Have a question? Ask an IPL Librarian!

(Use our Contact Us form for questions/suggestions about our site.)

The Ask an IPL Librarian Reference Service will close between academic terms beginning December 20, 2007 at 10 p.m. (EST). We will reopen the service on Monday, January 5, 2008 at Noon (EST). We use this time to work behind the scenes to improve this service. Happy Holidays from all of us at the IPL!

Basic Tags

Wondering what else goes into your HTML document? Every HTML document needs a certain amount of tags in order for it to work. You already know that the first and last tags your file needs are the HTML tags to tell your web browser where the HTML in your document begins and ends:

<html>
</html>

Now you need to put in a pair of head tags. These tags hold all of the document's header information, such as the title of the document and such. But, you don't have to worry about that. Just know that you need to put in a pair of head tags, and know that any information put here is not seen by the web browser:

<html>
<head>
</head>
</html>

Speaking of a title, let's go ahead and put in the title tags, as well as the name you want to give to your document. Whatever falls between the title tags will be the title of the document. Then, when anyone views your web page, people will see the title displayed in the title bar located in the upper left hand corner of the web browser. For instance, look up in your browser window now and you'll see that the title of this web page is called Basic Tags. Let's show you an example of how to write the tag. In this instance I am going to use "My First Web Page" as the title:

<html>
<head>
<title>Learning HTML </title>
</head>
</html>

Now, here is the absolute last pair of basic tags that an HTML document needs - the body tags. This pair of tags is the most important because in-between these two tags is where you will put the all the stuff (text, links, graphics, etc.) that you want to be displayed in the window by the web browser:

<html>
<head>
<title>Learning HTML</title>
</head>
<body>
all your stuff will go here
</body>
</html>

This is what your file will look like once you put it all together:

Pretty blah looking, isn't it! Don't worry, you are on your way to learning about all the things that can go between the body tags. This is just your bare-bones HTML document. It contains nothing but the required minimum tags. But, hey, you are going to learn some more. Let's keep going.

Previous | Home | Next

This resource originally created by Deborah Dunk.
Revised and edited by Michael Galloway in 2005 & in 2006.

Updated on 11 Mar 2007

What is the IPL?

The Internet Public Library is a public library for the world wide web.
Students from a consortium of colleges and universities with programs in information science develop and maintain the IPL!
Here are some of the partners in the IPL Consortium. A complete list is found on the IPL Consortium page.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Graduate School of Library and Information Science

Rutgers School of Communication and Information Studies

The Internet Public Library is hosted by The iSchool at Drexel, College of Information Science and Technology,
with major support from the College of Information at Florida State University.



You are here:	Home » KidSpace » Learning HTML
KidSpace Home Librarians' Internet Index Library Locator Subjects Reference The World Computers Health & Nutrition Reading Zone Math & Science Art & Music Sports & Rec. Fun Stuff Features Science Fair Stately Knowledge Learning HTML Orca Search Poison Prevention Author Page Culture Quest Story Hour Say Hello U.S. Presidents	Have a question? *Ask an IPL Librarian!* (Use our Contact Us form for questions/suggestions about our site.) The Ask an IPL Librarian Reference Service will close between academic terms beginning December 20, 2007 at 10 p.m. (EST). We will reopen the service on Monday, January 5, 2008 at Noon (EST). We use this time to work behind the scenes to improve this service. Happy Holidays from all of us at the IPL! Basic Tags Wondering what else goes into your HTML document? Every HTML document needs a certain amount of tags in order for it to work. You already know that the first and last tags your file needs are the HTML tags to tell your web browser where the HTML in your document begins and ends: <html> </html> Now you need to put in a pair of head tags. These tags hold all of the document's header information, such as the title of the document and such. But, you don't have to worry about that. Just know that you need to put in a pair of head tags, and know that any information put here is not seen by the web browser: <html> <head> </head> </html> Speaking of a title, let's go ahead and put in the title tags, as well as the name you want to give to your document. Whatever falls between the title tags will be the title of the document. Then, when anyone views your web page, people will see the title displayed in the title bar located in the upper left hand corner of the web browser. For instance, look up in your browser window now and you'll see that the title of this web page is called Basic Tags. Let's show you an example of how to write the tag. In this instance I am going to use "My First Web Page" as the title: <html> <head> <title>Learning HTML </title> </head> </html> Now, here is the absolute last pair of basic tags that an HTML document needs - the body tags. This pair of tags is the most important because in-between these two tags is where you will put the all the stuff (text, links, graphics, etc.) that you want to be displayed in the window by the web browser: <html> <head> <title>Learning HTML</title> </head> <body> all your stuff will go here </body> </html> This is what your file will look like once you put it all together: Pretty blah looking, isn't it! Don't worry, you are on your way to learning about all the things that can go between the body tags. This is just your bare-bones HTML document. It contains nothing but the required minimum tags. But, hey, you are going to learn some more. Let's keep going. Previous \| Home \| Next This resource originally created by Deborah Dunk. Revised and edited by Michael Galloway in 2005 & in 2006. Updated on 11 Mar 2007
IPL Home \| About the IPL \| KidSpace \| TeenSpace \| Privacy Policy \| Accessibility Info \| Contact Us What is the IPL? The Internet Public Library is a public library for the world wide web. Students from a consortium of colleges and universities with programs in information science develop and maintain the IPL! Here are some of the partners in the IPL Consortium. A complete list is found on the IPL Consortium page. The Internet Public Library is hosted by The iSchool at Drexel, College of Information Science and Technology, with major support from the College of Information at Florida State University. © 1995-2008 The Regents of the University of Michigan. All rights reserved. © 2008, Drexel University, All Rights Reserved