CS 283
Lecture 02: HTML
(Fall 2022/2023)
Dr. Nehal M. Ali
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Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
• Describes the content and structure of information on
a web page
• Not the same as the presentation (appearance on
screen)
• Surrounds text content with opening and closing tags
TryIt Editor
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EXtensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML)
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• XML is a markup language where all files must be marked up
properly (be "well-formed")
• Uses a markup format of XML
• XML-based version of HTML.
• XML + HTML = XHTML.
• Standardized in year 2000.
• XHTML is HTML defined as an XML application
• XHTML is supported by all major browsers.
•A strict XHTML page uses some different syntax and tags than HTML
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Web Standards
• Why use XHTML and web standards?
• more rigid and structured language
• more interoperable across different web browsers
• more likely that our pages will display correctly in the future
• Easier to maintain
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Structure of XHTML page
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML
• HTML is saved with extension .html 1.1//EN"
• Basic structure: tags that enclose content, "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
• i.e., elements
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
• Header describes the page <head>
• Body contains the page’s contents information about the page
</head>
<body>
page contents
</body>
</html>
HTML
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HTML Elements
• The HTML element consists of a start tag, a content and an
end tag
• Syntax: <tagname>Some Content</tagname>
Start tag Element content End tag
<h1> Some Heading </h1>
<p> Some paragraph. </p>
<br> none none
Nested HTML Elements
• HTML elements can contain other HTM elements.
• All HTML documents consist of nested HTML elements.
• Tags must be correctly nested: a closing tag must match the most recently
opened tag
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h1>Heading</h1>
<p>paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
Flexible HTML !
• HTML is Not Case Sensitive
• Some of the HTML elements might display properly even if the End Tag is
missing.
• → this is not a recommended practice as the page might act unexpectedly!
<html>
<body>
<p>unclosed paragraph
<p>unclosed paragraph 2
</body>
</html>
Empty HTML Elements
• Empty elements are the HTML elements that has no content.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h1>Heading</h1>
<p>paragraph.</p>
<p>This is a <br> paragraph with a line break.</p>
</body>
</html>
HTML Attributes
• HTML elements can include attributes
• Attributes deliver further information about the HTML
elements
• Attributes are defined in name/value pairs
E.g.: name="value“
• Attributes are determined in the start tag
<a href="https://www.msa.com">Our MSA</a>
<img src="img_sample.jpg">
HTML Style Tag
• Setting the style of an HTML element, can be done with the
Style attribute
• <tagname style="property:value;">
<body style="background-color:red;">
<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
</body>
Defining the SRC attribute
• 1. Absolute URL -
src="http://www.msa.com/images/img_sample.jpg".
• 2. Relative URL - Links to an image that is hosted within
the website.
• The URL does not include the domain name.
• If the URL begins without a slash.
• src="img_girl.jpg“ →it will be relative to the current page.
• src="/images/img_sample.jpg“ → relative to the domain.
HTML Documents Structure
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
HTML Documents Structure
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h1>Page Heading</h1>
<p>Any paragraph.</p>
</body>
</html>
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Page Title <title>
…
<head>
<title> HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS - PART 2 </title>
</head>
… HTML
• Placed within the <head></head> tag of the page
• Displayed in web browser’s title mark and when
bookmarking the page
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Paragraph <p>
…
<body>
<p> Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,
the last book in the series, begins directly after the
events of the sixth book.
Voldemort has completed his ascension to power and gains
control of the Ministry of Magic </p>
</body>
… HTML
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the last book in the series, begins
directly after the events of the sixth book. Voldemort has completed his
ascension to power and gains control of the Ministry of Magic
output
• Placed within the <body> </body> of the page
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Headings <h1>, <h2>, … <h6>
<h1> Harry Potter </h1>
<h2> Books </h2>
<h3> Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone </h3>
HTML
Harry Potter
Books
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
output
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Horizontal rule <hr />
<p> First paragraph </p>
<hr />
<p> Second Paragraph </p>
HTML
First Paragraph
Second Paragraph
output
• Should be immediately closed with />
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Links <a>
<p>
Search
<a href="http://www.google.com/">Google</a>
now!
</p> HTML
Search Google now!
output
• The href attribute specifies the destination URL
• Links or anchors are inline elements, so they must be
placed inside a block element such as a p or h1
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More about anchors
<p><a href=“deathlyHallows-book.html">Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows</a></p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org”
title="Search">Wikipedia</a></p>
HTML
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Wikipedia output
• Types of URLs that can appear in anchors:
• Absolute: to another web site
• Relative: to another page on this web site
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Images <img>
<img src="images/tobby.jpg" alt=“Tobby from Harry Potter" />
HTML
• The src attribute specifies source of the image URL
• XHTML also requires an alt attribute describing the
image
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More about images
<a href="http://harrypotter.net/">
<img src="images/dumbledore.jpg" alt=“Dumbledore from Harry
Potter"
title="Alas! Ear wax!"/>
</a> HTML
• If placed inside an a anchor, the image will become a link
• The title attribute specifies an optional tooltip
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Line Break <br>
<p>One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, <br /> One
Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.</p>
<p> In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. </p>
HTML
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
output
• br should be immediately closed with />
• br should not be used to separate paragraphs or used
multiple times in a row to create spacing
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Comments <!-- … -- >
<!-- My web page, by Bob Student
CSE 380, Fall 2048 -->
<p>CS courses are <!-- NOT --> a lot of fun!</p>
HTML
CS courses are a lot of fun!
output
• Comments are useful for disabling sections of a page
• Comments cannot be nested and cannot contain a --
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Phrase elements <em>, <strong>
<p>
HTML is <em>really</em>,
<strong>REALLY</strong> fun!
</p>
HTML
HTML is really REALLY fun!
output
• em: emphasized text (usually in italic)
• strong: strongly emphasized text (usually in bold)
• The tags must be properly nested for a valid page
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Unordered list: <ul>, <li>
<ul>
<li>No shoes</li>
<li>No shirt</li>
<li>No problem!</li>
</ul> HTML
• No shoes
• No shirt
• No problem! output
• ul represents a bulleted list of items (block)
• li represents a single item within the list (block)
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Nested unordered lists
<ul>
<li>Harry Potter characters:
<ul>
<li>Harry Potter</li> • Harry Potter characters:
<li>Hermione</li> • Harry Potter
<li>Ron</li> • Hermione
</ul> • Ron
</li> • LOTR characters:
<li>LOTR characters: • Frodo
<ul> • Bilbo
<li>Frodo</li>
• Sam
<li>Bilbo</li>
<li>Sam</li>
</ul>
output
</li>
</ul>
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Ordered list <ol>
<p>Apple business model:</p>
<ol>
<li>Beat Microsoft</li>
<li>Beat Google</li>
<li>Conquer the world!</li>
</ol> HTML
Apple business model:
1. Beat Microsoft
2. Beat Google
3. Conquer the world output
• ol represents a numbered list of items
• we can make lists with letters or Roman numerals
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using CSS (later)
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Common error: Not closing a list!
<ul>
<li>No shoes</li>
<li>No shirt</li>
<li>No problem!</li>
<p>Paragraph after list...</p> HTML
• No shoes
• No shirt
• No problem!
Paragraph after list... output
• If you leave a list open, subsequent contents will be
indented
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Common Error: Improper nested list placement
<ul>
<li>Harry Potter characters:</li>
<ul>
<li>Harry Potter</li>
<li>Hermione</li>
<li>Ron</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>LOTR characters:
<ul>
<li>Frodo</li>
<li>Bilbo</li>
<li>Sam</li>
</ul>
</ul> HTML
• closing the outer li too early (or not at all) will render
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Definition list <dl>, <dt>, <dd>
<dl>
<dt>newbie</dt> <dd>one who does not have mad skills</dd>
<dt>jaded</dt> <dd>tired, bored, or lacking enthusiasm </dd>
<dt>frag</dt> <dd>a kill in a shooting game</dd>
</dl> HTML
newbie
one who does not have mad skills
jaded
Tired, bored, or lacking enthusiasm
frag
a kill in a shooting game output
• dl represents a list of definitions of terms
• dt represents each term, and dd its definition
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Tables <table>, <tr>, <td>
<table>
<tr><td>1,1</td><td>1,2 okay</td></tr>
<tr><td>2,1 real wide</td><td>2,2</td></tr>
</table> HTML
1,1 1,2 okay
2,1 real wide 2,2
output
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Tables (Cont.)
• table defines the overall table, tr each row, and td each cell's data
• Useful for displaying large row/column datasets
• NOTE: tables are sometimes used by beginners for web page layout, but
this is not proper semantic HTML and should be avoided
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Table headers, captions: <th>, <caption>
<table>
<caption>My important data</caption>
<tr><th>Column 1</th><th>Column 2</th></tr>
<tr><td>1,1</td><td>1,2 okay</td></tr>
<tr><td>2,1 real wide</td><td>2,2</td></tr>
</table> HTML
My important data
Column 1 Column 2
1,1 1,2 okay
2,1 real wide 2,2
output
th cells in a row are considered headers
a caption at the start of the table labels its meaning
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Quotations <blockquote>
<p>As Lincoln said in his famous Gettysburg Address:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers
brought forth
on this continent a new nation, conceived in
liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are
created equal.</p>
</blockquote> HTML
As Lincoln said in his famous Gettysburg Address:
Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal.
output
• Browsers usually ident the lengthy quotation
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Inline quotations <q>
<p>Quoth the Raven, <q>Nevermore.</q></p>
HTML
Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”
output
• Why not just write the following?
• <p>Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."</p>
• We don't use " marks for two reasons:
• XHTML shouldn't contain literal quotation mark characters; they should be written as
"
• using <q> allows us to apply CSS styles to quotations
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HTML Character Entities
character(s) entity
<> < >
éèñ é è ñ
™© ™ ©
πδΔ π δ Δ
И И
"& " &
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Inline quotations <q>
<p>
<a
href="http://google.com/search?q=xenia&ie=utf-
8&aq=t">
Search Google for Xenia
</a>
</p> HTML
<p> <a href="http://google.com/search?q=xenia&ie=utf-8&aq=t"> Search
Google for Xenia </a> </p>
output
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Computer code <code>
<p>
The <code>ul</code> and <code>ol</code>
tags make lists.
</p> HTML
The ul and ol tags make lists.
output
• code: a short section of computer code
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Preformatted text <pre>
<pre>
Bill Gates speaks
You will be assimilated
Microsoft fans delirious
</pre> HTML
Bill Gates speaks
You will be assimilated
Microsoft fans delirious
output
• Displayed with exactly the whitespace / line breaks
given in the text
• Shown in a fixed-width font by default
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Preformatted text <pre>
<pre><code>
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Hello, world!");
}
</code></pre> HTML
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Hello, world!");
}
output
• When showing a large section of computer code,
enclose it in a pre to preserve whitespace and a
code to describe the semantics of the content
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W3C XHTML Validator
<p>
<a href="http:// https://validator.w3.org/">
<img src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-xhtml11"
alt="Validate" />
</a>
</p> HTML
• Validates hecks your HTML code to make sure it
meets the official strict XHTML specifications
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Web page metadata <meta>
<meta name="description"
content=“Harry Potter Official Website." />
<meta name="keywords" content="harry potter, harry potter
and the deathly hallows, deathly hallows, ministry of
magic, resurrection stone, clock of invisibility" />
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> HTML
• information about your page (for a browser, search engine, etc.)
• placed in the head of your XHTML page
• meta tags often have both the name and content attributes
• some meta tags use the http-equiv attribute instead of name
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meta element to describe the page
<head>
<meta name="author"
content="web page's author" />
<meta name="revised"
content="web page version and/or last modification date"
/>
<meta name="generator"
content="the software used to create the page" />
</head> HTML
• many WYSIWYG HTML editors (FrontPage,
PageMaker, etc.) place their names in the meta
generator tag
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meta element to aid search engines
<head>
<meta name="description"
content="how you want search engines to display your page"
/>
<meta name="keywords"
content="words to associate with your page (comma
separated)" />
</head> HTML
• these are suggestions to search engines about how to
index your page
• the search engine may choose to ignore them
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HTML FORMs
HTML Form
<h1>The form element</h1>
<form action="/action_page.php">
<label for="fname">First name:</label>
<input type="text" id="fname" name="fname"><br><br>
<label for="lname">Last name:</label>
<input type="text" id="lname" name="lname"><br><br>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
HTML Form Element (Cont.)
• A form can containany of the below elements:
• <input> → text box
• <textarea> → Multi-lined test box
• <button>
• <select> → Dropdown list
• <option> →the elements within the dropdown list
• <optgroup> → Nested Dropdown list
• <fieldset> → Group related elements in a form
• <label> → non-editable tag
• <output> → non-editable text box calculated given some input
Fieldset Element
<h1>CS283</h1>
<form action="/action_page.php">
<fieldset>
<legend>Personal Data:</legend>
<label for="fname">First name:</label>
<input type="text" id="fname" name="fname"><br><br>
<label for="lname">Last name:</label>
<input type="text" id="lname" name="lname"><br><br>
<label for="email">Email:</label>
<input type="email" id="email" name="email"><br><br>
<label for="birthday">Birthday:</label>
<input type="date" id="birthday"
name="birthday"><br><br>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</fieldset>
</form>
optgroup Element
<form action="/action_page.php">
<label for="cars">Choose a car:</label>
<select name="cars" id="cars">
<optgroup label="American Cars">
<option value="Lincoln">Lincoln</option>
<option value="cadillac">cadillac</option>
</optgroup>
<optgroup label="German Cars">
<option value="mercedes">Mercedes</option>
<option value="audi">Audi</option>
</optgroup>
</select>
<br><br>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
Project Details
Form
