HTML Tags
HTML Tags – A to Z List
This is an alphabetical reference of the most common HTML tags with a short description of what each one does. Use it as a quick lookup while you learn or build web pages.
HTML Tags — A to Z Reference
HTML has more than 100 elements. The table below lists the most commonly used tags in alphabetical order, along with a one-line description of each. Tags marked as deprecated should not be used in new HTML5 documents.
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| <a> | Defines a hyperlink to another page, file, or location. |
| <abbr> | Marks an abbreviation or acronym, with the full form in title. |
| <address> | Provides contact information for the author or document. |
| <area> | Defines a clickable region inside an image map. |
| <article> | Self-contained content such as a blog post or news story. |
| <aside> | Content tangentially related to the main content, like a sidebar. |
| <audio> | Embeds playable sound content. |
| <b> | Bold text for stylistic attention without importance. |
| <base> | Sets the base URL and default target for relative links. |
| <blockquote> | Marks a section quoted from another source. |
| <body> | Contains all the visible content of the document. |
| <br> | Inserts a single line break. |
| <button> | Creates a clickable button. |
| <canvas> | A drawing surface for graphics via JavaScript. |
| <caption> | Provides a caption for a table. |
| <code> | Displays a fragment of computer code. |
| <div> | A generic block-level container for layout. |
| <em> | Emphasized text, usually shown in italics. |
| <figure> | Groups media like images with an optional caption. |
| <footer> | Footer for a document or section. |
| <form> | Collects user input for submission. |
| <h1> to <h6> | Section headings, from most to least important. |
| <head> | Container for document metadata. |
| <header> | Introductory content or navigation for a section. |
| <hr> | A thematic break, rendered as a horizontal rule. |
| <html> | The root element of an HTML document. |
| <i> | Text in an alternate voice or mood, usually italic. |
| <iframe> | Embeds another HTML page within the current one. |
| <img> | Embeds an image. |
| <input> | An input control within a form. |
| <label> | A caption for a form control. |
| <li> | A list item inside <ul> or <ol>. |
| <link> | Links to external resources such as stylesheets. |
| <main> | The dominant, unique content of the document. |
| <mark> | Highlighted or marked text. |
| <meta> | Document metadata such as charset and description. |
| <nav> | A section of navigation links. |
| <ol> | An ordered (numbered) list. |
| <option> | An option within a <select> drop-down. |
| <p> | A paragraph of text. |
| <pre> | Preformatted text that preserves whitespace. |
| <script> | Embeds or references executable JavaScript. |
| <section> | A thematic grouping of content. |
| <select> | A drop-down selection control. |
| <span> | A generic inline container. |
| <strong> | Text of strong importance, usually bold. |
| <style> | Embeds CSS rules in the document. |
| <table> | Defines a data table. |
| <td> | A standard data cell in a table. |
| <textarea> | A multi-line text input control. |
| <th> | A header cell in a table. |
| <title> | The document title shown in the browser tab. |
| <tr> | A row in a table. |
| <ul> | An unordered (bulleted) list. |
| <video> | Embeds playable video content. |
| <acronym> | Deprecated: use <abbr> instead. |
| <applet> | Obsolete: use <object>, <embed>, or <iframe>. |
⚠️
Deprecated and obsolete tags like <acronym>, <applet>, <center>, <font>, and <big> should never be used in new pages. Use semantic HTML5 elements and CSS instead.
Example
Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h1>A Sampler of Common Tags</h1>
<p>This is a <b>paragraph</b> with a
<a href="https://www.wikipedia.org/">link</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li>First item</li>
<li>Second item</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://picsum.photos/200" alt="Sample image" />
</body>
</html>Key Takeaways
- HTML offers 100+ elements; this list covers the most common ones.
- Semantic tags (article, nav, header, footer) improve structure and SEO.
- Deprecated tags like <acronym> and <applet> must be avoided.
- Use this table as a quick alphabetical lookup.
- Combine tags to build complete, accessible pages.