XHTML 1.0 Reference

XHTML stands for eXtensible HyperText Markup Language and was designed to describe data using "tags".

Tags
XHTML documents are text files made up of HTML elements.

XHTML documents are usually saved with the .html extension (some servers prefer .htm)


XHTML elements are defined using HTML tags.

Tag Attributes
Tags can have attributes. Attributes provide additional information to an HTML element.
The following tag defines an HTML table: <table>.
With an added border attribute, you can tell the browser that the table should have no borders: <table border="0">
Attributes always come in name/value pairs like this: name="value".
Attributes are always specified in the start tag of an HTML element.
Attribute values should always be enclosed in quotes.

XHTML Rules

  1. XHTML elements must be properly nested
  2. XHTML elements must always be closed
  3. XHTML elements must be in lowercase
  4. XHTML documents must have one root element
  5. Attribute names must be in lower case
  6. Attribute values must be quoted
  7. Attribute minimization is forbidden
  8. The id attribute replaces the name attribute

Minimimum XHTML Page Code Requirements

All XHTML documents must have the following elements:

  1. DOCTYPE declaration.
  2. html
  3. head
  4. title
  5. body

Sample miminum XHTML document:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
    <title></title>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>

There are currently 3 XHTML document types:

  1. STRICT - Use this when you want really clean markup, free of presentational clutter. Use this together with Cascading Style Sheets.
  2. TRANSITIONAL - Use this when you need to take advantage of HTML's presentational features and when you want to support browsers that don't understand Cascading Style Sheets.
  3. FRAMESET - Use this when you want to use HTML Frames to partition the browser window into two or more frames.

Note: The DOCTYPE declaration is not a part of the XHTML document itself.
It is not an XHTML element, and it should not have a closing tag.

XHTML Tags Ordered by Function

Start tag Purpose N IE DTD
         
Basic Tags        
<!DOCTYPE>  Defines the document type     STF
<html> Defines an html document 3.0 3.0 STF
<body> Defines the body element 3.0 3.0 STF
<h1> to <h6> Defines header 1 to header 6.
Sample:

Heading 1

Heading 2

Heading 3

Heading 4

Heading 5
Heading 6

 

 3.0 3.0 STF
<p> Defines a paragraph 3.0 3.0 STF
<br /> Inserts a single line break 3.0 3.0 STF
<hr /> Defines a horizontal rule
3.0 3.0 STF
<!-- --> Defines a comment. Note: Never use double dashes within comment tags. Replace with a different character like = = or + + 3.0 3.0 STF
         
Char Format        
<b> Defines bold text.
Sample: This is bold.		 3.0 3.0 STF
<i> Defines italic text.
Sample: This is italic.		 3.0 3.0 STF
<em> Defines emphasized text.
Sample: This is emphasized.		 3.0 3.0 STF
<strong> Defines strong text.
Sample: This is strong.		 3.0 3.0 STF
<big> Defines big text.
Sample: This is big.		 3.0 3.0 STF
<small> Defines small text.
Sample: This is small.		 3.0 3.0 STF
<sup> Defines superscripted text.
Sample: This is superscript.		 3.0 3.0 STF
<sub> Defines subscripted text.
Sample: This is subscript.		 3.0 3.0 STF
         
Output        
<pre> Defines preformatted text.
Sample: 
This  is  preformatted   text .
 3.0 3.0 STF
<code> Defines computer code text.
Sample: This is code.		 3.0 3.0 STF
<tt> Defines teletype text.
Sample: This is teletype.		 3.0 3.0 STF
<kbd> Defines keyboard text.
Sample: This is keyboard text.		 3.0 3.0 STF
<var> Defines a variable.
Sample: This is a variable.		 3.0 3.0 STF
<dfn> Defines a definition term.
Sample: This is a definition		   3.0 STF
<samp> Defines sample computer code.
Sample: This is sample code.		 3.0 3.0 STF
         
Blocks        
<acronym> Defines an acronym.
Sample: WWW		 6.2 4.0 STF
<abbr> Defines an abbreviation.
Sample: etc.		 6.2   STF
<address> Defines an address element.
Sample:
Drexel University
3141 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
4.0 4.0 STF
<blockquote> Defines a long quotation.
Sample:

This is a sample of a really extremely ridiculously long quotation where the really extremely ridiculously long quotation has been repeated twice.

 3.0 3.0 STF
<q> Defines a short quotation.
Sample: This is a short quotation.		 6.2 4.0 STF
<cite> Defines a citation.
Sample: This is a citation.		 3.0 3.0 STF
<ins> Defines inserted text.
Sample: This is a sample of inserted text.		 6.2 4.0 STF
<del>

Defines deleted text.
Sample: This is a sample of deleted text.

Note: ins and del are usually used in combination to notate changes made in a document, like this...
Drexel University was founded in 1891 by AndrewAnthony J. Drexel.

 6.2 4.0 STF
         
Links        
<a> Defines an anchor 3.0 3.0 STF
<link> Defines a resource reference 4.0 3.0 STF
         
Input        
<form> Defines a form  3.0 3.0 STF
<input> Defines an input field 3.0 3.0 STF
<textarea> Defines a text area 3.0 3.0 STF
<button> Defines a push button 6.2 4.0 STF
<select> Defines a selectable list 3.0 3.0 STF
<optgroup> Defines an option group 6.0 6.0 STF
<option> Defines an item in a list box 3.0 3.0 STF
<label> Defines a label for a form control 6.2 4.0 STF
<fieldset> Defines a fieldset 6.2 4.0 STF
<legend> Defines a title in a fieldset 6.2 4.0 STF
         
Lists        
<ul> Defines an unordered list 3.0 3.0 STF
<ol> Defines an ordered list 3.0 3.0 STF
<li> Defines a list item 3.0 3.0 STF
<dl> Defines a definition list 3.0 3.0 STF
<dt> Defines a definition term 3.0 3.0 STF
<dd> Defines a definition description 3.0 3.0 STF
         
Images        
<img> Defines an image 3.0 3.0 STF
<map> Defines an image map  3.0 3.0 STF
<area> Defines an area inside an image map 3.0 3.0 STF
         
Tables        
<table> Defines a table 3.0 3.0 STF
<caption> Defines a table caption 3.0 3.0 STF
<th> Defines a table header 3.0 3.0 STF
<tr> Defines a table row 3.0 3.0 STF
<td> Defines a table cell 3.0 3.0 STF
<thead> Defines a table header   4.0 STF
<tbody> Defines a table body   4.0 STF
<tfoot> Defines a table footer   4.0 STF
<col> Defines attributes for table columns    3.0 STF
<colgroup> Defines groups of table columns   3.0 STF
         
Styles        
<style> Defines a style definition 4.0 3.0 STF
<div> Defines a section in a document 3.0 3.0 STF
<span> Defines a section in a document 4.0 3.0 STF
         
Meta Info        
<head> Defines information about the document 3.0 3.0 STF
<title> Defines the document title 3.0 3.0 STF
<meta> Defines meta information 3.0 3.0 STF
<base> Defines a base URL for all the links in a page 3.0 3.0 STF
         
Programming        
<script> Defines a script 3.0 3.0 STF
<noscript> Defines a noscript section 3.0 3.0 STF
<object> Defines an embedded object   3.0 STF
<param> Defines a parameter for an object 3.0 3.0 STF

 

META TAGS

<meta name="" content="" />

Sample Meta Tags:
<meta name="keywords" content="comma, separated, list, of, relevant, word groups" />
<meta name="description" content="Brief summary about the page." />
<meta name="copyright" content="Copyright &copy; 2007 Company Name. All Rights Reserved." />
<meta name="author" content="Your Name Here" />
<meta name="language" content="English" />
<meta name="revisit-after" content="15" />
<meta name="robots" content="ALL, INDEX" />
<meta name="Revisit-After" content="30 Days" />
<meta name="revised" content="6/10/99" />

Updated on: August 20, 2007