Hoover Web Templates 100's of professional business and personal web templates  
  Web Design Templates Learn about Web Design. Check out our Web Design Article Archive.
 
Hoover Web TemplatesContact UsReturn to HomeView PayPal Shopping CartView Credit Card Shopping Cart
 
        Download Sample Website Templates Download Sample Web Templates - Test Your Skills Before You Buy!! CLICK TO DOWNLOAD
  Hoover Web Templates Beginner HTML Website Templates  
Free Downloads
Free Web Templates Free Business Forms Free Web Templates Free Website Design Articles
Website Extras
Web Template Search:
exact match    contains all keywords
 
The Bare Bones Guide to HTML - Learn how to Design Web Sites
-- THE BARE BONES GUIDE TO HTML --

Version 4.0 Formatted -- February 1999 Dummy Book Store

Skip the tutorial and use a beginners website builder:

The latest version of this document is available at http://werbach.com/barebones/, where you will also find the text version, translations, and background materials.

The Bare Bones Guide to HTML lists all the tags that current browsers are likely to recognize. I have included all the elements in the official HTML 4.0 recommendation with common attributes, as well as Netscape and Microsoft extensions. This document is a quick reference, not a complete specification; for official information about HTML and its development, see the World Wide Web Consortium site at http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/.

The Guide is designed to be as concise as possible, and therefore it doesn't go into any detail about how to use the various tags. A few tags link to notes that address frequently-asked questions. If you're looking for more detailed step-by-step information, see my WWW Help Page.

Table of Contents

  1. INTRODUCTORY MATERIAL
  2. HTML TAGS

    Important: If you are not clear about the differences between the various versions of HTML, I suggest that you read my discussion of the development of HTML, or the World Wide Web Consortium HTML activity statement.

BASIC ELEMENTS
  Document Type <HTML></HTML> (beginning and end of file)
  Title <TITLE></TITLE> (must be in header)
  Header <HEAD></HEAD> (descriptive info, such as title)
  Body <BODY></BODY> (bulk of the page)

STRUCTURAL DEFINITION
  Heading <H?></H?> (the spec. defines 6 levels)
  Align Heading <H? ALIGN=LEFT|CENTER|RIGHT></H?>
  Division <DIV></DIV>
  Align Division <DIV ALIGN=LEFT|RIGHT|CENTER|JUSTIFY></DIV>
4.0 Defined Content <SPAN></SPAN>
  Block Quote <BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE> (usually indented)
4.0 Quote <Q></Q> (for short quotations)
4.0 Citation <Q CITE="URL"></Q>
  Emphasis <EM></EM> (usually displayed as italic)
  Strong Emphasis <STRONG></STRONG> (usually displayed as bold)
  Citation <CITE></CITE> (usually italics)
  Code <CODE></CODE> (for source code listings)
  Sample Output <SAMP></SAMP>
  Keyboard Input <KBD></KBD>
  Variable <VAR></VAR>
  Definition <DFN></DFN> (not widely implemented)
  Author's Address <ADDRESS></ADDRESS>
  Large Font Size <BIG></BIG>
  Small Font Size <SMALL></SMALL>
4.0 Insert <INS></INS> (marks additions in a new version)
4.0 Time of Change <INS DATETIME=":::"></INS>
4.0 Comments <INS CITE="URL"></INS>
4.0 Delete <DEL></DEL> (marks deletions in a new version)
4.0 Time of Change <DEL DATETIME=":::"></DEL>
4.0 Comments <DEL CITE="URL"></DEL>
4.0 Acronym <ACRONYM></ACRONYM>
4.0 Abbreviation <ABBR></ABBR>

PRESENTATION FORMATTING
  Bold <B></B>
  Italic <I></I>
4.0* Underline <U></U> (not widely implemented)
  Strikeout <STRIKE></STRIKE> (not widely implemented)
4.0* Strikeout <S></S> (not widely implemented)
  Subscript <SUB></SUB>
  Superscript <SUP></SUP>
  Typewriter <TT></TT> (displays in a monospaced font)
  Preformatted <PRE></PRE> (display text spacing as-is)
  Width <PRE WIDTH=?></PRE> (in characters)
  Center <CENTER></CENTER> (for both text and images)
N1 Blinking <BLINK></BLINK> (the most derided tag ever)
  Font Size <FONT SIZE=?></FONT> (ranges from 1-7)
  Change Font Size <FONT SIZE="+|-?"></FONT>
  Font Color <FONT COLOR="#$$$$$$"></FONT>
4.0* Select Font <FONT FACE="***"></FONT>
N4 Point size <FONT POINT-SIZE=?></FONT>
N4 Weight <FONT WEIGHT=?></FONT>
4.0* Base Font Size <BASEFONT SIZE=?> (from 1-7; default is 3)
MS Marquee <MARQUEE></MARQUEE>

POSITIONING
N3 Multi-Column <MULTICOL COLS=?></MULTICOL>
N3 Column Gutter <MULTICOL GUTTER=?></MULTICOL>
N3 Column Width <MULTICOL WIDTH=?></MULTICOL>
N3 Spacer <SPACER>
N3 Spacer Type <SPACER TYPE=HORIZONTAL|VERTICAL|BLOCK>
N3 Size <SPACER SIZE=?>
N3 Dimensions <SPACER WIDTH=? HEIGHT=?>
N3 Alignment <SPACER ALIGN=LEFT|RIGHT|CENTER>
N4 Layer <LAYER></LAYER>
N4 Name <LAYER ID="***"></LAYER>
N4 Location <LAYER LEFT=? TOP=?></LAYER>
N4 Rel. Position <LAYER PAGEX=? PAGEY=?></LAYER>
N4 Source File <LAYER SRC="***"></LAYER>
N4 Stacking <LAYER Z-INDEX=?></LAYER>
N4 Stack Position <LAYER ABOVE="***" BELOW="***"></LAYER>
N4 Dimensions <LAYER HEIGHT=? WIDTH=?></LAYER>
N4 Clipping Path <LAYER CLIP=,,,></LAYER>
N4 Visible? <LAYER VISIBILITY=SHOW|HIDDEN|INHERIT></LAYER>
N4 Background <LAYER BACKGROUND="$$$$$$"></LAYER>
N4 Color <LAYER BGCOLOR="$$$$$$"></LAYER>
N4 Inline Layer <ILAYER></ILAYER> (takes same attributes as LAYER)
N4 Alt. Content <NOLAYER></NOLAYER>

LINKS, GRAPHICS, AND SOUNDS
  Link Something <A HREF="URL"></A>
  Link to Location <A HREF="URL#***"></A> (if in another document)
  <A HREF="#***"></A> (if in current document)
4.0* Target Window <A HREF="URL" TARGET="***"></A>
4.0* Action on Click <A HREF="URL" ONCLICK="***"></A> (Javascript)
4.0* Mouseover Action <A HREF="URL" ONMOUSEOVER="***"></A> (Javascript)
4.0* Mouse out Action <A HREF="URL" ONMOUSEOUT="***"></A> (Javascript)
  Link to Email <A HREF="mailto:@"></A>
N, MS Specify Subject <A HREF="mailto:@?SUBJECT=***"></A> (use a real question mark)
  Define Location <A NAME="***"></A>
  Display Image <IMG SRC="URL">
  Alignment <IMG SRC="URL" ALIGN=TOP|BOTTOM|MIDDLE|LEFT|RIGHT>
N1 Alignment <IMG SRC="URL" ALIGN=TEXTTOP|ABSMIDDLE|BASELINE|ABSBOTTOM>
  Alternate <IMG SRC="URL" ALT="***"> (if image not displayed)
  Dimensions <IMG SRC="URL" WIDTH=? HEIGHT=?> (in pixels)
  <IMG SRC="URL" WIDTH=% HEIGHT=%> (as percentage of page width/height)
  Border <IMG SRC="URL" BORDER=?> (in pixels)
  Runaround Space <IMG SRC="URL" HSPACE=? VSPACE=?> (in pixels)
N1 Low-Res Proxy <IMG SRC="URL" LOWSRC="URL">
  Imagemap <IMG SRC="URL" ISMAP> (requires a script)
  Imagemap <IMG SRC="URL" USEMAP="URL">
MS Movie Clip <IMG DYNSRC="***" START="***" LOOP=?>
MS Background Sound <BGSOUND SRC="***" LOOP=?|INFINITE>
  Client-Side Map <MAP NAME="***"></MAP> (describes the map)
  Map Section <AREA SHAPE="DEFAULT|RECT|CIRCLE|POLY" COORDS=",,," HREF="URL"|NOHREF>
N1 Client Pull <META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="?; URL=URL">
N2 Embed Object <EMBED SRC="URL"> (insert object into page)
N2 Object Size <EMBED SRC="URL" WIDTH=? HEIGHT=?>
4.0 Object <OBJECT></OBJECT>
4.0 Parameters <PARAM>

DIVIDERS
  Paragraph <P></P> (closing tag often unnecessary)
  Align Text <P ALIGN=LEFT|CENTER|RIGHT></P>
N Justify Text <P ALIGN=JUSTIFY></P>
  Line Break <BR> (a single carriage return)
  Clear Textwrap <BR CLEAR=LEFT|RIGHT|ALL>
  Horizontal Rule <HR>
  Alignment <HR ALIGN=LEFT|RIGHT|CENTER>
  Thickness <HR SIZE=?> (in pixels)
  Width <HR WIDTH=?> (in pixels)
  Width Percent <HR WIDTH="%"> (as a percentage of page width)
  Solid Line <HR NOSHADE> (without the 3D cutout look)
N1 No Break <NOBR></NOBR> (prevents line breaks)
N1 Word Break <WBR> (where to break a line if needed)

LISTS
  Unordered List <UL><LI></UL> (before each list item)
  Compact <UL COMPACT></UL>
  Bullet Type <UL TYPE=DISC|CIRCLE|SQUARE> (for the whole list)
  Bullet Type <LI TYPE=DISC|CIRCLE|SQUARE> (this & subsequent)
  Ordered List <OL><LI></OL> (before each list item)
  Compact <OL COMPACT></OL>
  Numbering Type <OL TYPE=A|a|I|i|1> (for the whole list)
  Numbering Type <LI TYPE=A|a|I|i|1> (this & subsequent)
  Starting Number <OL START=?> (for the whole list)
  Starting Number <LI VALUE=?> (this & subsequent)
  Definition List <DL><DT><DD></DL> (<DT>=term, <DD>=definition)
  Compact <DL COMPACT></DL>
  Menu List <MENU><LI></MENU> (before each list item)
  Compact <MENU COMPACT></MENU>
  Directory List <DIR><LI></DIR> (before each list item)
  Compact <DIR COMPACT></DIR>

BACKGROUNDS AND COLORS
  Tiled Bkground <BODY BACKGROUND="URL">
MS Watermark <BODY BGPROPERTIES="FIXED">
  Bkground Color <BODY BGCOLOR="#$$$$$$"> (order is red/green/blue)
  Text Color <BODY TEXT="#$$$$$$">
  Link Color <BODY LINK="#$$$$$$">
  Visited Link <BODY VLINK="#$$$$$$">
  Active Link <BODY ALINK="#$$$$$$">
  (More info at http://werbach.com/web/wwwhelp.html#color)

SPECIAL CHARACTERS
  Special Character &#?; (where ? is the ISO 8859-1 code)
  < &lt;
  > &gt;
  & &amp;
  " &quot;
  Registered TM &#174;
  Registered TM &reg;
  Copyright &#169;
  Copyright &copy;
  Non-Breaking Space &nbsp;
  (Complete list at http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/charset)

FORMS
  Define Form <FORM ACTION="URL" METHOD=GET|POST></FORM>
4.0* File Upload <FORM ENCTYPE="multipart/form-data"></FORM>
  Input Field <INPUT TYPE="TEXT|PASSWORD|CHECKBOX|RADIO|
FILE|BUTTON|IMAGE|HIDDEN|SUBMIT|RESET">
  Field Name <INPUT NAME="***">
  Field Value <INPUT VALUE="***">
  Checked? <INPUT CHECKED> (checkboxes and radio boxes)
  Field Size <INPUT SIZE=?> (in characters)
  Max Length <INPUT MAXLENGTH=?> (in characters)
4.0 Button <BUTTON></BUTTON>
4.0 Button Name <BUTTON NAME="***"></BUTTON>
4.0 Button Type <BUTTON TYPE="SUBMIT|RESET|BUTTON"></BUTTON>
4.0 Default Value <BUTTON VALUE="***"></BUTTON>
4.0 Label <LABEL></LABEL>
4.0 Item Labelled <LABEL FOR="***"></LABEL>
  Selection List <SELECT></SELECT>
  Name of List <SELECT NAME="***"></SELECT>
  # of Options <SELECT SIZE=?></SELECT>
  Multiple Choice <SELECT MULTIPLE> (can select more than one)
  Option <OPTION> (items that can be selected)
  Default Option <OPTION SELECTED>
  Option Value <OPTION VALUE="***">
4.0 Option Group <OPTGROUP LABEL="***"></OPTGROUP>
  Input Box Size <TEXTAREA ROWS=? COLS=?></TEXTAREA>
  Name of Box <TEXTAREA NAME="***"></TEXTAREA>
N2 Wrap Text <TEXTAREA WRAP=OFF|HARD|SOFT></TEXTAREA>
4.0 Group elements <FIELDSET></FIELDSET>
4.0 Legend <LEGEND></LEGEND> (caption for fieldsets)
4.0 Alignment <LEGEND ALIGN="TOP|BOTTOM|LEFT|RIGHT"></LEGEND>

TABLES
  Define Table <TABLE></TABLE>
4.0* Table Alignment <TABLE ALIGN=LEFT|RIGHT|CENTER>
  Table Border <TABLE BORDER></TABLE> (either on or off)
  Table Border <TABLE BORDER=?></TABLE> (you can set the value)
  Cell Spacing <TABLE CELLSPACING=?>
  Cell Padding <TABLE CELLPADDING=?>
  Desired Width <TABLE WIDTH=?> (in pixels)
  Width Percent <TABLE WIDTH=%> (percentage of page)
4.0* Table Color <TABLE BGCOLOR="$$$$$$"></TABLE>
4.0 Table Frame <TABLE FRAME=VOID|ABOVE|BELOW|HSIDES|LHS|RHS|
VSIDES|BOX|BORDER></TABLE>
4.0 Table Rules <TABLE RULES=NONE|GROUPS|ROWS|COLS|ALL></TABLE>
MS Border Color <TABLE BORDERCOLOR="$$$$$$"></TABLE>
MS Dark Border <TABLE BORDERCOLORDARK="$$$$$$"></TABLE>
MS Light Border <TABLE BORDERCOLORLIGHT="$$$$$$"></TABLE>
  Table Row <TR></TR>
  Alignment <TR ALIGN=LEFT|RIGHT|CENTER|MIDDLE|BOTTOM>
  Table Cell <TD></TD> (must appear within table rows)
  Alignment <TD ALIGN=LEFT|RIGHT|CENTER VALIGN=TOP|MIDDLE|BOTTOM>
  No linebreaks <TD NOWRAP>
  Columns to Span <TD COLSPAN=?>
  Rows to Span <TD ROWSPAN=?>
4.0* Desired Width <TD WIDTH=?> (in pixels)
N3 Width Percent <TD WIDTH="%"> (percentage of table)
4.0* Cell Color <TD BGCOLOR="#$$$$$$">
  Header Cell <TH></TH> (same as data, except bold centered)
  Alignment <TH ALIGN=LEFT|RIGHT|CENTER|MIDDLE|BOTTOM>
  No Linebreaks <TH NOWRAP>
  Columns to Span <TH COLSPAN=?>
  Rows to Span <TH ROWSPAN=?>
4.0* Desired Width <TH WIDTH=?> (in pixels)
N3 Width Percent <TH WIDTH="%"> (percentage of table)
4.0* Cell Color <TH BGCOLOR="#$$$$$$">
4.0 Table Body <TBODY>
4.0 Table Footer <TFOOT></TFOOT> (must come before THEAD>
4.0 Table Header <THEAD></THEAD>
  Table Caption <CAPTION></CAPTION>
  Alignment <CAPTION ALIGN=TOP|BOTTOM|LEFT|RIGHT>
4.0 Column <COL></COL> (groups column attributes)
4.0 Columns Spanned <COL SPAN=?></COL>
4.0 Column Width <COL WIDTH=?></COL>
4.0 Width Percent <COL WIDTH="%"></COL>
4.0 Group columns <COLGROUP></COLGROUP> (groups column structure)
4.0 Columns Spanned <COLGROUP SPAN=?></COLGROUP>
4.0 Group Width <COLGROUP WIDTH=?></COLGROUP>
4.0 Width Percent <COLGROUP WIDTH="%"></COLGROUP>

FRAMES
4.0* Frame Document <FRAMESET></FRAMESET> (instead of <BODY>)
4.0* Row Heights <FRAMESET ROWS=,,,></FRAMESET> (pixels or %)
4.0* Row Heights <FRAMESET ROWS=*></FRAMESET> (* = relative size)
4.0* Column Widths <FRAMESET COLS=,,,></FRAMESET> (pixels or %)
4.0* Column Widths <FRAMESET COLS=*></FRAMESET> (* = relative size)
4.0* Borders <FRAMESET FRAMEBORDER="yes|no"></FRAMESET>
4.0* Border Width <FRAMESET BORDER=?></FRAMESET>
4.0* Border Color <FRAMESET BORDERCOLOR="#$$$$$$"></FRAMESET>
N3 Frame Spacing <FRAMESET FRAMESPACING=?></FRAMESET>
4.0* Define Frame <FRAME> (contents of an individual frame)
4.0* Display Document <FRAME SRC="URL">
4.0* Frame Name <FRAME NAME="***"|_blank|_self|_parent|_top>
4.0* Margin Width <FRAME MARGINWIDTH=?> (left and right margins)
4.0* Margin Height <FRAME MARGINHEIGHT=?> (top and bottom margins)
4.0* Scrollbar? <FRAME SCROLLING="YES|NO|AUTO">
4.0* Not Resizable <FRAME NORESIZE>
4.0* Borders <FRAME FRAMEBORDER="yes|no">
4.0* Border Color <FRAME BORDERCOLOR="#$$$$$$">
4.0* Unframed Content <NOFRAMES></NOFRAMES> (for non-frames browsers)
4.0 Inline Frame <IFRAME></IFRAME> (takes same attributes as FRAME)
4.0 Dimensions <IFRAME WIDTH=? HEIGHT=?></IFRAME>
4.0 Dimensions <IFRAME WIDTH="%" HEIGHT="%"></IFRAME>

SCRIPTS AND JAVA
  Script <SCRIPT></SCRIPT>
  Location <SCRIPT SRC="URL"></SCRIPT>
  Type <SCRIPT TYPE="***"></SCRIPT>
  Language <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="***"></SCRIPT>
4.0* Other Content <NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT> (if scripts not supported)
  Applet <APPLET></APPLET>
  File Name <APPLET CODE="***">
  Parameters <APPLET PARAM NAME="***">
  Location <APPLET CODEBASE="URL">
  Identifier <APPLET NAME="***"> (for references)
  Alt Text <APPLET ALT="***"> (for non-Java browsers)
  Alignment <APPLET ALIGN="LEFT|RIGHT|CENTER">
  Size <APPLET WIDTH=? HEIGHT=?> (in pixels)
  Spacing <APPLET HSPACE=? VSPACE=?> (in pixels)
N4 Server Script <SERVER></SERVER>

MISCELLANEOUS
  Comment <!-- *** --> (not displayed by the browser)
  Prologue <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
  Searchable <ISINDEX> (indicates a searchable index)
  Prompt <ISINDEX PROMPT="***"> (text to prompt input)
  Send Search <A HREF="URL?***"></a> (use a real question mark)
  URL of This File <BASE HREF="URL"> (must be in header)
4.0* Base Window Name <BASE TARGET="***"> (must be in header)
  Relationship <LINK REV="***" REL="***" HREF="URL"> (in header)
N4 Linked File <LINK TYPE="***" SRC="***"></LINK>
  Meta Information <META> (must be in header)
  Style Sheets <STYLE></STYLE> (implementations vary)
4.0 Bidirect Off <BDO DIR=LTR|RTL></BDO> (for certain character sets)
Copyright ©1995-2001 Kevin Werbach. Redistribution is permitted, so long as there is no charge and this document is included without alteration in its entirety. This Guide is not a product of Bare Bones Software. More information is available at http://werbach.com/barebones.
Valid HTML 4.0!

Didn't see anything you like?
Customize any of our Web Templates or view Premium Website Templates with PSD Source Files!
More website products: Flash Photo Galleries, Flash MP3 Music Players and Royalty Free Stock Photos.
Free Web Templates: Hoover Free Templates, A Free Web Template, Free Clipart Web Templates
Professional Web Site Design & Web Templates NewsletterJoin our eMail list to get sales announcements and discounts on your next web template purchase!
© 2000-2008 Hoover Web Design. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this website may be downloaded, copied or reproduced without the written permission of Hoover Web Design.