HTML Formatting

HTML Text Formatting

Text Formatting

This text is bold
This text is italic
This is subscript and superscript
Try it Yourself »

HTML Formatting Elements

In the previous chapter, you learned about the HTML style attribute.
HTML also defines special elements for defining text with a special meaning.
HTML uses elements like <b> and <i> for formatting output, like bold or italic text.
Formatting elements were designed to display special types of text:
  • <b> - Bold text
  • <strong> - Important text
  • <i> - Italic text
  • <em> - Emphasized text
  • <mark> - Marked text
  • <small> - Small text
  • <del> - Deleted text
  • <ins> - Inserted text
  • <sub> - Subscript text
  • <sup> - Superscript text

HTML <b> and <strong> Elements

The HTML <b> element defines bold text, without any extra importance.

Example

<b>This text is bold</b>
Try it Yourself »
The HTML <strong> element defines strong text, with added semantic "strong" importance.

Example

<strong>This text is strong</strong>
Try it Yourself »

HTML <i> and <em> Elements

The HTML <i> element defines italic text, without any extra importance.

Example

<i>This text is italic</i>
Try it Yourself »
The HTML <em> element defines emphasized text, with added semantic importance.

Example

<em>This text is emphasized</em>
Try it Yourself »
Note: Browsers display <strong> as <b>, and <em> as <i>. However, there is a difference in the meaning of these tags: <b> and <i> defines bold and italic text, but <strong> and <em> means that the text is "important".

HTML <small> Element

The HTML <small> element defines smaller text:

Example

<h2>HTML <small>Small</small> Formatting</h2>
Try it Yourself »

HTML <mark> Element

The HTML <mark> element defines marked or highlighted text:

Example

<h2>HTML <mark>Marked</mark> Formatting</h2>
Try it Yourself »

HTML <del> Element

The HTML <del> element defines deleted (removed) text.

Example

<p>My favorite color is <del>blue</del> red.</p>
Try it Yourself »

HTML <ins> Element

The HTML <ins> element defines inserted (added) text.

Example

<p>My favorite <ins>color</ins> is red.</p>
Try it Yourself »

HTML <sub> Element

The HTML <sub> element defines subscripted text.

Example

<p>This is <sub>subscripted</sub> text.</p>
Try it Yourself »

HTML <sup> Element

The HTML <sup> element defines superscripted text.

Example

<p>This is <sup>superscripted</sup> text.</p>
Try it Yourself »

-

HTML Quotation

HTML Quotation and Citation Elements

Quotation

Here is a quote from WWF's website:
For 50 years, WWF has been protecting the future of nature. The world's leading conservation organization, WWF works in 100 countries and is supported by 1.2 million members in the United States and close to 5 million globally.
Try it Yourself »

HTML <q> for Short Quotations

The HTML <q> element defines a short quotation.
Browsers usually insert quotation marks around the <q> element.

Example

<p>WWF's goal is to: <q>Build a future where people live in harmony with nature.</q></p>
Try it Yourself »

HTML <blockquote> for Quotations

The HTML <blockquote> element defines a section that is quoted from another source.
Browsers usually indent <blockquote> elements.

Example

<p>Here is a quote from WWF's website:</p>
<blockquote cite="http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/index.html">
For 50 years, WWF has been protecting the future of nature.
The world's leading conservation organization,
WWF works in 100 countries and is supported by
1.2 million members in the United States and
close to 5 million globally.
</blockquote>
Try it Yourself »

HTML <address> for Contact Information

The HTML <address> element defines contact information (author/owner) of a document or an article.
The <address> element is usually displayed in italic. Most browsers will add a line break before and after the element.

Example

<address>
Written by John Doe.<br> 
Visit us at:<br>
Example.com<br>
Box 564, Disneyland<br>
USA
</address>
Try it Yourself »

HTML <cite> for Work Title

The HTML <cite> element defines the title of a work.
Browsers usually display <cite> elements in italic.

Example

<p><cite>The Scream</cite> by Edvard Munch. Painted in 1893.</p>
Try it Yourself »

HTML <bdo> for Bi-Directional Override

The HTML <bdo> element defines bi-directional override.
The <bdo> element is used to override the current text direction:

Example

<bdo dir="rtl">This text will be written from right to left</bdo>
Try it Yourself »

-

HTML Comments

HTML Comment Tags

You can add comments to your HTML source by using the following syntax:
<!-- Write your comments here -->
Notice that there is an exclamation point (!) in the opening tag, but not in the closing tag.
Note: Comments are not displayed by the browser, but they can help document your HTML source code.
With comments you can place notifications and reminders in your HTML:

Example

<!-- This is a comment -->

<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

<!-- Remember to add more information here -->
Try it Yourself »
Comments are also great for debugging HTML, because you can comment out HTML lines of code, one at a time, to search for errors:

Example

<!-- Do not display this at the moment
<img border="0" src="pic_mountain.jpg" alt="Mountain">
-->
Try it Yourself »


-

HTML Colors

Color Names

In HTML, a color can be specified by using a color name:
Tomato
Orange
DodgerBlue
MediumSeaGreen
Gray
SlateBlue
Violet
LightGray
HTML supports 140 standard color names.

Background Color

You can set the background color for HTML elements:
Hello World


Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Example

<h1 style="background-color:DodgerBlue;">Hello World</h1>
<p style="background-color:Tomato;">Lorem ipsum...</p>

Try it Yourself »

Text Color

You can set the color of text:

Hello World

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.
Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Example

<h1 style="color:Tomato;">Hello World</h1>
<p style="color:DodgerBlue;">Lorem ipsum...</p>
<p style="color:MediumSeaGreen;">Ut wisi enim...</p>
Try it Yourself »

Border Color

You can set the color of borders:

Hello World

Hello World

Hello World

Example

<h1 style="border:2px solid Tomato;">Hello World</h1>
<h1 style="border:2px solid DodgerBlue;">Hello World</h1>
<h1 style="border:2px solid Violet;">Hello World</h1>
Try it Yourself »

Color Values

In HTML, colors can also be specified using RGB values, HEX values, HSL values, RGBA values, and HSLA values:
Same as color name "Tomato":
rgb(255, 99, 71)
#ff6347
hsl(9, 100%, 64%)
Same as color name "Tomato", but 50% transparent:
rgba(255, 99, 71, 0.5)
hsla(9, 100%, 64%, 0.5)

Example

<h1 style="background-color:rgb(255, 99, 71);">...</h1>
<h1 style="background-color:#ff6347;">...</h1>
<h1 style="background-color:hsl(9, 100%, 64%);">...</h1>

<h1 style="background-color:rgba(255, 99, 71, 0.5);">...</h1>
<h1 style="background-color:hsla(9, 100%, 64%, 0.5);">...</h1>
Try it Yourself »
-

HTML Styles - CSS

Styling HTML with CSS

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets.
CSS describes how HTML elements are to be displayed on screen, paper, or in other media.
CSS saves a lot of work. It can control the layout of multiple web pages all at once.
CSS can be added to HTML elements in 3 ways:
  • Inline - by using the style attribute in HTML elements
  • Internal - by using a <style> element in the <head> section
  • External - by using an external CSS file
The most common way to add CSS, is to keep the styles in separate CSS files. However, here we will use inline and internal styling, because this is easier to demonstrate, and easier for you to try it yourself.
Tip: You can learn much more about CSS in our CSS Tutorial.

Inline CSS

An inline CSS is used to apply a unique style to a single HTML element.
An inline CSS uses the style attribute of an HTML element.
This example sets the text color of the <h1> element to blue:

Example

<h1 style="color:blue;">This is a Blue Heading</h1>
Try it Yourself »

Internal CSS

An internal CSS is used to define a style for a single HTML page.
An internal CSS is defined in the <head> section of an HTML page, within a <style> element:

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
body {background-color: powderblue;}
h1   {color: blue;}
p    {color: red;}</style>
</head>
<body>

<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »

External CSS

An external style sheet is used to define the style for many HTML pages.
With an external style sheet, you can change the look of an entire web site, by changing one file!
To use an external style sheet, add a link to it in the <head> section of the HTML page:

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
</head>
<body>

<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »
An external style sheet can be written in any text editor. The file must not contain any HTML code, and must be saved with a .css extension.
Here is how the "styles.css" looks:
body {
    background-color: powderblue;}
h1 {
    color: blue;}
p {
    color: red;}

CSS Fonts

The CSS color property defines the text color to be used.
The CSS font-family property defines the font to be used.
The CSS font-size property defines the text size to be used.

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<style>
h1 {
    color: blue;
    font-family: verdana;
    font-size: 300%;}
p  {
    color: red;
    font-family: courier;
    font-size: 160%;}</style>
</head>
<body>

<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>
Try it Yourself »

CSS Border

The CSS border property defines a border around an HTML element:

Example

p {
    border: 1px solid powderblue;}
Try it Yourself »

CSS Padding

The CSS padding property defines a padding (space) between the text and the border:

Example

p {
    border: 1px solid powderblue;
    padding: 30px;}
Try it Yourself »

CSS Margin

The CSS margin property defines a margin (space) outside the border:

Example

p {
    border: 1px solid powderblue;
    margin: 50px;}
Try it Yourself »

The id Attribute

To define a specific style for one special element, add an id attribute to the element:
<p id="p01">I am different</p>
then define a style for the element with the specific id:

Example

#p01 {
    color: blue;}
Try it Yourself »
Note: The id of an element should be unique within a page, so the id selector is used to select one unique element!

The class Attribute

To define a style for a special type of elements, add a class attribute to the element:
<p class="error">I am different</p>
then define a style for the elements with the specific class:

Example

p.error {
    color: red;}
Try it Yourself »

External References

External style sheets can be referenced with a full URL or with a path relative to the current web page.
This example uses a full URL to link to a style sheet:

Example

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.w3schools.com/html/styles.css">
This example links to a style sheet located in the html folder on the current web site:

Example

<link rel="stylesheet" href="/html/styles.css">
This example links to a style sheet located in the same folder as the current page:

Example

<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
You can read more about file paths in the chapter HTML File Paths.

Chapter Summary

  • Use the HTML style attribute for inline styling
  • Use the HTML <style> element to define internal CSS
  • Use the HTML <link> element to refer to an external CSS file
  • Use the HTML <head> element to store <style> and <link> elements
  • Use the CSS color property for text colors
  • Use the CSS font-family property for text fonts
  • Use the CSS font-size property for text sizes
  • Use the CSS border property for borders
  • Use the CSS padding property for space inside the border
  • Use the CSS margin property for space outside the border
-
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)