1.4 HTML Elements

An HTML element is every thing from the start tag to end tag.* The start tag is often called the opening tag. The end tag is often called the closing tag.
HTML Element Syntax

An HTML element starts with a start tag / opening tag
An HTML element ends with an end tag / closing tag
The element content is everything between the start and the end tag
Some HTML elements have empty content
Empty elements are closed in the start tag
Most HTML elements can have attributes

Tip: You will learn about attributes in the next chapter of this tutorial.

Nested HTML Elements
Most HTML elements can be nested (can contain other HTML elements).
HTML documents consist of nested HTML elements.
HTML elements with no content are called empty elements.
<br> is an empty element without a closing tag (the <br> tag defines a line break).
Tip: In XHTML, all elements must be closed. Adding a slash inside the start tag, like <br />, is the proper way of closing empty elements in XHTML (and XML).

HTML Tip: Use Lowercase Tags
HTML tags are not case sensitive: <P> means the same as <p>. Many web sites use uppercase HTML tags.
W3Schools use lowercase tags because the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends lowercase in HTML 4, anddemands lowercase tags in XHTML.