HTML glossary: Novice level

62 HTML terms at the Novice level, each with a short definition and a link to its full page.

Updated October 16, 2026

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: The element that draws attention to text without adding importance or emphasis.
<body>: The element that contains the document content presented as the web page.
 : The element that creates a line break where the break is part of the content.
<div>: A generic container for flow content when no more meaningful element fits.
: The element that marks stress emphasis that can change a sentence's meaning.
<figcaption>: The element that provides a caption for its parent figure.
<figure>: The element that groups self-contained content that may have a caption.
<head>: The element that contains document metadata rather than the page's main visible content.
<hr>: The element that represents a thematic break between groups of content.
<html>: The root element that contains the head and body of an HTML document.
: The element that marks text in an alternate voice or otherwise offset from normal prose.
: The element that represents a paragraph.
: A generic inline container for phrasing content when no more meaningful element fits.
: The element that marks content as strongly important, serious, or urgent.
<title>: The element that gives a document the title shown in browser tabs and other interfaces.
Alternative text: Text that communicates an image's purpose when the image cannot or should not be viewed.
Anchor element: The a element, which creates a hyperlink when it has an href attribute.
Attribute: A name, sometimes paired with a value, that adds information or behavior to an element.
Attribute value: The data assigned to an HTML attribute.
Boolean attribute: An attribute whose presence means true and whose absence means false.
Character reference: HTML syntax that represents a character using a named or numeric reference.
Child element: An element directly contained by another element.
class attribute: An attribute that contains one or more CSS classes.
Description details: A description, definition, or value associated with a term in a description list.
Description list: A list of terms or names paired with descriptions, definitions, or values.
Description term: A term or name being described inside a description list.
Document type declaration: The declaration at the start of a document that tells browsers to use modern HTML parsing.
Element: A part of an HTML document represented by a tag and, when allowed, its content.
Element content: The text and elements placed between an element's start and end tags.
End tag: The tag that closes an HTML element, written with a slash before the tag name.
Fragment identifier: The portion of a URL that appears after the # symbol.
Global attribute: An attribute that can be used on every HTML element, subject to the attribute's rules.
Heading: A title that introduces a page or section of content.
Heading element: One of the h1 through h6 elements used to identify headings at different levels.
height attribute: An attribute that supplies an element's intended height in CSS pixels.
href: The attribute that supplies a hyperlink's destination URL.
HTML: The markup language used to give web content its structure and meaning.
HTML comment: Text in HTML source that browsers do not display as page content.
HTML document: A text document containing HTML markup that a browser can parse into a web page.
HTML source: The original HTML text sent to or opened by a browser.
HTML validation: Checking markup against HTML's conformance rules to find mistakes.
Hyperlink: A connection that a user can follow to another resource or location.
ID: A document-wide identifier assigned to a single element.
Image element: The img element, which embeds an image in a document.
Link element: This loads an external stylesheet.
List item: One entry inside an ordered, unordered, or menu list.
Markup language: A language that adds labels to describe the content so that software can understand its structure and meaning.
Named character reference: A character reference that uses a standard name, such as amp for an ampersand.
Nesting: Placing one HTML element inside another element.
Numeric character reference: A character reference that identifies a Unicode character by number.
Ordered list: A list whose item order is meaningful.
Parent element: An element that directly contains another element.
Sibling element: An element that shares the same parent as another element.
src: The attribute that gives the URL of an embedded resource such as an image or script.
Start tag: The tag that opens an HTML element and can contain its attributes.
Style element: Embeds CSS directly in an HTML page.
Tag: Markup enclosed in angle brackets that begins or ends an HTML element.
title attribute: A global attribute that provides advisory information about an element.
Unordered list: A list whose item order does not change the meaning.
Void element: An HTML element that cannot contain child content and has no end tag.
Whitespace: Spaces, tabs, and line breaks used to separate text or make source easier to read.
width attribute: An attribute that supplies an element's intended width in CSS pixels.

Every HTML term, by level