table that should be emphasized, because it heads a row or column. It can contain BLEs, TLEs, and text, but it can only occur in a TR element. See below.

TR - This element contains a Table Row. It can only contain the elements TD and TH, and it can only occur in a TABLE element. It cannot contain text.

UL - This element contains an Unordered List. List Items in an UL are automatically bulleted. The only thing UL can contain is the element LI; it cannot contain text or other elements.

Text Level Elements

These elements, unless otherwise noted, can contain other TLEs and plain text, and can occur in most BLEs listed above.

Logical Markup

These elements add meaning to their contents.

CITE - This element marks its contents as a short citation, such as a book title.

EM - This element marks its contents as being emphasized.

STRONG - This element marks its contents as being strongly emphasized.

Physical Markup

These elements (attempt to) change the appearance of their contents.

B - This element indicates its contents should be bold.

BIG - This element indicates its contents should use a bigger font.

FONT - This element indicates its contents should be a different font size and/or color.

I - This element indicates its contents should be italicized.

SMALL - This element indicates its contents should use a smaller font.

SUB - This element indicates its contents should be a subscript.

SUP - This element indicates its contents should be a superscript.

U - This element indicates its contents should be underlined.

Special Markup

These elements are used to perform special functions.

A - This element contains an Anchor. If the NAME attribute is used, the anchor is to be jumped to, and the contents will appear unchanged. If the HREF attribute is used, the anchor is to be jumped from, and the contents will (usually) appear a different color and underlined.

BR - This element has no contents, and therefore no closing tag. It is used to indicate a line break, so that the contents in the middle of a BLE can start on a new line.

IMG - This element is used to include an image into an HTML document. The ALT attribute should always be used.

Form Markup

These elements are used inside the FORM element.

INPUT - This empty element is used for input fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, submit & reset buttons.

OPTION - This element contains an option for a SELECT list. It can only occur in a SELECT element.

SELECT - This element can only contain OPTION elements. It creates a drop-down list for choices.

TEXTAREA - This element creates a large text box into which people can type comments, stories, etc.

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Again, for more complete information, see <http://www.htmlhelp.com> .

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