Attributes In HTML

Attributes provide additional information about HTML elements.
All HTML elements can have attributes
Attributes provide additional information about an element
Attributes are always specified in the start tag
Attributes usually come in name/value pairs like: name="value"

The href Attribute

HTML links are defined with the <a> tag. The link address is specified in the href attribute:

Example

This is a link

You will learn more about links and the <a> tag later in this tutorial.

The src Attribute

HTML images are defined with the <img> tag. The filename of the image source is specified in the 'src' attribute:

Example

The width and height Attributes

Images in HTML have a set of size attributes, which specifies the width and height of the image:

Example

The image size is specified in pixels: width="500" means 500 pixels wide.

The alt Attribute

The alt attribute specifies an alternative text to be used, when an image cannot be displayed. The value of the attribute can be read by screen readers. This way, someone "listening" to the webpage, e.g. a blind person, can "hear" the element.

Example

The alt attribute is also useful if the image does not exist:

Example

See what happens if we try to display an image that does not exist:

The style Attribute

The style attribute is used to specify the styling of an element, like color, font, size etc.

Example

I am a paragraph

The lang Attribute

The language of the document can be declared in the tag. The language is declared with the lang attribute. Declaring a language is important for accessibility applications (screen readers) and search engines: <!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en-US"> <body> ... </body> </html> The first two letters specify the language (en). If there is a dialect, use two more letters (US).

The title Attribute

Here, a title attribute is added to the element. The value of the title attribute will be displayed as a tooltip when you mouse over the paragraph:

Example

<p title="I'm a Good Girl">
This is a paragraph.</p>

We Suggest: Use Lowercase Attributes

The HTML5 standard does not require lowercase attribute names.

We Suggest: Quote Attribute Values

The HTML5 standard does not require quotes around attribute values. The href attribute, demonstrated above, can be written without quotes: Bad google.com Good www.Google.com we recommends quotes in HTML, and demands quotes for stricter document types like XHTML. Sometimes it is necessary to use quotes. This example will not display the title attribute correctly, because it contains a space:

Example

Using quotes are the most common. Omitting quotes can produce errors.

Single or Double Quotes?

Double quotes around attribute values are the most common in HTML, but single quotes can also be used. In some situations, when the attribute value itself contains double quotes, it is necessary to use single quotes: Or vice versa:

Summary

All HTML elements can have attributes The title attribute provides additional "tool-tip" information The href attribute provides address information for links The width and height attributes provide size information for images The alt attribute provides text for screen readers we always use lowercase attribute names we always quote attribute values with double quotes

HTML Attributes

Below is an alphabetical list of some attributes often used in HTML, which you will learn more about in this tutorial:

Attribute	Description
alt	Specifies an alternative text for an image, when the image cannot be displayed
disabled	Specifies that an input element should be disabled
href	Specifies the URL (web address) for a link
id	Specifies a unique id for an element
src	Specifies the URL (web address) for an image
style	Specifies an inline CSS style for an element
title	Specifies extra information about an element (displayed as a tool tip)

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