#5 HTML Attributes
HTML attributes provide additional information about HTML elements.
An attribute is used to define the characteristics of an HTML element and is placed inside the element’s opening tag.
All HTML elements can have attributes. Attributes usually come in name/value pairs like: name=“value”
The href Attribute
The <a> tag defines a hyperlink. The href attribute specifies the URL of the page the link goes to
Example
<a href="https://www.codesnail.com">Visit codesnail</a>
You will learn more about links in our HTML Links chapter.
The src Attribute
The <img> tag is used to embed an image in an HTML page. The src attribute specifies the path to the image to be displayed.
Example
<img src="img.jpg" />
There are two ways to specify the URL in the src attribute:
1. Absolute URL - Links to an external image that is hosted on another website. Example: src=“https://www.codesnail.com/images/img.jpg”.
Notes: External images might be under copyright. If you do not get permission to use it, you may be in violation of copyright laws. In addition, you cannot control external images; they can suddenly be removed or changed.
2. Relative URL - Links to an image that is hosted within the website. Here, the URL does not include the domain name. If the URL begins without a slash, it will be relative to the current page. Example: src="img.jpg". If the URL begins with a slash, it will be relative to the domain. Example: src="/images/img.jpg".
Tip: It is almost always best to use relative URLs. They will not break if you change the domain.
The width and height Attributes
<img> also have width and height attributes. Which is use to specifies the height and width of the image (in pixel).
Example
<img src="img.jpg" width="800" height="500">
We will see more img tag’s attributes in img tag tutorial.
The style Attribute
The style attribute is used to add styles to an element, such as color, font, size, width, and more.
<p style="color:red;">This is a red paragraph.</p>
We will learn about more in CSS tutorial.
The lang Attribute
You should always include the lang attribute inside the <html> tag, to declare the language of the Web page. This is meant to assist search engines and browsers.
The following example specifies English as the language:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<body>
...
</body>
</html>
Country codes can also be added to the language code in the lang attribute. So, the first two characters define the language of the HTML page, and the last two characters define the country.
The following example specifies English as the language and United States as the country:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en-US">
<body>
...
</body>
</html>
You can see all the language codes in HTML Language Code Reference.
The title Attribute
The title attribute defines some extra information about an element.
The value of the title attribute will be displayed as a tooltip when you mouse over the element
See the Pen tooltip by Arpit (@soniarpit) on CodePen.
We Suggest: Always Use Lowercase Attributes
The HTML standard does not require lowercase attribute names. You can also write in uppercase too.
The title attribute (and all other attributes) can be written with uppercase or lowercase like title or TITLE.
However, W3C recommends lowercase attributes in HTML, and demands lowercase attributes for stricter document types like XHTML.
We Suggest: Always Quote Attribute Values
The HTML standard does not require quotes around attribute values.
However, W3C recommends quotes in HTML, and demands quotes for stricter document types like XHTML.
Good
<a href="https://www.codesnail.com/">Visit codesnail</a>
Bad
<a href=https://www.codesnail.com/>Visit codesnail</a>
Sometimes you have to use quotes. This example will not display the title attribute correctly, because it contains a space:
<p title=About W3Schools>
Single or Double Quotes?
You can use both. But 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.
<p title='Hello "hi" How are you'>
or vice versa,
<p title="Hello 'hi' How are you">
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial. Try your self.
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