HTML Tags Complete List

By Xah Lee. Date: . Last updated: .

This page is a COMPLETE list of HTML tags.

HTML Structure, Meta info

<!doctype html>
DOCTYPE delaration. This must be the first line.
html
Wrapper tag for entire file. (only DOCTYPE goes before it.) 〔see HTML Basics〕
head
Wrapper tag for meta info
meta
Must be inside head tag.
<meta charset="utf-8" />
link
Must be inside head tag.
For link to style sheet and others. 〔see CSS: Basics〕 
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="basic.css">
title
Must be inside head tag.
Document title. Most important. Every page must have this.
base
Must be inside head tag.
Base URL. Not often used. 
<base href="http://example.com/" />
style
Must be inside head tag.
CSS stylesheet. 
<style>
#x266 {
display: inline-block;
margin:15px;
}
</style>
〔see CSS: Basics〕
body
Must be used right after the head element.
Wrapper tag for page content

example of a typical page. 

<!doctype html>
<html>

<head>

<meta charset="utf-8" />
<meta name=viewport content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

<link rel="stylesheet" href="../lbasic.css" />

<title>Sample HTML</title>

</head>

 <body>
  <h1>Sample HTML</h1>
  <p>Earth is round</p>
 </body>

</html>

Page Structure

nav
Navigation bar
header
Page's header
footer
Page's footer
main
Main section
aside
Sidebar
article
Article body
section
Section body (e.g. a chapter or section).

〔see HTML: Page Structure Tags〕

Title/Section Heading

h1
Headline 1
h2
Headline 2
h3
Headline 3
h4
Headline 4
h5
Headline 5
h6
Headline 6

[See also: HTML: How to Markup Subtitle]

Text Block

div
Generic block markup. Use with CSS
p
Paragraph
pre
Monospace block
blockquote
Quote passages, excerpt
hr
Horizontal rule

Lists

ul
Unordered list. 〔see HTML: List: ul ol li〕
ol
Ordered list.
li
List item. (use inside ul or ol)
dl
Definition list. 〔see HTML: Definition List: dl dt dd〕
dt
Definition term. Use inside dl
dd
Definition description. Use inside dl

Inline Markup

span
Generic text markup. Use with CSS to change appearance.
a
Link (anchor)
em
emphasize.
strong
important.
b
bold
i
italic
u
underline for book title, misspelled word, ….
s
strike-thru 〔see HTML: s strike del Tags〕
del
deleted text
ins
newly inserted text (in contrast to del)
mark
highlight
small
smaller
sup
superscript
sub
subscript
dfn
definition term
code
computer code
var
variable
samp
sample code. Used to show computer output.
kbd
keyboard input. Used to show computer keystroks.
q
short inline quote. 〔see “q” example〕
cite
book title (or title of: article, essay, song, script, film, TV show, game, artwork, etc.)
ruby
Pronunciation markup for Asian languages. 〔see ruby example〕
rt
Used inside ruby tag, for pronunciation.
rp
Used inside ruby tag, for older browser support.
br
Line break
wbr
Line-break hint. Browsers can render line break at this point.
bdo
Text direction
bdi
Text direction

Table

table
Table 〔see HTML Table〕
caption
Table caption
tr
Table row
td
Table cell
th
Table cell header
thead
Table header. 〔see thead, tbody, tfoot〕
tfoot
Table footer
tbody
Table body
colgroup
Group table columns for styling. 〔see colgroup, col〕
col
Used inside colgroup

Image

img
Inline image. 〔see HTML: Image Tag〕
picture
Inline image with multiple versions. 〔see HTML: Picture Tag〕
figure
For independent illustartion, image, video, code example, etc. 〔see Figure〕
figcaption
Caption for figure.
map
Image map. 〔see Image Map〕
area
Used inside map. 〔see Image Map〕

Audio, Video, Special Objects

video
Embed video. HTML Video Tag
audio
Embed audio. HTML Audio Tag
source
Used inside video or audio tags. 〔see HTML Video Tag〕
track
Used with video and audio tag, for things like subtitle.
script
〔see JavaScript Basics by Example〕
noscript
Example: <noscript>displayed when JavaScript is off</noscript>. This is an ancient tag. Mostly used in early 2000s only. It was used when browsers may not support JavaScript, or user have JavaScript turned off.
object
Embedded object. 〔see “Object” tag for “Iframe”〕
param
Parameter, used with object tag
embed
Interactive content or plugin
iframe
Embed a page; inner window. 〔see HTML: Iframe〕
canvas
Interactive graphics, games. 〔see Canvas Example〕
abbr
Example: <abbr title="eXtensible Markup Language">XML</abbr>. 〔see abbr Example〕
address
Markup for contact of article or page. 〔see HTML: address Tag〕
meter
Gauge indicator. 〔see HTML: meter Tag〕
progress
Progress bar. [HTML: progress Tag]
time
Date/time. 〔see HTML: time〕

Forms

form
User input. 〔see HTML Form Example〕
button
Render as Button. Used together with JavaScript.
input
Generic input (text, radio box, checkbox, submit button) 〔see HTML: Input Tag〕
textarea
Large text input. 〔see HTML: Textarea〕
select
Menu. 〔see HTML: Selection, Popup Menu〕
option
Menu item. Used with select.
optgroup
Menu item group label.
label
A label for a form input
fieldset
Used inside <form> tag to group input elements.
legend
Title in a <fieldset>
datalist
Dropdown list, group several <option> elements.
menu
? Menu list
output
A tag used as a container for JavaScript generated result.
details
A toggle to show/hide more info.
summary
Used inside <details> element. The content of summary element is shown when the details toggle is closed.

HTML5 Custom Data Attribute

HTML5 Custom Data Attribute

Obsolete HTML5 Tags

command
? Creating a user input, such as buttons.
keygen
Generate a encryption key.

HTML 4 Tags Obsolete in HTML 5

acronym
Use abbr
applet
Use embed or object. 〔see “Object” tag for “Iframe”〕
bgsound
Use HTML Audio Tag
basefont
Use CSS: font-family instead.
big
Use CSS: font-size instead.
center
Use CSS. 〔see Centering with CSS〕
dir
Directory list. Use ul
font
Use CSS font-family
frame
Use HTML: Iframe.
frameset
Example: HTML: Frameset to Split Windows. HTML 5 does not support anything similar. Use HTML: Iframe as a workaround.
noframes
Used with frameset.
strike
Use s. 〔see s strike del〕
tt
Stands for “teletype”, rendered in monospace font. Use code or samp tag instead, or use CSS: font-family.
xmp
Use pre with CSS.