larrygenesis

HTML Attributes

• 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"

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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:
The first two letters specify the language (en). If there is a dialect, use two more letters (US).

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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:

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The href Attribute

HTML links are defined with the tag. The link address is specified in the href attribute:
You will learn more about links and the tag later in this tutorial.

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Size Attributes

HTML images are defined with the tag.
The filename of the source (src), and the size of the image (widthand height) are all provided as attributes:
The image size is specified in pixels: width="104" means 104 screen pixels wide.
You will learn more about images and the tag later in this tutorial.

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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.

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We Suggest: Use Lowercase Attributes

The HTML5 standard does not require lowercase attribute names.
The title attribute can be written with uppercase or lowercase like Title and/or TITLE.
We recommend lowercase in HTML, and demand lowercase for stricter document types like XHTML.

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We Suggest: Quote Attribute Values

The HTML5 standard does not require quotes around attribute values.
The href attribute, demonstrated above, can be written as:
We recommend 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:

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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:

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Chapter 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
• Always use lowercase attribute names
• Always quote attribute values with double quotes