HTML Lists
HTML supports ordered, unordered and
definition lists.
Unordered Lists
An unordered list is a list of items. The
list items are marked with bullets (typically
small black circles).
An unordered list starts with the <ul>
tag. Each list item starts with the <li>
tag.
<ul>
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ul>
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Here is how it looks in a
browser:
Inside a list item you can put paragraphs,
line breaks, images, links, other lists, etc.
Ordered Lists
An ordered list is also a list of items.
The list items are marked with numbers.
An ordered list starts with the <ol>
tag. Each list item starts with the <li>
tag.
<ol>
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ol>
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Here is how it looks in a browser:
- Coffee
- Milk
Inside a list item you can put paragraphs,
line breaks, images, links, other lists, etc.
Definition Lists
A definition list is not a list of
items. This is a list of terms and explanation
of the terms.
A definition list starts with the
<dl> tag. Each definition-list term
starts with the <dt> tag. Each
definition-list definition starts with the
<dd> tag.
<dl>
<dt>Coffee</dt>
<dd>Black hot drink</dd>
<dt>Milk</dt>
<dd>White cold drink</dd>
</dl>
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Here is how it looks in a browser:
- Coffee
- Black hot drink
- Milk
- White cold drink
Inside a definition-list definition (the
<dd> tag) you can put paragraphs, line
breaks, images, links, other lists, etc.
HTML Forms and Input
HTML Forms are used to select different
kinds of user input.
Forms
A form is an area that can contain form
elements.
Form elements are elements that allow the
user to enter information (like text fields,
textarea fields, drop-down menus, radio
buttons, checkboxes, etc.) in a form.
A form is defined with the <form>
tag.
<form>
<input>
<input>
</form>
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Input
The most used form tag is the <input>
tag. The type of input is specified with the
type attribute. The most commonly used input
types are explained below.
Text Fields
Text fields are used when you want the user
to type letters, numbers, etc. in a form.
<form>
First name:
<input type="text" name="firstname">
<br>
Last name:
<input type="text" name="lastname">
</form>
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How it looks in a browser:
Note that the form itself is not visible.
Also note that in most browsers, the width of
the text field is 20 characters by
default.
Radio Buttons
Radio Buttons are used when you want the
user to select one of a limited number of
choices.
<form>
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="male"> Male
<br>
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="female"> Female
</form>
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How it looks in a browser:
Note that only one option can be chosen.
Checkboxes
Checkboxes are used when you want the user
to select one or more options of a limited
number of choices.
<form>
<input type="checkbox" name="bike" value="yes">
I have a bike
<br>
<input type="checkbox" name="car" value="yes">
I have a car
</form>
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How it looks in a browser:
The Form's Action Attribute and the Submit
Button
When the user clicks on the
"Submit" button, the content of the
form is sent to another file. The form's
action attribute defines the name of the file
to send the content to. The file defined in
the action attribute usually does something
with the received input.
<form name="input" action="html_form_action.asp"
method="get">
Username:
<input type="text" name="user">
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
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How it looks in a browser:
If you type some characters in the text
field above, and click the "Submit"
button, you will send your input to a page
called "html_form_action.asp". That
page will show you the received input.
Form Tags:
NN: Netscape, IE: Internet
Explorer
Start Tag |
NN |
IE |
Purpose |
<form> |
3.0 |
3.0 |
Defines a form for user input |
<input> |
3.0 |
3.0 |
Defines an input field |
<textarea> |
3.0 |
3.0 |
Defines a text-area (a multi-line
text input control) |
<label> |
|
4.0 |
Defines a label to a control |
<fieldset> |
|
4.0 |
Defines a fieldset |
<legend> |
|
4.0 |
Defines a caption for a fieldset |
<select> |
3.0 |
3.0 |
Defines a selectable list (a
drop-down box) |
<optgroup> |
6.0 |
|
Defines an option group |
<option> |
3.0 |
3.0 |
Defines an option in the drop-down
box |
<button> |
|
4.0 |
Defines a push button |
<isindex> |
|
|
Deprecated. Use
<input> instead |
HTML Images
With HTML you can display
images in a document.
The Image Tag and the Src Attribute
In HTML, images are defined with the <img>
tag.
The <img> tag is empty, which
means that it contains attributes only and it
has no closing tag.
To display an image on a page, you need to
use the src attribute. Src stands for
"source". The value of the src
attribute is the URL of the image you want to
display on your page.
The syntax of defining an image:
The URL points to the location where the
image is stored. An image named "boat.gif"
located in the directory "images" on
The browser puts the image where the image
tag occurs in the document. If you put an
image tag between two paragraphs, the browser
shows the first paragraph, then the image, and
then the second paragraph.
The Alt Attribute
The alt attribute is used to define an
"alternate text" for an image. The
value of the alt attribute is an
author-defined text:
<img src="boat.gif" alt="Big Boat">
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The "alt" attribute tells the
reader what he or she is missing on a page if
the browser can't load images. The browser
will then display the alternate text instead
of the image. It is a good practice to include
the "alt" attribute for each image
on a page, to improve the display and
usefulness of your document for people who
have text-only browsers.
Basic Notes - Useful Tips
If an HTML file contains ten images -
eleven files are required to display the page
right. Loading images take time, so my best
advice is: Use images carefully.
Image Tags:
NN: Netscape, IE: Internet
Explorer
Start Tag |
NN |
IE |
Purpose |
<img> |
3.0 |
3.0 |
Defines an image |
<map> |
3.0 |
3.0 |
Defines an image map |
<area> |
3.0 |
3.0 |
Defines an area inside an image map |
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