HTML Attributes

• All HTML elements can have attributes.
• Attributes provide additional information about elements.
• Attributes are always specified in Opening <> tag.
• Attributes usually come in name/value pairs like: name="value".

We Suggest: Always Use Lowercase Attributes

The HTML standard does not require lowercase attribute names. The title attribute (and all other attributes) can be written with uppercase or lowercase like title or TITLE. However, MSK recommends lowercase attributes in HTML, and demands lowercase attributes for stricter document types like XHTML. We always use lowercase attribute names.

title:

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:

<p title="I'm a tooltip">This is a paragraph.</p>

The HTML standard does not require quotes around attribute values. However, MSK recommends quotes in HTML, and demands quotes for stricter document types like XHTML.

Good ✅:

<a href="https://www.mskinstitute.com/html/">Visit our HTML tutorial</a>

Bad ❌:

<a href=https://www.mskinstitute.com/html/>Visit our HTML tutorial</a>

Sometimes you have to use quotes. This example will not display the title attribute correctly because it contains a space:

<p title=About MSK Institute>Hello

We always use quotes around attribute values.

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:

<p title='Sumit "HTML" Developer'>Hello

<p title="Sumit 'HTML' Developer">Hello

href:

The <a> tag defines a hyperlink. The href attribute specifies the URL of the page the link goes to:

 
<a href="https://github.com/mskinstitute">Visit MSK Institute</a>

src:

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:

<img src="https://github.com/mskinstitute/html/blob/main/assets/img/hello.png?raw=true">

width and height:

The <img> tag should also contain the width and height attributes, which specify the width and height of the image (in pixels):

<img src="https://github.com/mskinstitute/html/blob/main/assets/img/hello.png?raw=true" width="100" height="300" >

alt:

The required alt attribute for the <img> tag specifies an alternate text for an image, if the image for some reason cannot be displayed. This can be due to a slow connection, or an error in the src attribute, or if the user uses a screen reader.

<img src="https://github.com/mskinstitte/html/blob/main/assets/img/hello.png?raw=true" alt="Student With Laptop">

style:

The style attribute is used to add styles to an element, such as color, font, size, and more.

<p style="color:red;">This is a red paragraph.</p>