HTML TEXT FORMATTING

Header - <h?> </h?>

There are 6 levels of headings available, from h1 for the largest and most important heading, down to h6 for the smallest heading.

Bold - <b> </b>

The text in between the tags will be bold, and stand out against text around it, the same as in a word processor.

Italic - <i> </i>

Also working the same way as a word processor, italics displays the text at a slight angle.

Underline - <u> </u>

Again, the same as underline in a word processor. Note that html links are already underlined and don't need the extra tag.

Strike-out - <strike> </strike>

Puts a line right through the centre of the text, crossing it out. Often used to show that text is old and no longer relevant. Also works by using <s> </s> instead.

Preformatted Text - <pre> </pre>

Any text between the pre tags, including spaces, carriage returns and punctuation, will appear in the browser as it would in a text editor (normally browsers ignore multiple spaces)

Source Code - <code> </code>

Text is displayed in a fixed-width font, commonly used when showing source code. I have used it on this site, along with stylesheets, to show all tags.

Typewriter Text - <tt> </tt>

The text appears to have been typed by a typewriter, in a fixed-width font. 

Block Quote - <blockquote> </blockquote>

Defines a long quotation, and the quote is displayed with an extra wide margin on the left hand side of the block quote.

Small - <small> </small>

Instead of having to set a font size, you can use the small tag to render text slightly smaller than the text around it. Useful for displaying the 'fine-print'.

Font Colour - <font color="#??????"> </font> 

Change the colour of a few words or a section of text. The 6 question marks represent the hex color code, see this list of colours and codes for some samples. 

Font Size - <font size="?"> </font>

Replace the ? with a number from 1 to 7 to change the size of the font. One being the smallest and seven the largest. 

Font Size Change - <font size="+/-?"> </font>

For an immediate change of font size with respect to the font size preceding it, this tag increase or decreases the size of the font by the number you specify. Eg: <font size="-1">Some Text</font> 

Change Font Face - <font face="?"> </font>

To show text in a particular font, use the font name such "Helvetica" or "Arial" or "Courier". Be aware that using some fancy font from your computer means that the person viewing that page must also have that font installed on their computer too, otherwise it will look totally different to them. 

Centre - <center> </center>

A useful tag, as it says, it makes everything in between the tags centred (in the middle of the page). 

Emphasis - <em> </em>

Used to emphasize text, which usually appears in italics, but can vary according to your browser.

Strong Emphasis - <strong> </strong>

Used to emphasize text more, which usually appears in bold, but can vary according to your browser.

HTML Formatting Elements

In the previous chapter, you learned about the HTML style attribute.

HTML also defines special elements for defining text with a special meaning.

HTML uses elements like <b> and <i> for formatting output, like bold or italic text.

Formatting elements were designed to display special types of text:

• <b> - Bold text
• <strong> - Important text
• <i> - Italic text
• <em> - Emphasized text
• <mark> - Marked text
• <small> - Small text
• <del> - Deleted text
• <ins> - Inserted text
• <sub> - Subscript text
• <sup> - Superscript text