CINXE.COM

<!doctype html><html lang="en-US" prefix="og: https://ogp.me/ns#"><head><meta charSet="utf-8"/><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1"/><link rel="icon" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/favicon-48x48.bc390275e955dacb2e65.png"/><link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/apple-touch-icon.528534bba673c38049c2.png"/><meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff"/><link rel="manifest" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/manifest.f42880861b394dd4dc9b.json"/><link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/opensearch.xml" title="MDN Web Docs"/><title>HTML text fundamentals - Learn web development | MDN</title><link rel="alternate" title="Grundlagen des HTML-Textes" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/de/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" hrefLang="de"/><link rel="alternate" title="Fundamentos de texto en HTML" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/es/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" hrefLang="es"/><link rel="alternate" title="Fondamentaux du texte HTML" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/fr/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" hrefLang="fr"/><link rel="alternate" title="HTML テキストの基礎" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/ja/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" hrefLang="ja"/><link rel="alternate" title="HTML text fundamentals" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/ko/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" hrefLang="ko"/><link rel="alternate" title="Fundamentos do texto em HTML" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/pt-BR/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" hrefLang="pt"/><link rel="alternate" title="Основы редактирования текста в HTML" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/ru/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" hrefLang="ru"/><link rel="alternate" title="HTML 文本处理基础" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/zh-CN/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" hrefLang="zh"/><link rel="alternate" title="基本 HTML 文字" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/zh-TW/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" hrefLang="zh-Hant"/><link rel="alternate" title="HTML text fundamentals" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" hrefLang="en"/><link rel="preload" as="font" type="font/woff2" href="/static/media/Inter.var.c2fe3cb2b7c746f7966a.woff2" crossorigin=""/><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="MDN Blog RSS Feed" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/blog/rss.xml" hrefLang="en"/><meta name="description" content="That's it for now! This article should have given you a good idea of how to start marking up text in HTML and introduced you to some of the most important elements in this area. There are a lot more semantic elements to cover in this area, and we'll look at a lot more in our Advanced text formatting article later on in the course. In the next article, we'll be looking in detail at how to create hyperlinks, possibly the most important element on the web."/><meta property="og:url" content="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals"/><meta property="og:title" content="HTML text fundamentals - Learn web development | MDN"/><meta property="og:type" content="website"/><meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/><meta property="og:description" content="That's it for now! This article should have given you a good idea of how to start marking up text in HTML and introduced you to some of the most important elements in this area. There are a lot more semantic elements to cover in this area, and we'll look at a lot more in our Advanced text formatting article later on in the course. In the next article, we'll be looking in detail at how to create hyperlinks, possibly the most important element on the web."/><meta property="og:image" content="https://developer.mozilla.org/mdn-social-share.d893525a4fb5fb1f67a2.png"/><meta property="og:image:type" content="image/png"/><meta property="og:image:height" content="1080"/><meta property="og:image:width" content="1920"/><meta property="og:image:alt" content="The MDN Web Docs logo, featuring a blue accent color, displayed on a solid black background."/><meta property="og:site_name" content="MDN Web Docs"/><meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/><meta name="twitter:creator" content="MozDevNet"/><link rel="canonical" href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals"/><style media="print">.article-actions-container,.document-toc-container,.language-menu,.main-menu-toggle,.on-github,.page-footer,.place,.sidebar,.top-banner,.top-navigation-main,ul.prev-next{display:none!important}.main-page-content,.main-page-content pre{padding:2px}.main-page-content pre{border-left-width:2px}</style><script src="/static/js/gtag.js" defer=""></script><script defer="" src="/static/js/main.5e889624.js"></script><link href="/static/css/main.26c64ea7.css" rel="stylesheet"/></head><body><script>if(document.body.addEventListener("load",(t=>{t.target.classList.contains("interactive")&&t.target.setAttribute("data-readystate","complete")}),{capture:!0}),window&&document.documentElement){const t={light:"#ffffff",dark:"#1b1b1b"};try{const e=window.localStorage.getItem("theme");e&&(document.documentElement.className=e,document.documentElement.style.backgroundColor=t[e]);const o=window.localStorage.getItem("nop");o&&(document.documentElement.dataset.nop=o)}catch(t){console.warn("Unable to read theme from localStorage",t)}}</script><div id="root"><ul id="nav-access" class="a11y-nav"><li><a id="skip-main" href="#content">Skip to main content</a></li><li><a id="skip-search" href="#top-nav-search-input">Skip to search</a></li><li><a id="skip-select-language" href="#languages-switcher-button">Skip to select language</a></li></ul><div class="page-wrapper category-html document-page"><div class="top-banner loading"><section class="place top container"></section></div><div class="sticky-header-container"><header class="top-navigation "><div class="container "><div class="top-navigation-wrap"><a href="/en-US/" class="logo" aria-label="MDN homepage"><svg id="mdn-docs-logo" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" x="0" y="0" viewBox="0 0 694.9 104.4" style="enable-background:new 0 0 694.9 104.4" xml:space="preserve" role="img"><title>MDN Web Docs</title><path d="M40.3 0 11.7 92.1H0L28.5 0h11.8zm10.4 0v92.1H40.3V0h10.4zM91 0 62.5 92.1H50.8L79.3 0H91zm10.4 0v92.1H91V0h10.4z" class="logo-m"></path><path d="M627.9 95.6h67v8.8h-67v-8.8z" class="logo-_"></path><path d="M367 42h-4l-10.7 30.8h-5.5l-10.8-26h-.4l-10.5 26h-5.2L308.7 42h-3.8v-5.6H323V42h-6.5l6.8 20.4h.4l10.3-26h4.7l11.2 26h.5l5.7-20.3h-6.2v-5.6H367V42zm34.9 20c-.4 3.2-2 5.9-4.7 8.2-2.8 2.3-6.5 3.4-11.3 3.4-5.4 0-9.7-1.6-13.1-4.7-3.3-3.2-5-7.7-5-13.7 0-5.7 1.6-10.3 4.7-14s7.4-5.5 12.9-5.5c5.1 0 9.1 1.6 11.9 4.7s4.3 6.9 4.3 11.3c0 1.5-.2 3-.5 4.7h-25.6c.3 7.7 4 11.6 10.9 11.6 2.9 0 5.1-.7 6.5-2 1.5-1.4 2.5-3 3-4.9l6 .9zM394 51.3c.2-2.4-.4-4.7-1.8-6.9s-3.8-3.3-7-3.3c-3.1 0-5.3 1-6.9 3-1.5 2-2.5 4.4-2.8 7.2H394zm51 2.4c0 5-1.3 9.5-4 13.7s-6.9 6.2-12.7 6.2c-6 0-10.3-2.2-12.7-6.7-.1.4-.2 1.4-.4 2.9s-.3 2.5-.4 2.9h-7.3c.3-1.7.6-3.5.8-5.3.3-1.8.4-3.7.4-5.5V22.3h-6v-5.6H416v27c1.1-2.2 2.7-4.1 4.7-5.7 2-1.6 4.8-2.4 8.4-2.4 4.6 0 8.4 1.6 11.4 4.7 3 3.2 4.5 7.6 4.5 13.4zm-7.7.6c0-4.2-1-7.4-3-9.5-2-2.2-4.4-3.3-7.4-3.3-3.4 0-6 1.2-8 3.7-1.9 2.4-2.9 5-3 7.7V57c0 3 1 5.6 3 7.7s4.5 3.1 7.6 3.1c3.6 0 6.3-1.3 8.1-3.9 1.8-2.7 2.7-5.9 2.7-9.6zm69.2 18.5h-13.2v-7.2c-1.2 2.2-2.8 4.1-4.9 5.6-2.1 1.6-4.8 2.4-8.3 2.4-4.8 0-8.7-1.6-11.6-4.9-2.9-3.2-4.3-7.7-4.3-13.3 0-5 1.3-9.6 4-13.7 2.6-4.1 6.9-6.2 12.8-6.2 5.7 0 9.8 2.2 12.3 6.5V22.3h-8.6v-5.6h15.8v50.6h6v5.5zM493.2 56v-4.4c-.1-3-1.2-5.5-3.2-7.3s-4.4-2.8-7.2-2.8c-3.6 0-6.3 1.3-8.2 3.9-1.9 2.6-2.8 5.8-2.8 9.6 0 4.1 1 7.3 3 9.5s4.5 3.3 7.4 3.3c3.2 0 5.8-1.3 7.8-3.8 2.1-2.6 3.1-5.3 3.2-8zm53.1-1.4c0 5.6-1.8 10.2-5.3 13.7s-8.2 5.3-13.9 5.3-10.1-1.7-13.4-5.1c-3.3-3.4-5-7.9-5-13.5 0-5.3 1.6-9.9 4.7-13.7 3.2-3.8 7.9-5.7 14.2-5.7s11 1.9 14.1 5.7c3 3.7 4.6 8.1 4.6 13.3zm-7.7-.2c0-4-1-7.2-3-9.5s-4.8-3.5-8.2-3.5c-3.6 0-6.4 1.2-8.3 3.7s-2.9 5.6-2.9 9.5c0 3.7.9 6.8 2.8 9.4 1.9 2.6 4.6 3.9 8.3 3.9 3.6 0 6.4-1.3 8.4-3.8 1.9-2.6 2.9-5.8 2.9-9.7zm45 5.8c-.4 3.2-1.9 6.3-4.4 9.1-2.5 2.9-6.4 4.3-11.8 4.3-5.2 0-9.4-1.6-12.6-4.8-3.2-3.2-4.8-7.7-4.8-13.7 0-5.5 1.6-10.1 4.7-13.9 3.2-3.8 7.6-5.7 13.2-5.7 2.3 0 4.6.3 6.7.8 2.2.5 4.2 1.5 6.2 2.9l1.5 9.5-5.9.7-1.3-6.1c-2.1-1.2-4.5-1.8-7.2-1.8-3.5 0-6.1 1.2-7.7 3.7-1.7 2.5-2.5 5.7-2.5 9.6 0 4.1.9 7.3 2.7 9.5 1.8 2.3 4.4 3.4 7.8 3.4 5.2 0 8.2-2.9 9.2-8.8l6.2 1.3zm34.7 1.9c0 3.6-1.5 6.5-4.6 8.5s-7 3-11.7 3c-5.7 0-10.6-1.2-14.6-3.6l1.2-8.8 5.7.6-.2 4.7c1.1.5 2.3.9 3.6 1.1s2.6.3 3.9.3c2.4 0 4.5-.4 6.5-1.3 1.9-.9 2.9-2.2 2.9-4.1 0-1.8-.8-3.1-2.3-3.8s-3.5-1.3-5.8-1.7-4.6-.9-6.9-1.4c-2.3-.6-4.2-1.6-5.7-2.9-1.6-1.4-2.3-3.5-2.3-6.3 0-4.1 1.5-6.9 4.6-8.5s6.4-2.4 9.9-2.4c2.6 0 5 .3 7.2.9 2.2.6 4.3 1.4 6.1 2.4l.8 8.8-5.8.7-.8-5.7c-2.3-1-4.7-1.6-7.2-1.6-2.1 0-3.7.4-5.1 1.1-1.3.8-2 2-2 3.8 0 1.7.8 2.9 2.3 3.6 1.5.7 3.4 1.2 5.7 1.6 2.2.4 4.5.8 6.7 1.4 2.2.6 4.1 1.6 5.7 3 1.4 1.6 2.2 3.7 2.2 6.6zM197.6 73.2h-17.1v-5.5h3.8V51.9c0-3.7-.7-6.3-2.1-7.9-1.4-1.6-3.3-2.3-5.7-2.3-3.2 0-5.6 1.1-7.2 3.4s-2.4 4.6-2.5 6.9v15.6h6v5.5h-17.1v-5.5h3.8V51.9c0-3.8-.7-6.4-2.1-7.9-1.4-1.5-3.3-2.3-5.6-2.3-3.2 0-5.5 1.1-7.2 3.3-1.6 2.2-2.4 4.5-2.5 6.9v15.8h6.9v5.5h-20.2v-5.5h6V42.4h-6.1v-5.6h13.4v6.4c1.2-2.1 2.7-3.8 4.7-5.2 2-1.3 4.4-2 7.3-2s5.3.7 7.5 2.1c2.2 1.4 3.7 3.5 4.5 6.4 1.1-2.5 2.7-4.5 4.9-6.1s4.8-2.4 7.9-2.4c3.5 0 6.5 1.1 8.9 3.3s3.7 5.6 3.7 10.2v18.2h6.1v5.5zm42.5 0h-13.2V66c-1.2 2.2-2.8 4.1-4.9 5.6-2.1 1.6-4.8 2.4-8.3 2.4-4.8 0-8.7-1.6-11.6-4.9-2.9-3.2-4.3-7.7-4.3-13.3 0-5 1.3-9.6 4-13.7 2.6-4.1 6.9-6.2 12.8-6.2s9.8 2.2 12.3 6.5V22.7h-8.6v-5.6h15.8v50.6h6v5.5zm-13.3-16.8V52c-.1-3-1.2-5.5-3.2-7.3s-4.4-2.8-7.2-2.8c-3.6 0-6.3 1.3-8.2 3.9-1.9 2.6-2.8 5.8-2.8 9.6 0 4.1 1 7.3 3 9.5s4.5 3.3 7.4 3.3c3.2 0 5.8-1.3 7.8-3.8 2.1-2.6 3.1-5.3 3.2-8zm61.5 16.8H269v-5.5h6V51.9c0-3.7-.7-6.3-2.2-7.9-1.4-1.6-3.4-2.3-5.7-2.3-3.1 0-5.6 1-7.4 3s-2.8 4.4-2.9 7v15.9h6v5.5h-19.3v-5.5h6V42.4h-6.2v-5.6h13.6V43c2.6-4.6 6.8-6.9 12.7-6.9 3.6 0 6.7 1.1 9.2 3.3s3.7 5.6 3.7 10.2v18.2h6v5.4h-.2z" class="logo-text"></path></svg></a><button title="Open main menu" type="button" class="button action has-icon main-menu-toggle" aria-haspopup="menu" aria-label="Open main menu" aria-expanded="false"><span class="button-wrap"><span class="icon icon-menu "></span><span class="visually-hidden">Open main menu</span></span></button></div><div class="top-navigation-main"><nav class="main-nav" aria-label="Main menu"><ul class="main-menu nojs"><li class="top-level-entry-container "><button type="button" id="references-button" class="top-level-entry menu-toggle" aria-controls="references-menu" aria-expanded="false">References</button><a href="/en-US/docs/Web" class="top-level-entry">References</a><ul id="references-menu" class="submenu references hidden inline-submenu-lg" aria-labelledby="references-button"><li class="apis-link-container mobile-only "><a href="/en-US/docs/Web" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">Overview / Web Technology</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Web technology reference for developers</p></div></a></li><li class="html-link-container "><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon html"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">HTML</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Structure of content on the web</p></div></a></li><li class="css-link-container "><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/CSS" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon css"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">CSS</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Code used to describe document style</p></div></a></li><li class="javascript-link-container "><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon javascript"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">JavaScript</div><p class="submenu-item-description">General-purpose scripting language</p></div></a></li><li class="http-link-container "><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon http"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">HTTP</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Protocol for transmitting web resources</p></div></a></li><li class="apis-link-container "><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon apis"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">Web APIs</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Interfaces for building web applications</p></div></a></li><li class="apis-link-container "><a href="/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">Web Extensions</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Developing extensions for web browsers</p></div></a></li><li class="apis-link-container desktop-only "><a href="/en-US/docs/Web" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">Web Technology</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Web technology reference for developers</p></div></a></li></ul></li><li class="top-level-entry-container active"><button type="button" id="guides-button" class="top-level-entry menu-toggle" aria-controls="guides-menu" aria-expanded="false">Guides</button><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn" class="top-level-entry">Guides</a><ul id="guides-menu" class="submenu guides hidden inline-submenu-lg" aria-labelledby="guides-button"><li class="apis-link-container mobile-only "><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon learn"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">Overview / MDN Learning Area</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Learn web development</p></div></a></li><li class="apis-link-container desktop-only "><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon learn"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">MDN Learning Area</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Learn web development</p></div></a></li><li class="html-link-container "><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon html"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">HTML</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Learn to structure web content with HTML</p></div></a></li><li class="css-link-container "><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon css"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">CSS</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Learn to style content using CSS</p></div></a></li><li class="javascript-link-container "><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon javascript"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">JavaScript</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Learn to run scripts in the browser</p></div></a></li><li class=" "><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/Accessibility" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">Accessibility</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Learn to make the web accessible to all</p></div></a></li></ul></li><li class="top-level-entry-container "><button type="button" id="mdn-plus-button" class="top-level-entry menu-toggle" aria-controls="mdn-plus-menu" aria-expanded="false">Plus</button><a href="/en-US/plus" class="top-level-entry">Plus</a><ul id="mdn-plus-menu" class="submenu mdn-plus hidden inline-submenu-lg" aria-labelledby="mdn-plus-button"><li class=" "><a href="/en-US/plus" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">Overview</div><p class="submenu-item-description">A customized MDN experience</p></div></a></li><li class=" "><a href="/en-US/plus/ai-help" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">AI Help</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Get real-time assistance and support</p></div></a></li><li class=" "><a href="/en-US/plus/updates" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">Updates</div><p class="submenu-item-description">All browser compatibility updates at a glance</p></div></a></li><li class=" "><a href="/en-US/plus/docs/features/overview" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">Documentation</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Learn how to use MDN Plus</p></div></a></li><li class=" "><a href="/en-US/plus/docs/faq" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">FAQ</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Frequently asked questions about MDN Plus</p></div></a></li></ul></li><li class="top-level-entry-container "><a class="top-level-entry menu-link" href="/en-US/curriculum/">Curriculum <sup class="new">New</sup></a></li><li class="top-level-entry-container "><a class="top-level-entry menu-link" href="/en-US/blog/">Blog</a></li><li class="top-level-entry-container "><button type="button" id="tools-button" class="top-level-entry menu-toggle" aria-controls="tools-menu" aria-expanded="false">Tools</button><ul id="tools-menu" class="submenu tools hidden inline-submenu-lg" aria-labelledby="tools-button"><li class=" "><a href="/en-US/play" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">Playground</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Write, test and share your code</p></div></a></li><li class=" "><a href="/en-US/observatory" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">HTTP Observatory</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Scan a website for free</p></div></a></li><li class=" "><a href="/en-US/plus/ai-help" class="submenu-item "><div class="submenu-icon"></div><div class="submenu-content-container"><div class="submenu-item-heading">AI Help</div><p class="submenu-item-description">Get real-time assistance and support</p></div></a></li></ul></li></ul></nav><div class="header-search"><form action="/en-US/search" class="search-form search-widget" id="top-nav-search-form" role="search"><label id="top-nav-search-label" for="top-nav-search-input" class="visually-hidden">Search MDN</label><input aria-activedescendant="" aria-autocomplete="list" aria-controls="top-nav-search-menu" aria-expanded="false" aria-labelledby="top-nav-search-label" autoComplete="off" id="top-nav-search-input" role="combobox" type="search" class="search-input-field" name="q" placeholder=" " required="" value=""/><button type="button" class="button action has-icon clear-search-button"><span class="button-wrap"><span class="icon icon-cancel "></span><span class="visually-hidden">Clear search input</span></span></button><button type="submit" class="button action has-icon search-button"><span class="button-wrap"><span class="icon icon-search "></span><span class="visually-hidden">Search</span></span></button><div id="top-nav-search-menu" role="listbox" aria-labelledby="top-nav-search-label"></div></form></div><div class="theme-switcher-menu"><button type="button" class="button action has-icon theme-switcher-menu small" aria-haspopup="menu"><span class="button-wrap"><span class="icon icon-theme-os-default "></span>Theme</span></button></div><ul class="auth-container"><li><a href="/users/fxa/login/authenticate/?next=%2Fen-US%2Fdocs%2FLearn%2FHTML%2FIntroduction_to_HTML%2FHTML_text_fundamentals" class="login-link" rel="nofollow">Log in</a></li><li><a href="/users/fxa/login/authenticate/?next=%2Fen-US%2Fdocs%2FLearn%2FHTML%2FIntroduction_to_HTML%2FHTML_text_fundamentals" target="_self" rel="nofollow" class="button primary mdn-plus-subscribe-link"><span class="button-wrap">Sign up for free</span></a></li></ul></div></div></header><div class="article-actions-container"><div class="container"><button type="button" class="button action has-icon sidebar-button" aria-label="Expand sidebar" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="sidebar-quicklinks"><span class="button-wrap"><span class="icon icon-sidebar "></span></span></button><nav class="breadcrumbs-container" aria-label="Breadcrumb"><ol typeof="BreadcrumbList" vocab="https://schema.org/" aria-label="breadcrumbs"><li property="itemListElement" typeof="ListItem"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn" class="breadcrumb" property="item" typeof="WebPage"><span property="name">Guides</span></a><meta property="position" content="1"/></li><li property="itemListElement" typeof="ListItem"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML" class="breadcrumb" property="item" typeof="WebPage"><span property="name">HTML</span></a><meta property="position" content="2"/></li><li property="itemListElement" typeof="ListItem"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML" class="breadcrumb" property="item" typeof="WebPage"><span property="name">Introduction to HTML</span></a><meta property="position" content="3"/></li><li property="itemListElement" typeof="ListItem"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" class="breadcrumb-current-page" property="item" typeof="WebPage"><span property="name">HTML text fundamentals</span></a><meta property="position" content="4"/></li></ol></nav><div class="article-actions"><button type="button" class="button action has-icon article-actions-toggle" aria-label="Article actions"><span class="button-wrap"><span class="icon icon-ellipses "></span><span class="article-actions-dialog-heading">Article Actions</span></span></button><ul class="article-actions-entries"><li class="article-actions-entry"><div class="languages-switcher-menu open-on-focus-within"><button id="languages-switcher-button" type="button" class="button action small has-icon languages-switcher-menu" aria-haspopup="menu"><span class="button-wrap"><span class="icon icon-language "></span>English (US)</span></button><div class="hidden"><ul class="submenu language-menu " aria-labelledby="language-menu-button"><li class=" "><form class="submenu-item locale-redirect-setting"><div class="group"><label class="switch"><input type="checkbox" name="locale-redirect"/><span class="slider"></span><span class="label">Remember language</span></label><a href="https://github.com/orgs/mdn/discussions/739" rel="external noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="Enable this setting to automatically switch to this language when it's available. (Click to learn more.)"><span class="icon icon-question-mark "></span></a></div></form></li><li class=" "><a data-locale="de" href="/de/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" class="button submenu-item"><span>Deutsch</span><span title="Diese Übersetzung ist Teil eines Experiments."><span class="icon icon-experimental "></span></span></a></li><li class=" "><a data-locale="es" href="/es/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" class="button submenu-item"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class=" "><a data-locale="fr" href="/fr/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" class="button submenu-item"><span>Français</span></a></li><li class=" "><a data-locale="ja" href="/ja/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" class="button submenu-item"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class=" "><a data-locale="ko" href="/ko/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" class="button submenu-item"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class=" "><a data-locale="pt-BR" href="/pt-BR/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" class="button submenu-item"><span>Português (do Brasil)</span></a></li><li class=" "><a data-locale="ru" href="/ru/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" class="button submenu-item"><span>Русский</span></a></li><li class=" "><a data-locale="zh-CN" href="/zh-CN/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" class="button submenu-item"><span>中文 (简体)</span></a></li><li class=" "><a data-locale="zh-TW" href="/zh-TW/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" class="button submenu-item"><span>正體中文 (繁體)</span></a></li></ul></div></div></li></ul></div></div></div></div><div class="main-wrapper"><div class="sidebar-container"><aside id="sidebar-quicklinks" class="sidebar" data-macro="LearnSidebar"><button type="button" class="button action backdrop" aria-label="Collapse sidebar"><span class="button-wrap"></span></button><nav aria-label="Related Topics" class="sidebar-inner"><header class="sidebar-actions"><section class="sidebar-filter-container"><div class="sidebar-filter "><label id="sidebar-filter-label" class="sidebar-filter-label" for="sidebar-filter-input"><span class="icon icon-filter"></span><span class="visually-hidden">Filter sidebar</span></label><input id="sidebar-filter-input" autoComplete="off" class="sidebar-filter-input-field false" type="text" placeholder="Filter" value=""/><button type="button" class="button action has-icon clear-sidebar-filter-button"><span class="button-wrap"><span class="icon icon-cancel "></span><span class="visually-hidden">Clear filter input</span></span></button></div></section></header><div class="sidebar-inner-nav"><div class="in-nav-toc"><div class="document-toc-container"><section class="document-toc"><header><h2 class="document-toc-heading">In this article</h2></header><ul class="document-toc-list"><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#the_basics_headings_and_paragraphs">The basics: headings and paragraphs</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#lists">Lists</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#emphasis_and_importance">Emphasis and importance</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#test_your_skills!">Test your skills!</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#summary">Summary</a></li></ul></section></div></div><div class="sidebar-body"><ol><li class="section"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web">Complete beginners start here!</a></li><li><details><summary>Getting started with the web</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web">Getting started with the web</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/Installing_basic_software">Installing basic software</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/What_will_your_website_look_like">What will your website look like?</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/Dealing_with_files">Dealing with files</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/HTML_basics">HTML basics</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/CSS_basics">CSS basics</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/JavaScript_basics">JavaScript basics</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/Publishing_your_website">Publishing your website</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/How_the_Web_works">How the web works</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="section"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML">HTML — Structuring the web</a></li><li><details open=""><summary>Introduction to HTML</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML">Introduction to HTML</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Getting_started">Getting started with HTML</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/The_head_metadata_in_HTML">What's in the head? Metadata in HTML</a></li><li><em><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" aria-current="page">HTML text fundamentals</a></em></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Creating_hyperlinks">Creating hyperlinks</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Advanced_text_formatting">Advanced text formatting</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Document_and_website_structure">Document and website structure</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Debugging_HTML">Debugging HTML</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Marking_up_a_letter">Marking up a letter</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Structuring_a_page_of_content">Structuring a page of content</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Multimedia and embedding</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding">Multimedia and embedding</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/Images_in_HTML">Images in HTML</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/Video_and_audio_content">Video and audio content</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/Other_embedding_technologies">From object to iframe — other embedding technologies</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/Adding_vector_graphics_to_the_Web">Adding vector graphics to the web</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/Responsive_images">Responsive images</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/Mozilla_splash_page">Mozilla splash page</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>HTML tables</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Tables">HTML tables</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Tables/Basics">HTML table basics</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Tables/Advanced">HTML table advanced features and accessibility</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Tables/Structuring_planet_data">Structuring planet data</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="section"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS">CSS — Styling the web</a></li><li><details><summary>CSS first steps</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/First_steps">CSS first steps</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/First_steps/What_is_CSS">What is CSS?</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/First_steps/Getting_started">Getting started with CSS</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/First_steps/How_CSS_is_structured">How CSS is structured</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/First_steps/How_CSS_works">How CSS works</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/First_steps/Styling_a_biography_page">Styling a biography page</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>CSS building blocks</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks">CSS building blocks</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Selectors">CSS selectors</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Selectors/Type_Class_and_ID_Selectors">Type, class, and ID selectors</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Selectors/Attribute_selectors">Attribute selectors</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Selectors/Pseudo-classes_and_pseudo-elements">Pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Selectors/Combinators">Combinators</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Cascade_and_inheritance">Cascade, specificity, and inheritance</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Cascade_layers">Cascade layers</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/The_box_model">The box model</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Backgrounds_and_borders">Backgrounds and borders</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Handling_different_text_directions">Handling different text directions</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Overflowing_content">Overflowing content</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Values_and_units">CSS values and units</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Sizing_items_in_CSS">Sizing items in CSS</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Images_media_form_elements">Images, media, and form elements</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Styling_tables">Styling tables</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Advanced_styling_effects">Advanced styling effects</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Debugging_CSS">Debugging CSS</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Organizing">Organizing your CSS</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Fundamental_CSS_comprehension">Fundamental CSS comprehension</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Creating_fancy_letterheaded_paper">Creating fancy letterheaded paper</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/A_cool_looking_box">A cool-looking box</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Styling text</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Styling_text">CSS styling text</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Styling_text/Fundamentals">Fundamental text and font styling</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Styling_text/Styling_lists">Styling lists</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Styling_text/Styling_links">Styling links</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Styling_text/Web_fonts">Web fonts</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Styling_text/Typesetting_a_homepage">Typesetting a community school homepage</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>CSS layout</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout">CSS layout</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Introduction">Introduction to CSS layout</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Normal_Flow">Normal Flow</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Flexbox">Flexbox</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Grids">Grids</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Floats">Floats</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Positioning">Positioning</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Multiple-column_Layout">Multiple-column layout</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Responsive_Design">Responsive design</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Media_queries">Beginner's guide to media queries</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Legacy_Layout_Methods">Legacy layout methods</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Supporting_Older_Browsers">Supporting older browsers</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Fundamental_Layout_Comprehension">Fundamental layout comprehension</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="section"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript">JavaScript — Dynamic client-side scripting</a></li><li><details><summary>JavaScript first steps</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps">JavaScript first steps</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/What_is_JavaScript">What is JavaScript?</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/A_first_splash">A first splash into JavaScript</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/What_went_wrong">What went wrong? Troubleshooting JavaScript</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/Variables">Storing the information you need — Variables</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/Math">Basic math in JavaScript — numbers and operators</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/Strings">Handling text — strings in JavaScript</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/Useful_string_methods">Useful string methods</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/Arrays">Arrays</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/Silly_story_generator">Silly story generator</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>JavaScript building blocks</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks">JavaScript building blocks</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/conditionals">Making decisions in your code — conditionals</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/Looping_code">Looping code</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/Functions">Functions — reusable blocks of code</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/Build_your_own_function">Build your own function</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/Return_values">Function return values</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/Events">Introduction to events</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/Event_bubbling">Event bubbling</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/Image_gallery">Image gallery</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Introducing JavaScript objects</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects">Introducing JavaScript objects</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects/Basics">JavaScript object basics</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects/Object_prototypes">Object prototypes</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects/Object-oriented_programming">Object-oriented programming</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects/Classes_in_JavaScript">Classes in JavaScript</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects/JSON">Working with JSON</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects/Object_building_practice">Object building practice</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects/Adding_bouncing_balls_features">Adding features to our bouncing balls demo</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Asynchronous JavaScript</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Asynchronous">Asynchronous JavaScript</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Asynchronous/Introducing">Introducing asynchronous JavaScript</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Asynchronous/Promises">How to use promises</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Asynchronous/Implementing_a_promise-based_API">How to implement a promise-based API</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Asynchronous/Introducing_workers">Introducing workers</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Asynchronous/Sequencing_animations">Sequencing animations</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Client-side web APIs</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs">Client-side web APIs</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs/Introduction">Introduction to web APIs</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs/Manipulating_documents">Manipulating documents</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs/Fetching_data">Fetching data from the server</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs/Third_party_APIs">Third-party APIs</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs/Drawing_graphics">Drawing graphics</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs/Video_and_audio_APIs">Video and Audio APIs</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs/Client-side_storage">Client-side storage</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="section"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms">Web forms — Working with user data</a></li><li><details><summary>Web form building blocks</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms">Web form building blocks</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Your_first_form">Your first form</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/How_to_structure_a_web_form">How to structure a web form</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Basic_native_form_controls">Basic native form controls</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/HTML5_input_types">The HTML5 input types</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Other_form_controls">Other form controls</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Styling_web_forms">Styling web forms</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Advanced_form_styling">Advanced form styling</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/UI_pseudo-classes">UI pseudo-classes</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Form_validation">Client-side form validation</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Sending_and_retrieving_form_data">Sending form data</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Advanced web form techniques</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/How_to_build_custom_form_controls">How to build custom form controls</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Sending_forms_through_JavaScript">Sending forms through JavaScript</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Property_compatibility_table_for_form_controls">CSS property compatibility table for form controls</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/HTML_forms_in_legacy_browsers">HTML forms in legacy browsers</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="section"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility">Accessibility — Make the web usable by everyone</a></li><li><details><summary>Accessibility guides</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility">Accessibility</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility/What_is_accessibility">What is accessibility?</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility/HTML">HTML: A good basis for accessibility</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility/CSS_and_JavaScript">CSS and JavaScript accessibility best practices</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility/WAI-ARIA_basics">WAI-ARIA basics</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility/Multimedia">Accessible multimedia</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility/Mobile">Mobile accessibility</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility/Accessibility_troubleshooting">Assessment: Accessibility troubleshooting</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="section"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance">Performance — Making websites fast and responsive</a></li><li><details><summary>Performance guides</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance">Web performance</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/why_web_performance">The "why" of web performance</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/What_is_web_performance">What is web performance?</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/Perceived_performance">Perceived performance</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/Measuring_performance">Measuring performance</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/Multimedia">Multimedia: Images</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/video">Multimedia: video</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/JavaScript">JavaScript performance optimization</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/HTML">HTML performance optimization</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/CSS">CSS performance optimization</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/business_case_for_performance">The business case for web performance</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="section"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML">MathML — Writing mathematics with MathML</a></li><li><details><summary>MathML first steps</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML/First_steps">MathML first steps</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML/First_steps/Getting_started">Getting started with MathML</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML/First_steps/Text_containers">MathML Text Containers</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML/First_steps/Fractions_and_roots">MathML fractions and roots</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML/First_steps/Scripts">MathML scripted elements</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML/First_steps/Tables">MathML tables</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML/First_steps/Three_famous_mathematical_formulas">Three famous mathematical formulas</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="section"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/../Games">Games — Developing games for the web</a></li><li><details><summary>Guides and tutorials</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Games/Introduction">Introduction to game development for the Web</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Games/Techniques">Techniques for game development</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Games/Tutorials">Tutorials</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Games/Publishing_games">Publishing games</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="section"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing">Tools and testing</a></li><li><details><summary>Client-side web development tools</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Understanding_client-side_tools">Understanding client-side web development tools</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Understanding_client-side_tools/Overview">Client-side tooling overview</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Understanding_client-side_tools/Command_line">Command line crash course</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Understanding_client-side_tools/Package_management">Package management basics</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Understanding_client-side_tools/Introducing_complete_toolchain">Introducing a complete toolchain</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Understanding_client-side_tools/Deployment">Deploying our app</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Introduction to client-side frameworks</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Introduction">Introduction to client-side frameworks</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Main_features">Framework main features</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>React</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/React_getting_started">Getting started with React</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/React_todo_list_beginning">Beginning our React todo list</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/React_components">Componentizing our React app</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/React_interactivity_events_state">React interactivity: Events and state</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/React_interactivity_filtering_conditional_rendering">React interactivity: Editing, filtering, conditional rendering</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/React_accessibility">Accessibility in React</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/React_resources">React resources</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Ember</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Ember_getting_started">Getting started with Ember</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Ember_structure_componentization">Ember app structure and componentization</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Ember_interactivity_events_state">Ember interactivity: Events, classes and state</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Ember_conditional_footer">Ember Interactivity: Footer functionality, conditional rendering</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Ember_routing">Routing in Ember</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Ember_resources">Ember resources and troubleshooting</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Vue</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_getting_started">Getting started with Vue</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_first_component">Creating our first Vue component</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_rendering_lists">Rendering a list of Vue components</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_methods_events_models">Adding a new todo form: Vue events, methods, and models</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_styling">Styling Vue components with CSS</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_computed_properties">Using Vue computed properties</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_conditional_rendering">Vue conditional rendering: editing existing todos</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_refs_focus_management">Vue refs and lifecycle methods for focus management</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_resources">Vue resources</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Svelte</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_getting_started">Getting started with Svelte</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_Todo_list_beginning">Starting our Svelte to-do list app</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_variables_props">Dynamic behavior in Svelte: working with variables and props</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_components">Componentizing our Svelte app</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_reactivity_lifecycle_accessibility">Advanced Svelte: Reactivity, lifecycle, accessibility</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_stores">Working with Svelte stores</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_TypeScript">TypeScript support in Svelte</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_deployment_next">Deployment and next steps</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Angular</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Angular_getting_started">Getting started with Angular</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Angular_todo_list_beginning">Beginning our Angular todo list app</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Angular_styling">Styling our Angular app</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Angular_item_component">Creating an item component</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Angular_filtering">Filtering our to-do items</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Angular_building">Building Angular applications and further resources</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Git and GitHub</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/GitHub">Git and GitHub</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Cross browser testing</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing">Cross browser testing</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/Introduction">Introduction to cross-browser testing</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/Testing_strategies">Strategies for carrying out testing</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/HTML_and_CSS">Handling common HTML and CSS problems</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/JavaScript">Handling common JavaScript problems</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/Accessibility">Handling common accessibility problems</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/Feature_detection">Implementing feature detection</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/Automated_testing">Introduction to automated testing</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/Your_own_automation_environment">Setting up your own test automation environment</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="section"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side">Server-side website programming</a></li><li><details><summary>First steps</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/First_steps">Server-side website programming first steps</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/First_steps/Introduction">Introduction to the server side</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/First_steps/Client-Server_overview">Client-Server Overview</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/First_steps/Web_frameworks">Server-side web frameworks</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/First_steps/Website_security">Website security</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Django web framework (Python)</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django">Django Web Framework (Python)</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Introduction">Django introduction</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/development_environment">Setting up a Django development environment</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Tutorial_local_library_website">Django Tutorial: The Local Library website</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/skeleton_website">Django Tutorial Part 2: Creating a skeleton website</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Models">Django Tutorial Part 3: Using models</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Admin_site">Django Tutorial Part 4: Django admin site</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Home_page">Django Tutorial Part 5: Creating our home page</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Generic_views">Django Tutorial Part 6: Generic list and detail views</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Sessions">Django Tutorial Part 7: Sessions framework</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Authentication">Django Tutorial Part 8: User authentication and permissions</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Forms">Django Tutorial Part 9: Working with forms</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Testing">Django Tutorial Part 10: Testing a Django web application</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Deployment">Django Tutorial Part 11: Deploying Django to production</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/web_application_security">Django web application security</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/django_assessment_blog">Assessment: DIY Django mini blog</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Express Web Framework (Node.js/JavaScript)</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs">Express web framework (Node.js/JavaScript)</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/Introduction">Express/Node introduction</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/development_environment">Setting up a Node development environment</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/Tutorial_local_library_website">Express Tutorial: The Local Library website</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/skeleton_website">Express Tutorial Part 2: Creating a skeleton website</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/mongoose">Express Tutorial Part 3: Using a Database (with Mongoose)</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/routes">Express Tutorial Part 4: Routes and controllers</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/Displaying_data">Express Tutorial Part 5: Displaying library data</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/forms">Express Tutorial Part 6: Working with forms</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/deployment">Express Tutorial Part 7: Deploying to production</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="section"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Common_questions">Further resources</a></li><li><details><summary>Common questions</summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Common_questions">Common questions</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Howto">Use HTML to solve common problems</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Howto">Use CSS to solve common problems</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Howto">Solve common problems in your JavaScript code</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Common_questions/Web_mechanics">Web mechanics</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Common_questions/Tools_and_setup">Tools and setup</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/Common_questions/Design_and_accessibility">Design and accessibility</a></li></ol></details></li></ol></div></div><section class="place side"></section></nav></aside><div class="toc-container"><aside class="toc"><nav><div class="document-toc-container"><section class="document-toc"><header><h2 class="document-toc-heading">In this article</h2></header><ul class="document-toc-list"><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#the_basics_headings_and_paragraphs">The basics: headings and paragraphs</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#lists">Lists</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#emphasis_and_importance">Emphasis and importance</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#test_your_skills!">Test your skills!</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#summary">Summary</a></li></ul></section></div></nav></aside><section class="place side"></section></div></div><main id="content" class="main-content "><article class="main-page-content" lang="en-US"><header><h1>HTML text fundamentals</h1></header><div class="section-content"><ul class="prev-next"> <li><a class="button secondary" href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/The_head_metadata_in_HTML"><span class="button-wrap"> Previous </span></a></li> <li><a class="button secondary" href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML"><span class="button-wrap"> Overview: Introduction to HTML</span></a></li> <li><a class="button secondary" href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Creating_hyperlinks"><span class="button-wrap"> Next </span></a></li> </ul> <p>One of HTML's main jobs is to give text structure so that a browser can display an HTML document the way its developer intends. This article explains the way <a href="/en-US/docs/Glossary/HTML">HTML</a> can be used to structure a page of text by adding headings and paragraphs, emphasizing words, creating lists, and more.</p> <figure class="table-container"><table> <tbody> <tr> <th scope="row">Prerequisites:</th> <td> Basic HTML familiarity, as covered in <a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Getting_started">Getting started with HTML</a>. </td> </tr> <tr> <th scope="row">Objective:</th> <td> Learn how to mark up a basic page of text to give it structure and meaning — including paragraphs, headings, lists, emphasis, and quotations. </td> </tr> </tbody> </table></figure></div><section aria-labelledby="the_basics_headings_and_paragraphs"><h2 id="the_basics_headings_and_paragraphs"><a href="#the_basics_headings_and_paragraphs">The basics: headings and paragraphs</a></h2><div class="section-content"><p>Most structured text consists of headings and paragraphs, whether you are reading a story, a newspaper, a college textbook, a magazine, etc.</p> <p> <img src="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals/newspaper_small.jpg" alt="An example of a newspaper front cover, showing use of a top level heading, subheadings and paragraphs." width="600" height="376" loading="lazy"> </p> <p>Structured content makes the reading experience easier and more enjoyable.</p> <p>In HTML, each paragraph has to be wrapped in a <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/p"><code><p></code></a> element, like so:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><p>I am a paragraph, oh yes I am.</p> </code></pre></div> <p>Each heading has to be wrapped in a heading element:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><h1>I am the title of the story.</h1> </code></pre></div> <p>There are six heading elements: <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Heading_Elements">h1</a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Heading_Elements">h2</a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Heading_Elements">h3</a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Heading_Elements">h4</a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Heading_Elements">h5</a>, and <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Heading_Elements">h6</a>. Each element represents a different level of content in the document; <code><h1></code> represents the main heading, <code><h2></code> represents subheadings, <code><h3></code> represents sub-subheadings, and so on.</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="implementing_structural_hierarchy"><h3 id="implementing_structural_hierarchy"><a href="#implementing_structural_hierarchy">Implementing structural hierarchy</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>For example, in this story, the <code><h1></code> element represents the title of the story, the <code><h2></code> elements represent the title of each chapter, and the <code><h3></code> elements represent subsections of each chapter:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><h1>The Crushing Bore</h1> <p>By Chris Mills</p> <h2>Chapter 1: The dark night</h2> <p> It was a dark night. Somewhere, an owl hooted. The rain lashed down on the… </p> <h2>Chapter 2: The eternal silence</h2> <p>Our protagonist could not so much as a whisper out of the shadowy figure…</p> <h3>The specter speaks</h3> <p> Several more hours had passed, when all of a sudden the specter sat bolt upright and exclaimed, "Please have mercy on my soul!" </p> </code></pre></div> <p>It's really up to you what the elements involved represent, as long as the hierarchy makes sense. You just need to bear in mind a few best practices as you create such structures:</p> <ul> <li>Preferably, you should use a single <code><h1></code> per page—this is the top level heading, and all others sit below this in the hierarchy.</li> <li>Make sure you use the headings in the correct order in the hierarchy. Don't use <code><h3></code> elements to represent subheadings, followed by <code><h2></code> elements to represent sub-subheadings—that doesn't make sense and will lead to weird results.</li> <li>Of the six heading levels available, you should aim to use no more than three per page, unless you feel it is necessary. Documents with many levels (for example, a deep heading hierarchy) become unwieldy and difficult to navigate. On such occasions, it is advisable to spread the content over multiple pages if possible.</li> </ul></div></section><section aria-labelledby="why_do_we_need_structure"><h3 id="why_do_we_need_structure"><a href="#why_do_we_need_structure">Why do we need structure?</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>To answer this question, let's take a look at <a href="https://github.com/mdn/learning-area/blob/main/html/introduction-to-html/html-text-formatting/text-start.html" class="external" target="_blank">text-start.html</a>—the starting point of our running example for this article (a nice hummus recipe). You should save a copy of this file on your local machine, as you'll need it for the exercises later on. This document's body currently contains multiple pieces of content. They aren't marked up in any way, but they are separated with line breaks (Enter/Return pressed to go onto the next line).</p> <p>However, when you open the document in your browser, you'll see that the text appears as a big chunk!</p> <p> <img src="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals/screen_shot_2017-03-29_at_09.20.35.png" alt="A webpage that shows a wall of unformatted text, because there are no elements on the page to structure it." width="600" height="377" loading="lazy"> </p> <p>This is because there are no elements to give the content structure, so the browser does not know what is a heading and what is a paragraph. Furthermore:</p> <ul> <li>Users looking at a web page tend to scan quickly to find relevant content, often just reading the headings, to begin with. (We usually <a href="https://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-long-do-users-stay-on-web-pages/" class="external" target="_blank">spend a very short time on a web page</a>.) If they can't see anything useful within a few seconds, they'll likely get frustrated and go somewhere else.</li> <li>Search engines indexing your page consider the contents of headings as important keywords for influencing the page's search rankings. Without headings, your page will perform poorly in terms of <a href="/en-US/docs/Glossary/SEO">SEO</a> (Search Engine Optimization).</li> <li>Severely visually impaired people often don't read web pages; they listen to them instead. This is done with software called a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_reader" class="external" target="_blank">screen reader</a>. This software provides ways to get fast access to given text content. Among the various techniques used, they provide an outline of the document by reading out the headings, allowing their users to find the information they need quickly. If headings are not available, they will be forced to listen to the whole document read out loud.</li> <li>To style content with <a href="/en-US/docs/Glossary/CSS">CSS</a>, or make it do interesting things with <a href="/en-US/docs/Glossary/JavaScript">JavaScript</a>, you need to have elements wrapping the relevant content, so CSS/JavaScript can effectively target it.</li> </ul> <p>Therefore, we need to give our content structural markup.</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="active_learning_giving_our_content_structure"><h3 id="active_learning_giving_our_content_structure"><a href="#active_learning_giving_our_content_structure">Active learning: Giving our content structure</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>Let's jump straight in with a live example. In the example below, add elements to the raw text in the <em>Input</em> field so that it appears as a heading and two paragraphs in the <em>Output</em> field.</p> <p>If you make a mistake, you can always reset it using the <em>Reset</em> button. If you get stuck, press the <em>Show solution</em> button to see the answer.</p> <div class="code-example"><pre class="brush: html hidden notranslate"><code><h2>Live output</h2> <div class="output" style="min-height: 50px;"></div> <h2>Editable code</h2> <p class="a11y-label"> Press Esc to move focus away from the code area (Tab inserts a tab character). </p> <textarea id="code" class="input" style="min-height: 100px; width: 95%"> My short story I am a statistician and my name is Trish. My legs are made of cardboard and I am married to a fish. </textarea> <div class="playable-buttons"> <input id="reset" type="button" value="Reset" /> <input id="solution" type="button" value="Show solution" /> </div> </code></pre></div> <div class="code-example"><pre class="brush: css hidden notranslate"><code>html { font-family: sans-serif; } h2 { font-size: 16px; } .a11y-label { margin: 0; text-align: right; font-size: 0.7rem; width: 98%; } body { margin: 10px; background: #f5f9fa; } </code></pre></div> <div class="code-example"><pre class="brush: js hidden notranslate"><code>const textarea = document.getElementById("code"); const reset = document.getElementById("reset"); const solution = document.getElementById("solution"); const output = document.querySelector(".output"); const code = textarea.value; let userEntry = textarea.value; function updateCode() { output.innerHTML = textarea.value; } const htmlSolution = `<h1>My short story</h1> <p> I am a statistician and my name is Trish. </p> <p> My legs are made of cardboard and I am married to a fish. </p>`; let solutionEntry = htmlSolution; reset.addEventListener("click", () => { textarea.value = code; userEntry = textarea.value; solutionEntry = htmlSolution; solution.value = "Show solution"; updateCode(); }); solution.addEventListener("click", () => { if (solution.value === "Show solution") { textarea.value = solutionEntry; solution.value = "Hide solution"; } else { textarea.value = userEntry; solution.value = "Show solution"; } updateCode(); }); textarea.addEventListener("input", updateCode); window.addEventListener("load", updateCode); // Stop tab key tabbing out of textarea and // make it write a tab at the caret position instead textarea.onkeydown = (e) => { if (e.code === "Tab") { e.preventDefault(); insertAtCaret("\t"); } if (e.code === "Escape") { textarea.blur(); } }; function insertAtCaret(text) { const scrollPos = textarea.scrollTop; let caretPos = textarea.selectionStart; const front = textarea.value.substring(0, caretPos); const back = textarea.value.substring( textarea.selectionEnd, textarea.value.length, ); textarea.value = front + text + back; caretPos += text.length; textarea.selectionStart = caretPos; textarea.selectionEnd = caretPos; textarea.focus(); textarea.scrollTop = scrollPos; } // Update the saved userCode every time the user updates the text area code textarea.onkeyup = function () { // We only want to save the state when the user code is being shown, // not the solution, so that solution is not saved over the user code if (solution.value === "Show solution") { userEntry = textarea.value; } else { solutionEntry = textarea.value; } updateCode(); }; </code></pre></div><div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"></div><iframe class="sample-code-frame" title="Active learning Giving our content structure sample" id="frame_active_learning_giving_our_content_structure" width="700" height="400" src="about:blank" data-live-path="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" data-live-id="active_learning_giving_our_content_structure" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts" loading="lazy"></iframe></div></div></section><section aria-labelledby="why_do_we_need_semantics"><h3 id="why_do_we_need_semantics"><a href="#why_do_we_need_semantics">Why do we need semantics?</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>Semantics are relied on everywhere around us—we rely on previous experience to tell us what the function of an everyday object is; when we see something, we know what its function will be. So, for example, we expect a red traffic light to mean "stop," and a green traffic light to mean "go." Things can get tricky very quickly if the wrong semantics are applied. (Do any countries use red to mean "go"? We hope not.)</p> <p>In a similar way, we need to make sure we are using the correct elements, giving our content the correct meaning, function, or appearance. In this context, the <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Heading_Elements">h1</a> element is also a semantic element, which gives the text it wraps around the role (or meaning) of "a top level heading on your page."</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><h1>This is a top level heading</h1> </code></pre></div> <p>By default, the browser will give it a large font size to make it look like a heading (although you could style it to look like anything you wanted using CSS). More importantly, its semantic value will be used in multiple ways, for example by search engines and screen readers (as mentioned above).</p> <p>On the other hand, you could make any element <em>look</em> like a top level heading. Consider the following:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><span style="font-size: 32px; margin: 21px 0; display: block;"> Is this a top level heading? </span> </code></pre></div> <p>This is a <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/span"><code><span></code></a> element. It has no semantics. You use it to wrap content when you want to apply CSS to it (or do something to it with JavaScript) without giving it any extra meaning. (You'll find out more about these later on in the course.) We've applied some CSS to it to make it look like a top level heading, but since it has no semantic value, it will not get any of the extra benefits described above. It is a good idea to use the relevant HTML element for the job.</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="lists"><h2 id="lists"><a href="#lists">Lists</a></h2><div class="section-content"><p>Now let's turn our attention to lists. Lists are everywhere in life—from your shopping list to the list of directions you subconsciously follow to get to your house every day, to the lists of instructions you are following in these tutorials! On the web, we have three types of lists: unordered, ordered, and description.</p> <p>Unordered and ordered lists are very common, and they're covered in this section. Description lists are less common, and we'll cover them in <a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Advanced_text_formatting">Advanced text formatting</a>.</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="unordered"><h3 id="unordered"><a href="#unordered">Unordered</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>Unordered lists are used to mark up lists of items for which the order of the items doesn't matter. Let's take a shopping list as an example:</p> <pre class="brush: plain notranslate">milk eggs bread hummus </pre> <p>Every unordered list starts off with a <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/ul"><code><ul></code></a> element—this wraps around all the list items:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><ul> milk eggs bread hummus </ul> </code></pre></div> <p>The last step is to wrap each list item in a <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/li"><code><li></code></a> (list item) element:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><ul> <li>milk</li> <li>eggs</li> <li>bread</li> <li>hummus</li> </ul> </code></pre></div> <h4 id="active_learning_marking_up_an_unordered_list">Active learning: Marking up an unordered list</h4> <p>Try editing the live sample below to create your very own HTML unordered list.</p> <div class="code-example"><pre class="brush: html hidden notranslate"><code><h2>Live output</h2> <div class="output" style="min-height: 50px;"></div> <h2>Editable code</h2> <p class="a11y-label"> Press Esc to move focus away from the code area (Tab inserts a tab character). </p> <textarea id="code" class="input" style="min-height: 100px; width: 95%"> milk eggs bread hummus </textarea> <div class="playable-buttons"> <input id="reset" type="button" value="Reset" /> <input id="solution" type="button" value="Show solution" /> </div> </code></pre></div> <div class="code-example"><pre class="brush: css hidden notranslate"><code>html { font-family: sans-serif; } h2 { font-size: 16px; } .a11y-label { margin: 0; text-align: right; font-size: 0.7rem; width: 98%; } body { margin: 10px; background: #f5f9fa; } </code></pre></div> <div class="code-example"><pre class="brush: js hidden notranslate"><code>const textarea = document.getElementById("code"); const reset = document.getElementById("reset"); const solution = document.getElementById("solution"); const output = document.querySelector(".output"); const code = textarea.value; let userEntry = textarea.value; function updateCode() { output.innerHTML = textarea.value; } const htmlSolution = "<ul>\n<li>milk</li>\n<li>eggs</li>\n<li>bread</li>\n<li>hummus</li>\n</ul>"; let solutionEntry = htmlSolution; reset.addEventListener("click", () => { textarea.value = code; userEntry = textarea.value; solutionEntry = htmlSolution; solution.value = "Show solution"; updateCode(); }); solution.addEventListener("click", () => { if (solution.value === "Show solution") { textarea.value = solutionEntry; solution.value = "Hide solution"; } else { textarea.value = userEntry; solution.value = "Show solution"; } updateCode(); }); textarea.addEventListener("input", updateCode); window.addEventListener("load", updateCode); // stop tab key tabbing out of textarea and // make it write a tab at the caret position instead textarea.onkeydown = (e) => { if (e.code === "Tab") { e.preventDefault(); insertAtCaret("\t"); } if (e.code === "Escape") { textarea.blur(); } }; function insertAtCaret(text) { const scrollPos = textarea.scrollTop; let caretPos = textarea.selectionStart; const front = textarea.value.substring(0, caretPos); const back = textarea.value.substring( textarea.selectionEnd, textarea.value.length, ); textarea.value = front + text + back; caretPos += text.length; textarea.selectionStart = caretPos; textarea.selectionEnd = caretPos; textarea.focus(); textarea.scrollTop = scrollPos; } // Update the saved userCode every time the user updates the text area code textarea.onkeyup = () => { // We only want to save the state when the user code is being shown, // not the solution, so that solution is not saved over the user code if (solution.value === "Show solution") { userEntry = textarea.value; } else { solutionEntry = textarea.value; } updateCode(); }; </code></pre></div><div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"></div><iframe class="sample-code-frame" title="Active learning Marking up an unordered list sample" id="frame_active_learning_marking_up_an_unordered_list" width="700" height="400" src="about:blank" data-live-path="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" data-live-id="active_learning_marking_up_an_unordered_list" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts" loading="lazy"></iframe></div></div></section><section aria-labelledby="ordered"><h3 id="ordered"><a href="#ordered">Ordered</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>Ordered lists are lists in which the order of the items <em>does</em> matter. Let's take a set of directions as an example:</p> <pre class="brush: plain notranslate">Drive to the end of the road Turn right Go straight across the first two roundabouts Turn left at the third roundabout The school is on your right, 300 meters up the road </pre> <p>The markup structure is the same as for unordered lists, except that you have to wrap the list items in an <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/ol"><code><ol></code></a> element, rather than <code><ul></code>:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><ol> <li>Drive to the end of the road</li> <li>Turn right</li> <li>Go straight across the first two roundabouts</li> <li>Turn left at the third roundabout</li> <li>The school is on your right, 300 meters up the road</li> </ol> </code></pre></div> <h4 id="active_learning_marking_up_an_ordered_list">Active learning: Marking up an ordered list</h4> <p>Try editing the live sample below to create your very own HTML ordered list.</p> <div class="code-example"><pre class="brush: html hidden notranslate"><code><h2>Live output</h2> <div class="output" style="min-height: 50px;"></div> <h2>Editable code</h2> <p class="a11y-label"> Press Esc to move focus away from the code area (Tab inserts a tab character). </p> <textarea id="code" class="input" style="min-height: 200px; width: 95%"> Drive to the end of the road Turn right Go straight across the first two roundabouts Turn left at the third roundabout The school is on your right, 300 meters up the road </textarea> <div class="playable-buttons"> <input id="reset" type="button" value="Reset" /> <input id="solution" type="button" value="Show solution" /> </div> </code></pre></div> <div class="code-example"><pre class="brush: css hidden notranslate"><code>html { font-family: sans-serif; } h2 { font-size: 16px; } .a11y-label { margin: 0; text-align: right; font-size: 0.7rem; width: 98%; } body { margin: 10px; background: #f5f9fa; } </code></pre></div> <div class="code-example"><pre class="brush: js hidden notranslate"><code>const textarea = document.getElementById("code"); const reset = document.getElementById("reset"); const solution = document.getElementById("solution"); const output = document.querySelector(".output"); const code = textarea.value; let userEntry = textarea.value; function updateCode() { output.innerHTML = textarea.value; } const htmlSolution = "<ol>\n<li>Drive to the end of the road</li>\n<li>Turn right</li>\n<li>Go straight across the first two roundabouts</li>\n<li>Turn left at the third roundabout</li>\n<li>The school is on your right, 300 meters up the road</li>\n</ol>"; let solutionEntry = htmlSolution; reset.addEventListener("click", () => { textarea.value = code; userEntry = textarea.value; solutionEntry = htmlSolution; solution.value = "Show solution"; updateCode(); }); solution.addEventListener("click", () => { if (solution.value === "Show solution") { textarea.value = solutionEntry; solution.value = "Hide solution"; } else { textarea.value = userEntry; solution.value = "Show solution"; } updateCode(); }); textarea.addEventListener("input", updateCode); window.addEventListener("load", updateCode); // stop tab key tabbing out of textarea and // make it write a tab at the caret position instead textarea.onkeydown = (e) => { if (e.code === "Tab") { e.preventDefault(); insertAtCaret("\t"); } if (e.code === "Escape") { textarea.blur(); } }; function insertAtCaret(text) { const scrollPos = textarea.scrollTop; let caretPos = textarea.selectionStart; const front = textarea.value.substring(0, caretPos); const back = textarea.value.substring( textarea.selectionEnd, textarea.value.length, ); textarea.value = front + text + back; caretPos += text.length; textarea.selectionStart = caretPos; textarea.selectionEnd = caretPos; textarea.focus(); textarea.scrollTop = scrollPos; } // Update the saved userCode every time the user updates the text area code textarea.onkeyup = () => { // We only want to save the state when the user code is being shown, // not the solution, so that solution is not saved over the user code if (solution.value === "Show solution") { userEntry = textarea.value; } else { solutionEntry = textarea.value; } updateCode(); }; </code></pre></div><div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"></div><iframe class="sample-code-frame" title="Active learning Marking up an ordered list sample" id="frame_active_learning_marking_up_an_ordered_list" width="700" height="500" src="about:blank" data-live-path="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" data-live-id="active_learning_marking_up_an_ordered_list" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts" loading="lazy"></iframe></div></div></section><section aria-labelledby="active_learning_marking_up_our_recipe_page"><h3 id="active_learning_marking_up_our_recipe_page"><a href="#active_learning_marking_up_our_recipe_page">Active learning: Marking up our recipe page</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>So at this point in the article, you have all the information you need to mark up our recipe page example. You can choose to either save a local copy of our <a href="https://github.com/mdn/learning-area/blob/main/html/introduction-to-html/html-text-formatting/text-start.html" class="external" target="_blank">text-start.html</a> starting file and do the work there or do it in the editable example below. Doing it locally will probably be better, as then you'll get to save the work you are doing, whereas if you fill it in to the editable example, it will be lost the next time you open the page. Both have pros and cons.</p> <div class="code-example"><pre class="brush: html hidden notranslate"><code><h2>Live output</h2> <div class="output" style="min-height: 50px;"></div> <h2>Editable code</h2> <p class="a11y-label"> Press Esc to move focus away from the code area (Tab inserts a tab character). </p> <textarea id="code" class="input" style="min-height: 200px; width: 95%"> Quick hummus recipe This recipe makes quick, tasty hummus, with no messing. It has been adapted from a number of different recipes that I have read over the years. Hummus is a delicious thick paste used heavily in Greek and Middle Eastern dishes. It is very tasty with salad, grilled meats and pitta breads. Ingredients 1 can (400g) of chick peas (garbanzo beans) 175g of tahini 6 sundried tomatoes Half a red pepper A pinch of cayenne pepper 1 clove of garlic A dash of olive oil Instructions Remove the skin from the garlic, and chop coarsely Remove all the seeds and stalk from the pepper, and chop coarsely Add all the ingredients into a food processor Process all the ingredients into a paste If you want a coarse "chunky" hummus, process it for a short time If you want a smooth hummus, process it for a longer time For a different flavor, you could try blending in a small measure of lemon and coriander, chili pepper, lime and chipotle, harissa and mint, or spinach and feta cheese. Experiment and see what works for you. Storage Refrigerate the finished hummus in a sealed container. You should be able to use it for about a week after you've made it. If it starts to become fizzy, you should definitely discard it. Hummus is suitable for freezing; you should thaw it and use it within a couple of months. </textarea> <div class="playable-buttons"> <input id="reset" type="button" value="Reset" /> <input id="solution" type="button" value="Show solution" /> </div> </code></pre></div> <div class="code-example"><pre class="brush: css hidden notranslate"><code>html { font-family: sans-serif; } h2 { font-size: 16px; } .a11y-label { margin: 0; text-align: right; font-size: 0.7rem; width: 98%; } body { margin: 10px; background: #f5f9fa; } </code></pre></div> <div class="code-example"><pre class="brush: js hidden notranslate"><code>const textarea = document.getElementById("code"); const reset = document.getElementById("reset"); const solution = document.getElementById("solution"); const output = document.querySelector(".output"); const code = textarea.value; let userEntry = textarea.value; function updateCode() { output.innerHTML = textarea.value; } const htmlSolution = '<h1>Quick hummus recipe</h1>\n\n<p>This recipe makes quick, tasty hummus, with no messing. It has been adapted from a number of different recipes that I have read over the years.</p>\n\n<p>Hummus is a delicious thick paste used heavily in Greek and Middle Eastern dishes. It is very tasty with salad, grilled meats and pitta breads.</p>\n\n<h2>Ingredients</h2>\n\n<ul>\n<li>1 can (400g) of chick peas (garbanzo beans)</li>\n<li>175g of tahini</li>\n<li>6 sundried tomatoes</li>\n<li>Half a red pepper</li>\n<li>A pinch of cayenne pepper</li>\n<li>1 clove of garlic</li>\n<li>A dash of olive oil</li>\n</ul>\n\n<h2>Instructions</h2>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Remove the skin from the garlic, and chop coarsely.</li>\n<li>Remove all the seeds and stalk from the pepper, and chop coarsely.</li>\n<li>Add all the ingredients into a food processor.</li>\n<li>Process all the ingredients into a paste.</li>\n<li>If you want a coarse "chunky" hummus, process it for a short time.</li>\n<li>If you want a smooth hummus, process it for a longer time.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>For a different flavor, you could try blending in a small measure of lemon and coriander, chili pepper, lime and chipotle, harissa and mint, or spinach and feta cheese. Experiment and see what works for you.</p>\n\n<h2>Storage</h2>\n\n<p>Refrigerate the finished hummus in a sealed container. You should be able to use it for about a week after you\'ve made it. If it starts to become fizzy, you should definitely discard it.</p>\n\n<p>Hummus is suitable for freezing; you should thaw it and use it within a couple of months.</p>'; let solutionEntry = htmlSolution; reset.addEventListener("click", () => { textarea.value = code; userEntry = textarea.value; solutionEntry = htmlSolution; solution.value = "Show solution"; updateCode(); }); solution.addEventListener("click", () => { if (solution.value === "Show solution") { textarea.value = solutionEntry; solution.value = "Hide solution"; } else { textarea.value = userEntry; solution.value = "Show solution"; } updateCode(); }); textarea.addEventListener("input", updateCode); window.addEventListener("load", updateCode); // stop tab key tabbing out of textarea and // make it write a tab at the caret position instead textarea.onkeydown = (e) => { if (e.code === "Tab") { e.preventDefault(); insertAtCaret("\t"); } if (e.code === "Escape") { textarea.blur(); } }; function insertAtCaret(text) { const scrollPos = textarea.scrollTop; let caretPos = textarea.selectionStart; const front = textarea.value.substring(0, caretPos); const back = textarea.value.substring( textarea.selectionEnd, textarea.value.length, ); textarea.value = front + text + back; caretPos += text.length; textarea.selectionStart = caretPos; textarea.selectionEnd = caretPos; textarea.focus(); textarea.scrollTop = scrollPos; } // Update the saved userCode every time the user updates the text area code textarea.onkeyup = () => { // We only want to save the state when the user code is being shown, // not the solution, so that solution is not saved over the user code if (solution.value === "Show solution") { userEntry = textarea.value; } else { solutionEntry = textarea.value; } updateCode(); }; </code></pre></div><div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"></div><iframe class="sample-code-frame" title="Active learning Marking up our recipe page sample" id="frame_active_learning_marking_up_our_recipe_page" width="900" height="620" src="about:blank" data-live-path="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" data-live-id="active_learning_marking_up_our_recipe_page" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts" loading="lazy"></iframe></div> <p>If you get stuck, you can always press the <em>Show solution</em> button, or check out our <a href="https://github.com/mdn/learning-area/blob/main/html/introduction-to-html/html-text-formatting/text-complete.html" class="external" target="_blank">text-complete.html</a> example on our GitHub repo.</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="nesting_lists"><h3 id="nesting_lists"><a href="#nesting_lists">Nesting lists</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>It is perfectly OK to nest one list inside another one. You might want to have some sub-bullets sitting below a top-level bullet. Let's take the second list from our recipe example:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><ol> <li>Remove the skin from the garlic, and chop coarsely.</li> <li>Remove all the seeds and stalk from the pepper, and chop coarsely.</li> <li>Add all the ingredients into a food processor.</li> <li>Process all the ingredients into a paste.</li> <li>If you want a coarse "chunky" hummus, process it for a short time.</li> <li>If you want a smooth hummus, process it for a longer time.</li> </ol> </code></pre></div> <p>Since the last two bullets are very closely related to the one before them (they read like sub-instructions or choices that fit below that bullet), it might make sense to nest them inside their own unordered list and put that list inside the current fourth bullet. This would look like so:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><ol> <li>Remove the skin from the garlic, and chop coarsely.</li> <li>Remove all the seeds and stalk from the pepper, and chop coarsely.</li> <li>Add all the ingredients into a food processor.</li> <li> Process all the ingredients into a paste. <ul> <li> If you want a coarse "chunky" hummus, process it for a short time. </li> <li>If you want a smooth hummus, process it for a longer time.</li> </ul> </li> </ol> </code></pre></div> <p>Try going back to the previous active learning example and updating the second list like this.</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="emphasis_and_importance"><h2 id="emphasis_and_importance"><a href="#emphasis_and_importance">Emphasis and importance</a></h2><div class="section-content"><p>In human language, we often emphasize certain words to alter the meaning of a sentence, and we often want to mark certain words as important or different in some way. HTML provides various semantic elements to allow us to mark up textual content with such effects, and in this section, we'll look at a few of the most common ones.</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="emphasis"><h3 id="emphasis"><a href="#emphasis">Emphasis</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>When we want to add emphasis in spoken language, we <em>stress</em> certain words, subtly altering the meaning of what we are saying. Similarly, in written language we tend to stress words by putting them in italics. For example, the following two sentences have different meanings.</p> <blockquote> <p>I am glad you weren't late.</p> <p>I am <em>glad</em> you weren't <em>late</em>.</p> </blockquote> <p>The first sentence sounds genuinely relieved that the person wasn't late. In contrast, the second one, with both the words "glad" and "late" in italics, sounds sarcastic or passive-aggressive, expressing annoyance that the person arrived a bit late.</p> <p>In HTML we use the <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/em"><code><em></code></a> (emphasis) element to mark up such instances. As well as making the document more interesting to read, these are recognized by screen readers, which can be configured to speak them in a different tone of voice. Browsers style this as italic by default, but you shouldn't use this tag purely to get italic styling. To do that, you'd use a <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/span"><code><span></code></a> element and some CSS, or perhaps an <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/i"><code><i></code></a> element (see below).</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><p>I am <em>glad</em> you weren't <em>late</em>.</p> </code></pre></div></div></section><section aria-labelledby="strong_importance"><h3 id="strong_importance"><a href="#strong_importance">Strong importance</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>To emphasize important words, we tend to stress them in spoken language and <strong>bold</strong> them in written language. For example:</p> <blockquote> <p>This liquid is <strong>highly toxic</strong>.</p> <p>I am counting on you. <strong>Do not</strong> be late!</p> </blockquote> <p>In HTML we use the <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/strong"><code><strong></code></a> (strong importance) element to mark up such instances. As well as making the document more useful, again these are recognized by screen readers, which can be configured to speak them in a different tone of voice. Browsers style this as bold text by default, but you shouldn't use this tag purely to get bold styling. To do that, you'd use a <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/span"><code><span></code></a> element and some CSS, or perhaps a <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/b"><code><b></code></a> element (see below).</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><p>This liquid is <strong>highly toxic</strong>.</p> <p>I am counting on you. <strong>Do not</strong> be late!</p> </code></pre></div> <p>You can nest strong and emphasis inside one another if desired:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><p>This liquid is <strong>highly toxic</strong> — if you drink it, <strong>you may <em>die</em></strong>.</p> </code></pre></div><div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"></div><iframe class="sample-code-frame" title="Strong importance sample" id="frame_strong_importance" src="about:blank" data-live-path="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" data-live-id="strong_importance" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts" loading="lazy"></iframe></div></div></section><section aria-labelledby="active_learning_lets_be_important"><h3 id="active_learning_lets_be_important"><a href="#active_learning_lets_be_important">Active learning: Let's be important</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>In this active learning section, we've provided an editable example. Inside it, we'd like you to try adding emphasis and strong importance to the words you think need them, just to have some practice.</p> <div class="code-example"><pre class="brush: html hidden notranslate"><code><h2>Live output</h2> <div class="output" style="min-height: 50px;"></div> <h2>Editable code</h2> <p class="a11y-label"> Press Esc to move focus away from the code area (Tab inserts a tab character). </p> <textarea id="code" class="input" style="min-height: 200px; width: 95%"> <h1>Important notice</h1> <p>On Sunday January 9th 2010, a gang of goths were spotted stealing several garden gnomes from a shopping center in downtown Milwaukee. They were all wearing green jumpsuits and silly hats, and seemed to be having a whale of a time. If anyone has any information about this incident, please contact the police now.</p> </textarea> <div class="playable-buttons"> <input id="reset" type="button" value="Reset" /> <input id="solution" type="button" value="Show solution" /> </div> </code></pre></div> <div class="code-example"><pre class="brush: css hidden notranslate"><code>html { font-family: sans-serif; } h2 { font-size: 16px; } .a11y-label { margin: 0; text-align: right; font-size: 0.7rem; width: 98%; } body { margin: 10px; background: #f5f9fa; } </code></pre></div> <div class="code-example"><pre class="brush: js hidden notranslate"><code>const textarea = document.getElementById("code"); const reset = document.getElementById("reset"); const solution = document.getElementById("solution"); const output = document.querySelector(".output"); const code = textarea.value; let userEntry = textarea.value; function updateCode() { output.innerHTML = textarea.value; } const htmlSolution = "<h1>Important notice</h1>\n<p>On <strong>Sunday January 9th 2010</strong>, a gang of <em>goths</em> were spotted stealing <strong><em>several</em> garden gnomes</strong> from a shopping center in downtown <strong>Milwaukee</strong>. They were all wearing <em>green jumpsuits</em> and <em>silly hats</em>, and seemed to be having a whale of a time. If anyone has <strong>any</strong> information about this incident, please contact the police <strong>now</strong>.</p>"; let solutionEntry = htmlSolution; reset.addEventListener("click", () => { textarea.value = code; userEntry = textarea.value; solutionEntry = htmlSolution; solution.value = "Show solution"; updateCode(); }); solution.addEventListener("click", () => { if (solution.value === "Show solution") { textarea.value = solutionEntry; solution.value = "Hide solution"; } else { textarea.value = userEntry; solution.value = "Show solution"; } updateCode(); }); textarea.addEventListener("input", updateCode); window.addEventListener("load", updateCode); // Stop tab key tabbing out of textarea and // make it write a tab at the caret position instead textarea.onkeydown = (e) => { if (e.code === "Tab") { e.preventDefault(); insertAtCaret("\t"); } if (e.code === "Escape") { textarea.blur(); } }; function insertAtCaret(text) { const scrollPos = textarea.scrollTop; let caretPos = textarea.selectionStart; const front = textarea.value.substring(0, caretPos); const back = textarea.value.substring( textarea.selectionEnd, textarea.value.length, ); textarea.value = front + text + back; caretPos += text.length; textarea.selectionStart = caretPos; textarea.selectionEnd = caretPos; textarea.focus(); textarea.scrollTop = scrollPos; } // Update the saved userCode every time the user updates the text area code textarea.onkeyup = () => { // We only want to save the state when the user code is being shown, // not the solution, so that solution is not saved over the user code if (solution.value === "Show solution") { userEntry = textarea.value; } else { solutionEntry = textarea.value; } updateCode(); }; </code></pre></div><div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"></div><iframe class="sample-code-frame" title="Active learning Lets be important sample" id="frame_active_learning_lets_be_important" width="700" height="520" src="about:blank" data-live-path="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" data-live-id="active_learning_lets_be_important" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts" loading="lazy"></iframe></div></div></section><section aria-labelledby="italic_bold_underline…"><h3 id="italic_bold_underline…"><a href="#italic_bold_underline…">Italic, bold, underline…</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>The elements we've discussed so far have clear-cut associated semantics. The situation with <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/b"><code><b></code></a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/i"><code><i></code></a>, and <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/u"><code><u></code></a> is somewhat more complicated. They came about so people could write bold, italics, or underlined text in an era when CSS was still supported poorly or not at all. Elements like this, which only affect presentation and not semantics, are known as <strong>presentational elements</strong> and should no longer be used because, as we've seen before, semantics is so important to accessibility, SEO, etc.</p> <p>HTML5 redefined <code><b></code>, <code><i></code>, and <code><u></code> with new, somewhat confusing, semantic roles.</p> <p>Here's the best rule you can remember: It's only appropriate to use <code><b></code>, <code><i></code>, or <code><u></code> to convey a meaning traditionally conveyed with bold, italics, or underline when there isn't a more suitable element; and there usually is. Consider whether <code><strong></code>, <code><em></code>, <code><mark></code>, or <code><span></code> might be more appropriate.</p> <p>Always keep an accessibility mindset. The concept of italics isn't very helpful to people using screen readers, or to people using a writing system other than the Latin alphabet.</p> <ul> <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/i"><code><i></code></a> is used to convey a meaning traditionally conveyed by italic: foreign words, taxonomic designation, technical terms, a thought…</li> <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/b"><code><b></code></a> is used to convey a meaning traditionally conveyed by bold: keywords, product names, lead sentence…</li> <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/u"><code><u></code></a> is used to convey a meaning traditionally conveyed by underline: proper name, misspelling…</li> </ul> <div class="notecard note"> <p><strong>Note:</strong> People strongly associate underlining with hyperlinks. Therefore, on the web, it's best to only underline links. Use the <code><u></code> element when it's semantically appropriate, but consider using CSS to change the default underline to something more appropriate on the web. The example below illustrates how it can be done.</p> </div> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code> <p> The Ruby-throated Hummingbird (<i>Archilochus colubris</i>) is the most common hummingbird in Eastern North America. </p>  <p> The menu was a sea of exotic words like <i lang="uk-latn">vatrushka</i>, <i lang="id">nasi goreng</i> and <i lang="fr">soupe à l'oignon</i>. </p>  <p>Someday I'll learn how to <u class="spelling-error">spel</u> better.</p>  <dl> <dt>Semantic HTML</dt> <dd> Use the elements based on their <b>semantic</b> meaning, not their appearance. </dd> </dl> </code></pre></div><div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"></div><iframe class="sample-code-frame" title="Italic, bold, underline… sample" id="frame_italic_bold_underline…" width="100%" height="270" src="about:blank" data-live-path="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals" data-live-id="italic_bold_underline…" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts" loading="lazy"></iframe></div></div></section><section aria-labelledby="test_your_skills!"><h2 id="test_your_skills!"><a href="#test_your_skills!">Test your skills!</a></h2><div class="section-content"><p>You've reached the end of this article, but can you remember the most important information? You can find some further tests to verify that you've retained this information before you move on — see <a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Test_your_skills:_HTML_text_basics">Test your skills: HTML text basics</a>.</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="summary"><h2 id="summary"><a href="#summary">Summary</a></h2><div class="section-content"><p>That's it for now! This article should have given you a good idea of how to start marking up text in HTML and introduced you to some of the most important elements in this area. There are a lot more semantic elements to cover in this area, and we'll look at a lot more in our <a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Advanced_text_formatting">Advanced text formatting</a> article later on in the course. In the next article, we'll be looking in detail at how to <a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Creating_hyperlinks">create hyperlinks</a>, possibly the most important element on the web.</p><ul class="prev-next"> <li><a class="button secondary" href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/The_head_metadata_in_HTML"><span class="button-wrap"> Previous </span></a></li> <li><a class="button secondary" href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML"><span class="button-wrap"> Overview: Introduction to HTML</span></a></li> <li><a class="button secondary" href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Creating_hyperlinks"><span class="button-wrap"> Next </span></a></li> </ul></div></section></article><aside class="article-footer"><div class="article-footer-inner"><div class="svg-container"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="162" height="162" viewBox="0 0 162 162" fill="none" role="none"><mask id="b" fill="#fff"><path d="M97.203 47.04c8.113-7.886 18.004-13.871 28.906-17.492a78 78 0 0 1 33.969-3.39c11.443 1.39 22.401 5.295 32.024 11.411s17.656 14.28 23.476 23.86c5.819 9.579 9.269 20.318 10.083 31.385a69.85 69.85 0 0 1-5.387 32.44c-4.358 10.272-11.115 19.443-19.747 26.801-8.632 7.359-18.908 12.709-30.034 15.637l-6.17-21.698c7.666-2.017 14.746-5.703 20.694-10.773 5.948-5.071 10.603-11.389 13.606-18.467a48.14 48.14 0 0 0 3.712-22.352c-.561-7.625-2.938-15.025-6.948-21.625s-9.544-12.226-16.175-16.44-14.181-6.904-22.065-7.863a53.75 53.75 0 0 0-23.405 2.336c-7.513 2.495-14.327 6.62-19.918 12.053z"></path></mask><path stroke="url(#a)" stroke-dasharray="6, 6" stroke-width="2" d="M97.203 47.04c8.113-7.886 18.004-13.871 28.906-17.492a78 78 0 0 1 33.969-3.39c11.443 1.39 22.401 5.295 32.024 11.411s17.656 14.28 23.476 23.86c5.819 9.579 9.269 20.318 10.083 31.385a69.85 69.85 0 0 1-5.387 32.44c-4.358 10.272-11.115 19.443-19.747 26.801-8.632 7.359-18.908 12.709-30.034 15.637l-6.17-21.698c7.666-2.017 14.746-5.703 20.694-10.773 5.948-5.071 10.603-11.389 13.606-18.467a48.14 48.14 0 0 0 3.712-22.352c-.561-7.625-2.938-15.025-6.948-21.625s-9.544-12.226-16.175-16.44-14.181-6.904-22.065-7.863a53.75 53.75 0 0 0-23.405 2.336c-7.513 2.495-14.327 6.62-19.918 12.053z" mask="url(#b)" style="stroke:url(#a)" transform="translate(-63.992 -25.587)"></path><ellipse cx="8.066" cy="111.597" fill="var(--background-tertiary)" rx="53.677" ry="53.699" transform="matrix(.71707 -.697 .7243 .6895 0 0)"></ellipse><g clip-path="url(#c)" transform="translate(-63.992 -25.587)"><path fill="#9abff5" d="m144.256 137.379 32.906 12.434a4.41 4.41 0 0 1 2.559 5.667l-9.326 24.679a4.41 4.41 0 0 1-5.667 2.559l-8.226-3.108-2.332 6.17c-.466 1.233-.375 1.883-1.609 1.417l-2.253-.527c-.411-.155-.95-.594-1.206-1.161l-4.734-10.484-12.545-4.741a4.41 4.41 0 0 1-2.559-5.667l9.325-24.679a4.41 4.41 0 0 1 5.667-2.559m9.961 29.617 8.227 3.108 3.264-8.638-.498-6.768-4.113-1.555.548 7.258-4.319-1.632zm-12.339-4.663 8.226 3.108 3.264-8.637-.498-6.769-4.113-1.554.548 7.257-4.319-1.632z"></path></g><g clip-path="url(#d)" transform="translate(-63.992 -25.587)"><path fill="#81b0f3" d="M135.35 60.136 86.67 41.654c-3.346-1.27-7.124.428-8.394 3.775L64.414 81.938c-1.27 3.347.428 7.125 3.774 8.395l12.17 4.62-3.465 9.128c-.693 1.826-1.432 2.457.394 3.15l3.014 1.625c.609.231 1.637.274 2.477-.104l15.53-6.983 18.56 7.047c3.346 1.27 7.124-.428 8.395-3.775l13.862-36.51c1.27-3.346-.428-7.124-3.775-8.395M95.261 83.207l-12.17-4.62 4.852-12.779 7.19-7.017 6.085 2.31-7.725 7.51 6.389 2.426zm18.255 6.93-12.17-4.62 4.852-12.778 7.189-7.017 6.085 2.31-7.725 7.51 6.39 2.426z"></path></g><defs><clipPath id="c"><path fill="#fff" d="m198.638 146.586-65.056-24.583-24.583 65.057 65.056 24.582z"></path></clipPath><clipPath id="d"><path fill="#fff" d="m66.438 14.055 96.242 36.54-36.54 96.243-96.243-36.54z"></path></clipPath><linearGradient id="a" x1="97.203" x2="199.995" y1="47.04" y2="152.793" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"><stop stop-color="#086DFC"></stop><stop offset="0.246" stop-color="#2C81FA"></stop><stop offset="0.516" stop-color="#5497F8"></stop><stop offset="0.821" stop-color="#80B0F6"></stop><stop offset="1" stop-color="#9ABFF5"></stop></linearGradient></defs></svg></div><h2>Help improve MDN</h2><fieldset class="feedback"><label>Was this page helpful to you?</label><div class="button-container"><button type="button" class="button primary has-icon yes"><span class="button-wrap"><span class="icon icon-thumbs-up "></span>Yes</span></button><button type="button" class="button primary has-icon no"><span class="button-wrap"><span class="icon icon-thumbs-down "></span>No</span></button></div></fieldset><a class="contribute" href="https://github.com/mdn/content/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md" title="This will take you to our contribution guidelines on GitHub." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Learn how to contribute</a>.<p class="last-modified-date">This page was last modified on <time dateTime="2024-10-25T00:08:46.000Z">Oct 25, 2024</time> by <a href="/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals/contributors.txt" rel="nofollow">MDN contributors</a>.</p><div id="on-github" class="on-github"><a href="https://github.com/mdn/content/blob/main/files/en-us/learn/html/introduction_to_html/html_text_fundamentals/index.md?plain=1" title="Folder: en-us/learn/html/introduction_to_html/html_text_fundamentals (Opens in a new tab)" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">View this page on GitHub</a> • <a href="https://github.com/mdn/content/issues/new?template=page-report.yml&mdn-url=https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.mozilla.org%2Fen-US%2Fdocs%2FLearn%2FHTML%2FIntroduction_to_HTML%2FHTML_text_fundamentals&metadata=%3C%21--+Do+not+make+changes+below+this+line+--%3E%0A%3Cdetails%3E%0A%3Csummary%3EPage+report+details%3C%2Fsummary%3E%0A%0A*+Folder%3A+%60en-us%2Flearn%2Fhtml%2Fintroduction_to_html%2Fhtml_text_fundamentals%60%0A*+MDN+URL%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fdeveloper.mozilla.org%2Fen-US%2Fdocs%2FLearn%2FHTML%2FIntroduction_to_HTML%2FHTML_text_fundamentals%0A*+GitHub+URL%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fmdn%2Fcontent%2Fblob%2Fmain%2Ffiles%2Fen-us%2Flearn%2Fhtml%2Fintroduction_to_html%2Fhtml_text_fundamentals%2Findex.md%0A*+Last+commit%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fmdn%2Fcontent%2Fcommit%2Fbaac7f2a43813a7930ff97b11d9c38b413f97c78%0A*+Document+last+modified%3A+2024-10-25T00%3A08%3A46.000Z%0A%0A%3C%2Fdetails%3E" title="This will take you to GitHub to file a new issue." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Report a problem with this content</a></div></div></aside></main></div></div><footer id="nav-footer" class="page-footer"><div class="page-footer-grid"><div class="page-footer-logo-col"><a href="/" class="mdn-footer-logo" aria-label="MDN homepage"><svg width="48" height="17" viewBox="0 0 48 17" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><title id="mdn-footer-logo-svg">MDN logo</title><path d="M20.04 16.512H15.504V10.416C15.504 9.488 15.344 8.824 15.024 8.424C14.72 8.024 14.264 7.824 13.656 7.824C12.92 7.824 12.384 8.064 12.048 8.544C11.728 9.024 11.568 9.64 11.568 10.392V14.184H13.008V16.512H8.472V10.416C8.472 9.488 8.312 8.824 7.992 8.424C7.688 8.024 7.232 7.824 6.624 7.824C5.872 7.824 5.336 8.064 5.016 8.544C4.696 9.024 4.536 9.64 4.536 10.392V14.184H6.6V16.512H0V14.184H1.44V8.04H0.024V5.688H4.536V7.32C5.224 6.088 6.32 5.472 7.824 5.472C8.608 5.472 9.328 5.664 9.984 6.048C10.64 6.432 11.096 7.016 11.352 7.8C11.992 6.248 13.168 5.472 14.88 5.472C15.856 5.472 16.72 5.776 17.472 6.384C18.224 6.992 18.6 7.936 18.6 9.216V14.184H20.04V16.512Z" fill="currentColor"></path><path d="M33.6714 16.512H29.1354V14.496C28.8314 15.12 28.3834 15.656 27.7914 16.104C27.1994 16.536 26.4154 16.752 25.4394 16.752C24.0154 16.752 22.8954 16.264 22.0794 15.288C21.2634 14.312 20.8554 12.984 20.8554 11.304C20.8554 9.688 21.2554 8.312 22.0554 7.176C22.8554 6.04 24.0634 5.472 25.6794 5.472C26.5594 5.472 27.2794 5.648 27.8394 6C28.3994 6.352 28.8314 6.8 29.1354 7.344V2.352H26.9754V0H32.2314V14.184H33.6714V16.512ZM29.1354 11.04V10.776C29.1354 9.88 28.8954 9.184 28.4154 8.688C27.9514 8.176 27.3674 7.92 26.6634 7.92C25.9754 7.92 25.3674 8.176 24.8394 8.688C24.3274 9.2 24.0714 10.008 24.0714 11.112C24.0714 12.152 24.3114 12.944 24.7914 13.488C25.2714 14.032 25.8394 14.304 26.4954 14.304C27.3114 14.304 27.9514 13.96 28.4154 13.272C28.8954 12.584 29.1354 11.84 29.1354 11.04Z" fill="currentColor"></path><path d="M47.9589 16.512H41.9829V14.184H43.4229V10.416C43.4229 9.488 43.2629 8.824 42.9429 8.424C42.6389 8.024 42.1829 7.824 41.5749 7.824C40.8389 7.824 40.2709 8.056 39.8709 8.52C39.4709 8.968 39.2629 9.56 39.2469 10.296V14.184H40.6869V16.512H34.7109V14.184H36.1509V8.04H34.5909V5.688H39.2469V7.344C39.9669 6.096 41.1269 5.472 42.7269 5.472C43.7509 5.472 44.6389 5.776 45.3909 6.384C46.1429 6.992 46.5189 7.936 46.5189 9.216V14.184H47.9589V16.512Z" fill="currentColor"></path></svg></a><p>Your blueprint for a better internet.</p><ul class="social-icons"><li><a href="https://mozilla.social/@mdn" target="_blank" rel="me noopener noreferrer"><span class="icon icon-mastodon"></span><span class="visually-hidden">MDN on Mastodon</span></a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/mozdevnet" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span class="icon icon-twitter-x"></span><span class="visually-hidden">MDN on X (formerly Twitter)</span></a></li><li><a href="https://github.com/mdn/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span class="icon icon-github-mark-small"></span><span class="visually-hidden">MDN on GitHub</span></a></li><li><a href="/en-US/blog/rss.xml" target="_blank"><span class="icon icon-feed"></span><span class="visually-hidden">MDN Blog RSS Feed</span></a></li></ul></div><div class="page-footer-nav-col-1"><h2 class="footer-nav-heading">MDN</h2><ul class="footer-nav-list"><li class="footer-nav-item"><a href="/en-US/about">About</a></li><li class="footer-nav-item"><a href="/en-US/blog/">Blog</a></li><li class="footer-nav-item"><a href="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/careers/listings/?team=ProdOps" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Careers</a></li><li class="footer-nav-item"><a href="/en-US/advertising">Advertise with us</a></li></ul></div><div class="page-footer-nav-col-2"><h2 class="footer-nav-heading">Support</h2><ul class="footer-nav-list"><li class="footer-nav-item"><a class="footer-nav-link" href="https://support.mozilla.org/products/mdn-plus">Product help</a></li><li class="footer-nav-item"><a class="footer-nav-link" href="/en-US/docs/MDN/Community/Issues">Report an issue</a></li></ul></div><div class="page-footer-nav-col-3"><h2 class="footer-nav-heading">Our communities</h2><ul class="footer-nav-list"><li class="footer-nav-item"><a class="footer-nav-link" href="/en-US/community">MDN Community</a></li><li class="footer-nav-item"><a class="footer-nav-link" href="https://discourse.mozilla.org/c/mdn/236" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MDN Forum</a></li><li class="footer-nav-item"><a class="footer-nav-link" href="/discord" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MDN Chat</a></li></ul></div><div class="page-footer-nav-col-4"><h2 class="footer-nav-heading">Developers</h2><ul class="footer-nav-list"><li class="footer-nav-item"><a class="footer-nav-link" href="/en-US/docs/Web">Web Technologies</a></li><li class="footer-nav-item"><a class="footer-nav-link" href="/en-US/docs/Learn">Learn Web Development</a></li><li class="footer-nav-item"><a class="footer-nav-link" href="/en-US/plus">MDN Plus</a></li><li class="footer-nav-item"><a href="https://hacks.mozilla.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hacks Blog</a></li></ul></div><div class="page-footer-moz"><a href="https://www.mozilla.org/" class="footer-moz-logo-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><svg width="112" height="32" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><title id="mozilla-footer-logo-svg">Mozilla logo</title><path d="M41.753 14.218c-2.048 0-3.324 1.522-3.324 4.157 0 2.423 1.119 4.286 3.29 4.286 2.082 0 3.447-1.678 3.447-4.347 0-2.826-1.522-4.096-3.413-4.096Zm54.89 7.044c0 .901.437 1.618 1.645 1.618 1.427 0 2.949-1.024 3.044-3.352-.649-.095-1.365-.185-2.02-.185-1.426-.005-2.668.397-2.668 1.92Z" fill="currentColor"></path><path d="M0 0v32h111.908V0H0Zm32.56 25.426h-5.87v-7.884c0-2.423-.806-3.352-2.39-3.352-1.924 0-2.702 1.365-2.702 3.324v4.868h1.864v3.044h-5.864v-7.884c0-2.423-.806-3.352-2.39-3.352-1.924 0-2.702 1.365-2.702 3.324v4.868h2.669v3.044H6.642v-3.044h1.863v-7.918H6.642V11.42h5.864v2.11c.839-1.489 2.3-2.39 4.252-2.39 2.02 0 3.878.963 4.566 3.01.778-1.862 2.361-3.01 4.566-3.01 2.512 0 4.812 1.522 4.812 4.84v6.402h1.863v3.044h-.005Zm9.036.307c-4.314 0-7.296-2.635-7.296-7.106 0-4.096 2.484-7.481 7.514-7.481s7.481 3.38 7.481 7.29c0 4.472-3.228 7.297-7.699 7.297Zm22.578-.307H51.942l-.403-2.11 7.7-8.846h-4.376l-.621 2.17-2.888-.313.498-4.907h12.294l.313 2.11-7.767 8.852h4.533l.654-2.172 3.167.308-.872 4.908Zm7.99 0h-4.191v-5.03h4.19v5.03Zm0-8.976h-4.191v-5.03h4.19v5.03Zm2.618 8.976 6.054-21.358h3.945l-6.054 21.358h-3.945Zm8.136 0 6.048-21.358h3.945l-6.054 21.358h-3.939Zm21.486.307c-1.863 0-2.887-1.085-3.072-2.792-.805 1.427-2.232 2.792-4.498 2.792-2.02 0-4.314-1.085-4.314-4.006 0-3.447 3.323-4.253 6.518-4.253.778 0 1.584.034 2.3.124v-.465c0-1.427-.034-3.133-2.3-3.133-.84 0-1.488.061-2.143.402l-.453 1.578-3.195-.34.549-3.224c2.45-.996 3.692-1.27 5.992-1.27 3.01 0 5.556 1.55 5.556 4.75v6.083c0 .805.314 1.085.963 1.085.184 0 .375-.034.587-.095l.034 2.11a5.432 5.432 0 0 1-2.524.654Z" fill="currentColor"></path></svg></a><ul class="footer-moz-list"><li class="footer-moz-item"><a href="https://www.mozilla.org/privacy/websites/" class="footer-moz-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Website Privacy Notice</a></li><li class="footer-moz-item"><a href="https://www.mozilla.org/privacy/websites/#cookies" class="footer-moz-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cookies</a></li><li class="footer-moz-item"><a href="https://www.mozilla.org/about/legal/terms/mozilla" class="footer-moz-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Legal</a></li><li class="footer-moz-item"><a href="https://www.mozilla.org/about/governance/policies/participation/" class="footer-moz-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Community Participation Guidelines</a></li></ul></div><div class="page-footer-legal"><p id="license" class="page-footer-legal-text">Visit <a href="https://www.mozilla.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mozilla Corporation’s</a> not-for-profit parent, the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://foundation.mozilla.org/">Mozilla Foundation</a>.<br/>Portions of this content are ©1998–2024 by individual mozilla.org contributors. Content available under <a href="/en-US/docs/MDN/Writing_guidelines/Attrib_copyright_license">a Creative Commons license</a>.</p></div></div></footer></div><script type="application/json" id="hydration">{"url":"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals","doc":{"isMarkdown":true,"isTranslated":false,"isActive":true,"flaws":{},"title":"HTML text fundamentals","mdn_url":"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals","locale":"en-US","native":"English (US)","sidebarHTML":"<ol><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web\">Complete beginners start here!</a></li><li><details><summary>Getting started with the web</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web\">Getting started with the web</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/Installing_basic_software\">Installing basic software</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/What_will_your_website_look_like\">What will your website look like?</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/Dealing_with_files\">Dealing with files</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/HTML_basics\">HTML basics</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/CSS_basics\">CSS basics</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/JavaScript_basics\">JavaScript basics</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/Publishing_your_website\">Publishing your website</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/How_the_Web_works\">How the web works</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML\">HTML — Structuring the web</a></li><li><details open=\"\"><summary>Introduction to HTML</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML\">Introduction to HTML</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Getting_started\">Getting started with HTML</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/The_head_metadata_in_HTML\">What's in the head? Metadata in HTML</a></li><li><em><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals\" aria-current=\"page\">HTML text fundamentals</a></em></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Creating_hyperlinks\">Creating hyperlinks</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Advanced_text_formatting\">Advanced text formatting</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Document_and_website_structure\">Document and website structure</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Debugging_HTML\">Debugging HTML</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Marking_up_a_letter\">Marking up a letter</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Structuring_a_page_of_content\">Structuring a page of content</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Multimedia and embedding</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding\">Multimedia and embedding</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/Images_in_HTML\">Images in HTML</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/Video_and_audio_content\">Video and audio content</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/Other_embedding_technologies\">From object to iframe — other embedding technologies</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/Adding_vector_graphics_to_the_Web\">Adding vector graphics to the web</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/Responsive_images\">Responsive images</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/Mozilla_splash_page\">Mozilla splash page</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>HTML tables</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Tables\">HTML tables</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Tables/Basics\">HTML table basics</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Tables/Advanced\">HTML table advanced features and accessibility</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Tables/Structuring_planet_data\">Structuring planet data</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS\">CSS — Styling the web</a></li><li><details><summary>CSS first steps</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/First_steps\">CSS first steps</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/First_steps/What_is_CSS\">What is CSS?</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/First_steps/Getting_started\">Getting started with CSS</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/First_steps/How_CSS_is_structured\">How CSS is structured</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/First_steps/How_CSS_works\">How CSS works</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/First_steps/Styling_a_biography_page\">Styling a biography page</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>CSS building blocks</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks\">CSS building blocks</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Selectors\">CSS selectors</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Selectors/Type_Class_and_ID_Selectors\">Type, class, and ID selectors</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Selectors/Attribute_selectors\">Attribute selectors</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Selectors/Pseudo-classes_and_pseudo-elements\">Pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Selectors/Combinators\">Combinators</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Cascade_and_inheritance\">Cascade, specificity, and inheritance</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Cascade_layers\">Cascade layers</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/The_box_model\">The box model</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Backgrounds_and_borders\">Backgrounds and borders</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Handling_different_text_directions\">Handling different text directions</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Overflowing_content\">Overflowing content</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Values_and_units\">CSS values and units</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Sizing_items_in_CSS\">Sizing items in CSS</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Images_media_form_elements\">Images, media, and form elements</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Styling_tables\">Styling tables</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Advanced_styling_effects\">Advanced styling effects</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Debugging_CSS\">Debugging CSS</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Organizing\">Organizing your CSS</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Fundamental_CSS_comprehension\">Fundamental CSS comprehension</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/Creating_fancy_letterheaded_paper\">Creating fancy letterheaded paper</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Building_blocks/A_cool_looking_box\">A cool-looking box</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Styling text</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Styling_text\">CSS styling text</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Styling_text/Fundamentals\">Fundamental text and font styling</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Styling_text/Styling_lists\">Styling lists</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Styling_text/Styling_links\">Styling links</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Styling_text/Web_fonts\">Web fonts</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Styling_text/Typesetting_a_homepage\">Typesetting a community school homepage</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>CSS layout</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout\">CSS layout</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Introduction\">Introduction to CSS layout</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Normal_Flow\">Normal Flow</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Flexbox\">Flexbox</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Grids\">Grids</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Floats\">Floats</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Positioning\">Positioning</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Multiple-column_Layout\">Multiple-column layout</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Responsive_Design\">Responsive design</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Media_queries\">Beginner's guide to media queries</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Legacy_Layout_Methods\">Legacy layout methods</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Supporting_Older_Browsers\">Supporting older browsers</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Fundamental_Layout_Comprehension\">Fundamental layout comprehension</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript\">JavaScript — Dynamic client-side scripting</a></li><li><details><summary>JavaScript first steps</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps\">JavaScript first steps</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/What_is_JavaScript\">What is JavaScript?</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/A_first_splash\">A first splash into JavaScript</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/What_went_wrong\">What went wrong? Troubleshooting JavaScript</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/Variables\">Storing the information you need — Variables</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/Math\">Basic math in JavaScript — numbers and operators</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/Strings\">Handling text — strings in JavaScript</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/Useful_string_methods\">Useful string methods</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/Arrays\">Arrays</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/First_steps/Silly_story_generator\">Silly story generator</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>JavaScript building blocks</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks\">JavaScript building blocks</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/conditionals\">Making decisions in your code — conditionals</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/Looping_code\">Looping code</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/Functions\">Functions — reusable blocks of code</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/Build_your_own_function\">Build your own function</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/Return_values\">Function return values</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/Events\">Introduction to events</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/Event_bubbling\">Event bubbling</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Building_blocks/Image_gallery\">Image gallery</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Introducing JavaScript objects</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects\">Introducing JavaScript objects</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects/Basics\">JavaScript object basics</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects/Object_prototypes\">Object prototypes</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects/Object-oriented_programming\">Object-oriented programming</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects/Classes_in_JavaScript\">Classes in JavaScript</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects/JSON\">Working with JSON</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects/Object_building_practice\">Object building practice</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Objects/Adding_bouncing_balls_features\">Adding features to our bouncing balls demo</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Asynchronous JavaScript</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Asynchronous\">Asynchronous JavaScript</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Asynchronous/Introducing\">Introducing asynchronous JavaScript</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Asynchronous/Promises\">How to use promises</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Asynchronous/Implementing_a_promise-based_API\">How to implement a promise-based API</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Asynchronous/Introducing_workers\">Introducing workers</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Asynchronous/Sequencing_animations\">Sequencing animations</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Client-side web APIs</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs\">Client-side web APIs</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs/Introduction\">Introduction to web APIs</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs/Manipulating_documents\">Manipulating documents</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs/Fetching_data\">Fetching data from the server</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs/Third_party_APIs\">Third-party APIs</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs/Drawing_graphics\">Drawing graphics</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs/Video_and_audio_APIs\">Video and Audio APIs</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Client-side_web_APIs/Client-side_storage\">Client-side storage</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms\">Web forms — Working with user data</a></li><li><details><summary>Web form building blocks</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms\">Web form building blocks</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Your_first_form\">Your first form</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/How_to_structure_a_web_form\">How to structure a web form</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Basic_native_form_controls\">Basic native form controls</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/HTML5_input_types\">The HTML5 input types</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Other_form_controls\">Other form controls</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Styling_web_forms\">Styling web forms</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Advanced_form_styling\">Advanced form styling</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/UI_pseudo-classes\">UI pseudo-classes</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Form_validation\">Client-side form validation</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Sending_and_retrieving_form_data\">Sending form data</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Advanced web form techniques</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/How_to_build_custom_form_controls\">How to build custom form controls</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Sending_forms_through_JavaScript\">Sending forms through JavaScript</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/Property_compatibility_table_for_form_controls\">CSS property compatibility table for form controls</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Forms/HTML_forms_in_legacy_browsers\">HTML forms in legacy browsers</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility\">Accessibility — Make the web usable by everyone</a></li><li><details><summary>Accessibility guides</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility\">Accessibility</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility/What_is_accessibility\">What is accessibility?</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility/HTML\">HTML: A good basis for accessibility</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility/CSS_and_JavaScript\">CSS and JavaScript accessibility best practices</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility/WAI-ARIA_basics\">WAI-ARIA basics</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility/Multimedia\">Accessible multimedia</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility/Mobile\">Mobile accessibility</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Accessibility/Accessibility_troubleshooting\">Assessment: Accessibility troubleshooting</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance\">Performance — Making websites fast and responsive</a></li><li><details><summary>Performance guides</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance\">Web performance</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/why_web_performance\">The \"why\" of web performance</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/What_is_web_performance\">What is web performance?</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/Perceived_performance\">Perceived performance</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/Measuring_performance\">Measuring performance</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/Multimedia\">Multimedia: Images</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/video\">Multimedia: video</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/JavaScript\">JavaScript performance optimization</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/HTML\">HTML performance optimization</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/CSS\">CSS performance optimization</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance/business_case_for_performance\">The business case for web performance</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML\">MathML — Writing mathematics with MathML</a></li><li><details><summary>MathML first steps</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML/First_steps\">MathML first steps</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML/First_steps/Getting_started\">Getting started with MathML</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML/First_steps/Text_containers\">MathML Text Containers</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML/First_steps/Fractions_and_roots\">MathML fractions and roots</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML/First_steps/Scripts\">MathML scripted elements</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML/First_steps/Tables\">MathML tables</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/MathML/First_steps/Three_famous_mathematical_formulas\">Three famous mathematical formulas</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/../Games\">Games — Developing games for the web</a></li><li><details><summary>Guides and tutorials</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Games/Introduction\">Introduction to game development for the Web</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Games/Techniques\">Techniques for game development</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Games/Tutorials\">Tutorials</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Games/Publishing_games\">Publishing games</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing\">Tools and testing</a></li><li><details><summary>Client-side web development tools</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Understanding_client-side_tools\">Understanding client-side web development tools</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Understanding_client-side_tools/Overview\">Client-side tooling overview</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Understanding_client-side_tools/Command_line\">Command line crash course</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Understanding_client-side_tools/Package_management\">Package management basics</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Understanding_client-side_tools/Introducing_complete_toolchain\">Introducing a complete toolchain</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Understanding_client-side_tools/Deployment\">Deploying our app</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Introduction to client-side frameworks</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Introduction\">Introduction to client-side frameworks</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Main_features\">Framework main features</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>React</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/React_getting_started\">Getting started with React</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/React_todo_list_beginning\">Beginning our React todo list</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/React_components\">Componentizing our React app</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/React_interactivity_events_state\">React interactivity: Events and state</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/React_interactivity_filtering_conditional_rendering\">React interactivity: Editing, filtering, conditional rendering</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/React_accessibility\">Accessibility in React</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/React_resources\">React resources</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Ember</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Ember_getting_started\">Getting started with Ember</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Ember_structure_componentization\">Ember app structure and componentization</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Ember_interactivity_events_state\">Ember interactivity: Events, classes and state</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Ember_conditional_footer\">Ember Interactivity: Footer functionality, conditional rendering</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Ember_routing\">Routing in Ember</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Ember_resources\">Ember resources and troubleshooting</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Vue</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_getting_started\">Getting started with Vue</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_first_component\">Creating our first Vue component</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_rendering_lists\">Rendering a list of Vue components</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_methods_events_models\">Adding a new todo form: Vue events, methods, and models</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_styling\">Styling Vue components with CSS</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_computed_properties\">Using Vue computed properties</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_conditional_rendering\">Vue conditional rendering: editing existing todos</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_refs_focus_management\">Vue refs and lifecycle methods for focus management</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Vue_resources\">Vue resources</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Svelte</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_getting_started\">Getting started with Svelte</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_Todo_list_beginning\">Starting our Svelte to-do list app</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_variables_props\">Dynamic behavior in Svelte: working with variables and props</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_components\">Componentizing our Svelte app</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_reactivity_lifecycle_accessibility\">Advanced Svelte: Reactivity, lifecycle, accessibility</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_stores\">Working with Svelte stores</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_TypeScript\">TypeScript support in Svelte</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Svelte_deployment_next\">Deployment and next steps</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Angular</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Angular_getting_started\">Getting started with Angular</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Angular_todo_list_beginning\">Beginning our Angular todo list app</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Angular_styling\">Styling our Angular app</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Angular_item_component\">Creating an item component</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Angular_filtering\">Filtering our to-do items</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Client-side_JavaScript_frameworks/Angular_building\">Building Angular applications and further resources</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Git and GitHub</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/GitHub\">Git and GitHub</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Cross browser testing</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing\">Cross browser testing</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/Introduction\">Introduction to cross-browser testing</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/Testing_strategies\">Strategies for carrying out testing</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/HTML_and_CSS\">Handling common HTML and CSS problems</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/JavaScript\">Handling common JavaScript problems</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/Accessibility\">Handling common accessibility problems</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/Feature_detection\">Implementing feature detection</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/Automated_testing\">Introduction to automated testing</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/Your_own_automation_environment\">Setting up your own test automation environment</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side\">Server-side website programming</a></li><li><details><summary>First steps</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/First_steps\">Server-side website programming first steps</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/First_steps/Introduction\">Introduction to the server side</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/First_steps/Client-Server_overview\">Client-Server Overview</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/First_steps/Web_frameworks\">Server-side web frameworks</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/First_steps/Website_security\">Website security</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Django web framework (Python)</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django\">Django Web Framework (Python)</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Introduction\">Django introduction</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/development_environment\">Setting up a Django development environment</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Tutorial_local_library_website\">Django Tutorial: The Local Library website</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/skeleton_website\">Django Tutorial Part 2: Creating a skeleton website</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Models\">Django Tutorial Part 3: Using models</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Admin_site\">Django Tutorial Part 4: Django admin site</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Home_page\">Django Tutorial Part 5: Creating our home page</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Generic_views\">Django Tutorial Part 6: Generic list and detail views</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Sessions\">Django Tutorial Part 7: Sessions framework</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Authentication\">Django Tutorial Part 8: User authentication and permissions</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Forms\">Django Tutorial Part 9: Working with forms</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Testing\">Django Tutorial Part 10: Testing a Django web application</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/Deployment\">Django Tutorial Part 11: Deploying Django to production</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/web_application_security\">Django web application security</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Django/django_assessment_blog\">Assessment: DIY Django mini blog</a></li></ol></details></li><li><details><summary>Express Web Framework (Node.js/JavaScript)</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs\">Express web framework (Node.js/JavaScript)</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/Introduction\">Express/Node introduction</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/development_environment\">Setting up a Node development environment</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/Tutorial_local_library_website\">Express Tutorial: The Local Library website</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/skeleton_website\">Express Tutorial Part 2: Creating a skeleton website</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/mongoose\">Express Tutorial Part 3: Using a Database (with Mongoose)</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/routes\">Express Tutorial Part 4: Routes and controllers</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/Displaying_data\">Express Tutorial Part 5: Displaying library data</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/forms\">Express Tutorial Part 6: Working with forms</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/deployment\">Express Tutorial Part 7: Deploying to production</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Common_questions\">Further resources</a></li><li><details><summary>Common questions</summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Common_questions\">Common questions</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Howto\">Use HTML to solve common problems</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Howto\">Use CSS to solve common problems</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/JavaScript/Howto\">Solve common problems in your JavaScript code</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Common_questions/Web_mechanics\">Web mechanics</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Common_questions/Tools_and_setup\">Tools and setup</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/Common_questions/Design_and_accessibility\">Design and accessibility</a></li></ol></details></li></ol>","sidebarMacro":"LearnSidebar","body":[{"type":"prose","value":{"id":null,"title":null,"isH3":false,"content":"<ul class=\"prev-next\">\n <li><a class=\"button secondary\" href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/The_head_metadata_in_HTML\"><span class=\"button-wrap\"> Previous </span></a></li>\n <li><a class=\"button secondary\" href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML\"><span class=\"button-wrap\"> Overview: Introduction to HTML</span></a></li>\n <li><a class=\"button secondary\" href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Creating_hyperlinks\"><span class=\"button-wrap\"> Next </span></a></li>\n</ul>\n<p>One of HTML's main jobs is to give text structure so that a browser can display an HTML document the way its developer intends. This article explains the way <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Glossary/HTML\">HTML</a> can be used to structure a page of text by adding headings and paragraphs, emphasizing words, creating lists, and more.</p>\n<figure class=\"table-container\"><table>\n <tbody>\n <tr>\n <th scope=\"row\">Prerequisites:</th>\n <td>\n Basic HTML familiarity, as covered in\n <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Getting_started\">Getting started with HTML</a>.\n </td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <th scope=\"row\">Objective:</th>\n <td>\n Learn how to mark up a basic page of text to give it structure and\n meaning — including paragraphs, headings, lists, emphasis, and quotations.\n </td>\n </tr>\n </tbody>\n</table></figure>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"the_basics_headings_and_paragraphs","title":"The basics: headings and paragraphs","isH3":false,"content":"<p>Most structured text consists of headings and paragraphs, whether you are reading a story, a newspaper, a college textbook, a magazine, etc.</p>\n<p>\n <img src=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals/newspaper_small.jpg\" alt=\"An example of a newspaper front cover, showing use of a top level heading, subheadings and paragraphs.\" width=\"600\" height=\"376\" loading=\"lazy\">\n</p>\n<p>Structured content makes the reading experience easier and more enjoyable.</p>\n<p>In HTML, each paragraph has to be wrapped in a <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/p\"><code><p></code></a> element, like so:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><p>I am a paragraph, oh yes I am.</p>\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>Each heading has to be wrapped in a heading element:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><h1>I am the title of the story.</h1>\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>There are six heading elements: <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Heading_Elements\">h1</a>, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Heading_Elements\">h2</a>, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Heading_Elements\">h3</a>, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Heading_Elements\">h4</a>, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Heading_Elements\">h5</a>, and <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Heading_Elements\">h6</a>. Each element represents a different level of content in the document; <code><h1></code> represents the main heading, <code><h2></code> represents subheadings, <code><h3></code> represents sub-subheadings, and so on.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"implementing_structural_hierarchy","title":"Implementing structural hierarchy","isH3":true,"content":"<p>For example, in this story, the <code><h1></code> element represents the title of the story, the <code><h2></code> elements represent the title of each chapter, and the <code><h3></code> elements represent subsections of each chapter:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><h1>The Crushing Bore</h1>\n\n<p>By Chris Mills</p>\n\n<h2>Chapter 1: The dark night</h2>\n\n<p>\n It was a dark night. Somewhere, an owl hooted. The rain lashed down on the…\n</p>\n\n<h2>Chapter 2: The eternal silence</h2>\n\n<p>Our protagonist could not so much as a whisper out of the shadowy figure…</p>\n\n<h3>The specter speaks</h3>\n\n<p>\n Several more hours had passed, when all of a sudden the specter sat bolt\n upright and exclaimed, \"Please have mercy on my soul!\"\n</p>\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>It's really up to you what the elements involved represent, as long as the hierarchy makes sense. You just need to bear in mind a few best practices as you create such structures:</p>\n<ul>\n <li>Preferably, you should use a single <code><h1></code> per page—this is the top level heading, and all others sit below this in the hierarchy.</li>\n <li>Make sure you use the headings in the correct order in the hierarchy. Don't use <code><h3></code> elements to represent subheadings, followed by <code><h2></code> elements to represent sub-subheadings—that doesn't make sense and will lead to weird results.</li>\n <li>Of the six heading levels available, you should aim to use no more than three per page, unless you feel it is necessary. Documents with many levels (for example, a deep heading hierarchy) become unwieldy and difficult to navigate. On such occasions, it is advisable to spread the content over multiple pages if possible.</li>\n</ul>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"why_do_we_need_structure","title":"Why do we need structure?","isH3":true,"content":"<p>To answer this question, let's take a look at <a href=\"https://github.com/mdn/learning-area/blob/main/html/introduction-to-html/html-text-formatting/text-start.html\" class=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">text-start.html</a>—the starting point of our running example for this article (a nice hummus recipe). You should save a copy of this file on your local machine, as you'll need it for the exercises later on. This document's body currently contains multiple pieces of content. They aren't marked up in any way, but they are separated with line breaks (Enter/Return pressed to go onto the next line).</p>\n<p>However, when you open the document in your browser, you'll see that the text appears as a big chunk!</p>\n<p>\n <img src=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals/screen_shot_2017-03-29_at_09.20.35.png\" alt=\"A webpage that shows a wall of unformatted text, because there are no elements on the page to structure it.\" width=\"600\" height=\"377\" loading=\"lazy\">\n</p>\n<p>This is because there are no elements to give the content structure, so the browser does not know what is a heading and what is a paragraph. Furthermore:</p>\n<ul>\n <li>Users looking at a web page tend to scan quickly to find relevant content, often just reading the headings, to begin with. (We usually <a href=\"https://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-long-do-users-stay-on-web-pages/\" class=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">spend a very short time on a web page</a>.) If they can't see anything useful within a few seconds, they'll likely get frustrated and go somewhere else.</li>\n <li>Search engines indexing your page consider the contents of headings as important keywords for influencing the page's search rankings. Without headings, your page will perform poorly in terms of <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Glossary/SEO\">SEO</a> (Search Engine Optimization).</li>\n <li>Severely visually impaired people often don't read web pages; they listen to them instead. This is done with software called a <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_reader\" class=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">screen reader</a>. This software provides ways to get fast access to given text content. Among the various techniques used, they provide an outline of the document by reading out the headings, allowing their users to find the information they need quickly. If headings are not available, they will be forced to listen to the whole document read out loud.</li>\n <li>To style content with <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Glossary/CSS\">CSS</a>, or make it do interesting things with <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Glossary/JavaScript\">JavaScript</a>, you need to have elements wrapping the relevant content, so CSS/JavaScript can effectively target it.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Therefore, we need to give our content structural markup.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"active_learning_giving_our_content_structure","title":"Active learning: Giving our content structure","isH3":true,"content":"<p>Let's jump straight in with a live example. In the example below, add elements to the raw text in the <em>Input</em> field so that it appears as a heading and two paragraphs in the <em>Output</em> field.</p>\n<p>If you make a mistake, you can always reset it using the <em>Reset</em> button. If you get stuck, press the <em>Show solution</em> button to see the answer.</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><pre class=\"brush: html hidden notranslate\"><code><h2>Live output</h2>\n\n<div class=\"output\" style=\"min-height: 50px;\"></div>\n\n<h2>Editable code</h2>\n<p class=\"a11y-label\">\n Press Esc to move focus away from the code area (Tab inserts a tab character).\n</p>\n\n<textarea id=\"code\" class=\"input\" style=\"min-height: 100px; width: 95%\">\nMy short story I am a statistician and my name is Trish.\n\nMy legs are made of cardboard and I am married to a fish.\n</textarea>\n\n<div class=\"playable-buttons\">\n <input id=\"reset\" type=\"button\" value=\"Reset\" />\n <input id=\"solution\" type=\"button\" value=\"Show solution\" />\n</div>\n</code></pre></div>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><pre class=\"brush: css hidden notranslate\"><code>html {\n font-family: sans-serif;\n}\n\nh2 {\n font-size: 16px;\n}\n\n.a11y-label {\n margin: 0;\n text-align: right;\n font-size: 0.7rem;\n width: 98%;\n}\n\nbody {\n margin: 10px;\n background: #f5f9fa;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><pre class=\"brush: js hidden notranslate\"><code>const textarea = document.getElementById(\"code\");\nconst reset = document.getElementById(\"reset\");\nconst solution = document.getElementById(\"solution\");\nconst output = document.querySelector(\".output\");\nconst code = textarea.value;\nlet userEntry = textarea.value;\n\nfunction updateCode() {\n output.innerHTML = textarea.value;\n}\n\nconst htmlSolution = `<h1>My short story</h1>\n<p>\n I am a statistician and my name is Trish.\n</p>\n<p>\n My legs are made of cardboard and I am married to a fish.\n</p>`;\n\nlet solutionEntry = htmlSolution;\n\nreset.addEventListener(\"click\", () => {\n textarea.value = code;\n userEntry = textarea.value;\n solutionEntry = htmlSolution;\n solution.value = \"Show solution\";\n updateCode();\n});\n\nsolution.addEventListener(\"click\", () => {\n if (solution.value === \"Show solution\") {\n textarea.value = solutionEntry;\n solution.value = \"Hide solution\";\n } else {\n textarea.value = userEntry;\n solution.value = \"Show solution\";\n }\n updateCode();\n});\n\ntextarea.addEventListener(\"input\", updateCode);\nwindow.addEventListener(\"load\", updateCode);\n\n// Stop tab key tabbing out of textarea and\n// make it write a tab at the caret position instead\ntextarea.onkeydown = (e) => {\n if (e.code === \"Tab\") {\n e.preventDefault();\n insertAtCaret(\"\\t\");\n }\n\n if (e.code === \"Escape\") {\n textarea.blur();\n }\n};\n\nfunction insertAtCaret(text) {\n const scrollPos = textarea.scrollTop;\n let caretPos = textarea.selectionStart;\n\n const front = textarea.value.substring(0, caretPos);\n const back = textarea.value.substring(\n textarea.selectionEnd,\n textarea.value.length,\n );\n textarea.value = front + text + back;\n caretPos += text.length;\n textarea.selectionStart = caretPos;\n textarea.selectionEnd = caretPos;\n textarea.focus();\n textarea.scrollTop = scrollPos;\n}\n\n// Update the saved userCode every time the user updates the text area code\ntextarea.onkeyup = function () {\n // We only want to save the state when the user code is being shown,\n // not the solution, so that solution is not saved over the user code\n if (solution.value === \"Show solution\") {\n userEntry = textarea.value;\n } else {\n solutionEntry = textarea.value;\n }\n\n updateCode();\n};\n</code></pre></div><div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"></div><iframe class=\"sample-code-frame\" title=\"Active learning Giving our content structure sample\" id=\"frame_active_learning_giving_our_content_structure\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\" src=\"about:blank\" data-live-path=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals\" data-live-id=\"active_learning_giving_our_content_structure\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts\" loading=\"lazy\"></iframe></div>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"why_do_we_need_semantics","title":"Why do we need semantics?","isH3":true,"content":"<p>Semantics are relied on everywhere around us—we rely on previous experience to tell us what the function of an everyday object is; when we see something, we know what its function will be. So, for example, we expect a red traffic light to mean \"stop,\" and a green traffic light to mean \"go.\" Things can get tricky very quickly if the wrong semantics are applied. (Do any countries use red to mean \"go\"? We hope not.)</p>\n<p>In a similar way, we need to make sure we are using the correct elements, giving our content the correct meaning, function, or appearance. In this context, the <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Heading_Elements\">h1</a> element is also a semantic element, which gives the text it wraps around the role (or meaning) of \"a top level heading on your page.\"</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><h1>This is a top level heading</h1>\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>By default, the browser will give it a large font size to make it look like a heading (although you could style it to look like anything you wanted using CSS). More importantly, its semantic value will be used in multiple ways, for example by search engines and screen readers (as mentioned above).</p>\n<p>On the other hand, you could make any element <em>look</em> like a top level heading. Consider the following:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><span style=\"font-size: 32px; margin: 21px 0; display: block;\">\n Is this a top level heading?\n</span>\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>This is a <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/span\"><code><span></code></a> element. It has no semantics. You use it to wrap content when you want to apply CSS to it (or do something to it with JavaScript) without giving it any extra meaning. (You'll find out more about these later on in the course.) We've applied some CSS to it to make it look like a top level heading, but since it has no semantic value, it will not get any of the extra benefits described above. It is a good idea to use the relevant HTML element for the job.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"lists","title":"Lists","isH3":false,"content":"<p>Now let's turn our attention to lists. Lists are everywhere in life—from your shopping list to the list of directions you subconsciously follow to get to your house every day, to the lists of instructions you are following in these tutorials! On the web, we have three types of lists: unordered, ordered, and description.</p>\n<p>Unordered and ordered lists are very common, and they're covered in this section. Description lists are less common, and we'll cover them in <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Advanced_text_formatting\">Advanced text formatting</a>.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"unordered","title":"Unordered","isH3":true,"content":"<p>Unordered lists are used to mark up lists of items for which the order of the items doesn't matter. Let's take a shopping list as an example:</p>\n<pre class=\"brush: plain notranslate\">milk\neggs\nbread\nhummus\n</pre>\n<p>Every unordered list starts off with a <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/ul\"><code><ul></code></a> element—this wraps around all the list items:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><ul>\n milk\n eggs\n bread\n hummus\n</ul>\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>The last step is to wrap each list item in a <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/li\"><code><li></code></a> (list item) element:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><ul>\n <li>milk</li>\n <li>eggs</li>\n <li>bread</li>\n <li>hummus</li>\n</ul>\n</code></pre></div>\n<h4 id=\"active_learning_marking_up_an_unordered_list\">Active learning: Marking up an unordered list</h4>\n<p>Try editing the live sample below to create your very own HTML unordered list.</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><pre class=\"brush: html hidden notranslate\"><code><h2>Live output</h2>\n\n<div class=\"output\" style=\"min-height: 50px;\"></div>\n\n<h2>Editable code</h2>\n<p class=\"a11y-label\">\n Press Esc to move focus away from the code area (Tab inserts a tab character).\n</p>\n\n<textarea id=\"code\" class=\"input\" style=\"min-height: 100px; width: 95%\">\nmilk\neggs\nbread\nhummus\n</textarea>\n\n<div class=\"playable-buttons\">\n <input id=\"reset\" type=\"button\" value=\"Reset\" />\n <input id=\"solution\" type=\"button\" value=\"Show solution\" />\n</div>\n</code></pre></div>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><pre class=\"brush: css hidden notranslate\"><code>html {\n font-family: sans-serif;\n}\n\nh2 {\n font-size: 16px;\n}\n\n.a11y-label {\n margin: 0;\n text-align: right;\n font-size: 0.7rem;\n width: 98%;\n}\n\nbody {\n margin: 10px;\n background: #f5f9fa;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><pre class=\"brush: js hidden notranslate\"><code>const textarea = document.getElementById(\"code\");\nconst reset = document.getElementById(\"reset\");\nconst solution = document.getElementById(\"solution\");\nconst output = document.querySelector(\".output\");\nconst code = textarea.value;\nlet userEntry = textarea.value;\n\nfunction updateCode() {\n output.innerHTML = textarea.value;\n}\n\nconst htmlSolution =\n \"<ul>\\n<li>milk</li>\\n<li>eggs</li>\\n<li>bread</li>\\n<li>hummus</li>\\n</ul>\";\nlet solutionEntry = htmlSolution;\n\nreset.addEventListener(\"click\", () => {\n textarea.value = code;\n userEntry = textarea.value;\n solutionEntry = htmlSolution;\n solution.value = \"Show solution\";\n updateCode();\n});\n\nsolution.addEventListener(\"click\", () => {\n if (solution.value === \"Show solution\") {\n textarea.value = solutionEntry;\n solution.value = \"Hide solution\";\n } else {\n textarea.value = userEntry;\n solution.value = \"Show solution\";\n }\n updateCode();\n});\n\ntextarea.addEventListener(\"input\", updateCode);\nwindow.addEventListener(\"load\", updateCode);\n\n// stop tab key tabbing out of textarea and\n// make it write a tab at the caret position instead\n\ntextarea.onkeydown = (e) => {\n if (e.code === \"Tab\") {\n e.preventDefault();\n insertAtCaret(\"\\t\");\n }\n\n if (e.code === \"Escape\") {\n textarea.blur();\n }\n};\n\nfunction insertAtCaret(text) {\n const scrollPos = textarea.scrollTop;\n let caretPos = textarea.selectionStart;\n\n const front = textarea.value.substring(0, caretPos);\n const back = textarea.value.substring(\n textarea.selectionEnd,\n textarea.value.length,\n );\n textarea.value = front + text + back;\n caretPos += text.length;\n textarea.selectionStart = caretPos;\n textarea.selectionEnd = caretPos;\n textarea.focus();\n textarea.scrollTop = scrollPos;\n}\n\n// Update the saved userCode every time the user updates the text area code\ntextarea.onkeyup = () => {\n // We only want to save the state when the user code is being shown,\n // not the solution, so that solution is not saved over the user code\n if (solution.value === \"Show solution\") {\n userEntry = textarea.value;\n } else {\n solutionEntry = textarea.value;\n }\n\n updateCode();\n};\n</code></pre></div><div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"></div><iframe class=\"sample-code-frame\" title=\"Active learning Marking up an unordered list sample\" id=\"frame_active_learning_marking_up_an_unordered_list\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\" src=\"about:blank\" data-live-path=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals\" data-live-id=\"active_learning_marking_up_an_unordered_list\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts\" loading=\"lazy\"></iframe></div>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"ordered","title":"Ordered","isH3":true,"content":"<p>Ordered lists are lists in which the order of the items <em>does</em> matter. Let's take a set of directions as an example:</p>\n<pre class=\"brush: plain notranslate\">Drive to the end of the road\nTurn right\nGo straight across the first two roundabouts\nTurn left at the third roundabout\nThe school is on your right, 300 meters up the road\n</pre>\n<p>The markup structure is the same as for unordered lists, except that you have to wrap the list items in an <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/ol\"><code><ol></code></a> element, rather than <code><ul></code>:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><ol>\n <li>Drive to the end of the road</li>\n <li>Turn right</li>\n <li>Go straight across the first two roundabouts</li>\n <li>Turn left at the third roundabout</li>\n <li>The school is on your right, 300 meters up the road</li>\n</ol>\n</code></pre></div>\n<h4 id=\"active_learning_marking_up_an_ordered_list\">Active learning: Marking up an ordered list</h4>\n<p>Try editing the live sample below to create your very own HTML ordered list.</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><pre class=\"brush: html hidden notranslate\"><code><h2>Live output</h2>\n\n<div class=\"output\" style=\"min-height: 50px;\"></div>\n\n<h2>Editable code</h2>\n<p class=\"a11y-label\">\n Press Esc to move focus away from the code area (Tab inserts a tab character).\n</p>\n\n<textarea id=\"code\" class=\"input\" style=\"min-height: 200px; width: 95%\">\nDrive to the end of the road\nTurn right\nGo straight across the first two roundabouts\nTurn left at the third roundabout\nThe school is on your right, 300 meters up the road\n</textarea>\n\n<div class=\"playable-buttons\">\n <input id=\"reset\" type=\"button\" value=\"Reset\" />\n <input id=\"solution\" type=\"button\" value=\"Show solution\" />\n</div>\n</code></pre></div>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><pre class=\"brush: css hidden notranslate\"><code>html {\n font-family: sans-serif;\n}\n\nh2 {\n font-size: 16px;\n}\n\n.a11y-label {\n margin: 0;\n text-align: right;\n font-size: 0.7rem;\n width: 98%;\n}\n\nbody {\n margin: 10px;\n background: #f5f9fa;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><pre class=\"brush: js hidden notranslate\"><code>const textarea = document.getElementById(\"code\");\nconst reset = document.getElementById(\"reset\");\nconst solution = document.getElementById(\"solution\");\nconst output = document.querySelector(\".output\");\nconst code = textarea.value;\nlet userEntry = textarea.value;\n\nfunction updateCode() {\n output.innerHTML = textarea.value;\n}\n\nconst htmlSolution =\n \"<ol>\\n<li>Drive to the end of the road</li>\\n<li>Turn right</li>\\n<li>Go straight across the first two roundabouts</li>\\n<li>Turn left at the third roundabout</li>\\n<li>The school is on your right, 300 meters up the road</li>\\n</ol>\";\nlet solutionEntry = htmlSolution;\n\nreset.addEventListener(\"click\", () => {\n textarea.value = code;\n userEntry = textarea.value;\n solutionEntry = htmlSolution;\n solution.value = \"Show solution\";\n updateCode();\n});\n\nsolution.addEventListener(\"click\", () => {\n if (solution.value === \"Show solution\") {\n textarea.value = solutionEntry;\n solution.value = \"Hide solution\";\n } else {\n textarea.value = userEntry;\n solution.value = \"Show solution\";\n }\n updateCode();\n});\n\ntextarea.addEventListener(\"input\", updateCode);\nwindow.addEventListener(\"load\", updateCode);\n\n// stop tab key tabbing out of textarea and\n// make it write a tab at the caret position instead\n\ntextarea.onkeydown = (e) => {\n if (e.code === \"Tab\") {\n e.preventDefault();\n insertAtCaret(\"\\t\");\n }\n\n if (e.code === \"Escape\") {\n textarea.blur();\n }\n};\n\nfunction insertAtCaret(text) {\n const scrollPos = textarea.scrollTop;\n let caretPos = textarea.selectionStart;\n\n const front = textarea.value.substring(0, caretPos);\n const back = textarea.value.substring(\n textarea.selectionEnd,\n textarea.value.length,\n );\n textarea.value = front + text + back;\n caretPos += text.length;\n textarea.selectionStart = caretPos;\n textarea.selectionEnd = caretPos;\n textarea.focus();\n textarea.scrollTop = scrollPos;\n}\n\n// Update the saved userCode every time the user updates the text area code\ntextarea.onkeyup = () => {\n // We only want to save the state when the user code is being shown,\n // not the solution, so that solution is not saved over the user code\n if (solution.value === \"Show solution\") {\n userEntry = textarea.value;\n } else {\n solutionEntry = textarea.value;\n }\n\n updateCode();\n};\n</code></pre></div><div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"></div><iframe class=\"sample-code-frame\" title=\"Active learning Marking up an ordered list sample\" id=\"frame_active_learning_marking_up_an_ordered_list\" width=\"700\" height=\"500\" src=\"about:blank\" data-live-path=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals\" data-live-id=\"active_learning_marking_up_an_ordered_list\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts\" loading=\"lazy\"></iframe></div>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"active_learning_marking_up_our_recipe_page","title":"Active learning: Marking up our recipe page","isH3":true,"content":"<p>So at this point in the article, you have all the information you need to mark up our recipe page example. You can choose to either save a local copy of our <a href=\"https://github.com/mdn/learning-area/blob/main/html/introduction-to-html/html-text-formatting/text-start.html\" class=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">text-start.html</a> starting file and do the work there or do it in the editable example below. Doing it locally will probably be better, as then you'll get to save the work you are doing, whereas if you fill it in to the editable example, it will be lost the next time you open the page. Both have pros and cons.</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><pre class=\"brush: html hidden notranslate\"><code><h2>Live output</h2>\n\n<div class=\"output\" style=\"min-height: 50px;\"></div>\n\n<h2>Editable code</h2>\n<p class=\"a11y-label\">\n Press Esc to move focus away from the code area (Tab inserts a tab character).\n</p>\n\n<textarea id=\"code\" class=\"input\" style=\"min-height: 200px; width: 95%\">\nQuick hummus recipe\n\n This recipe makes quick, tasty hummus, with no messing. It has been adapted from a number of different recipes that I have read over the years.\n\n Hummus is a delicious thick paste used heavily in Greek and Middle Eastern dishes. It is very tasty with salad, grilled meats and pitta breads.\n\n Ingredients\n\n 1 can (400g) of chick peas (garbanzo beans)\n 175g of tahini\n 6 sundried tomatoes\n Half a red pepper\n A pinch of cayenne pepper\n 1 clove of garlic\n A dash of olive oil\n\n Instructions\n\n Remove the skin from the garlic, and chop coarsely\n Remove all the seeds and stalk from the pepper, and chop coarsely\n Add all the ingredients into a food processor\n Process all the ingredients into a paste\n If you want a coarse \"chunky\" hummus, process it for a short time\n If you want a smooth hummus, process it for a longer time\n\n For a different flavor, you could try blending in a small measure of lemon and coriander, chili pepper, lime and chipotle, harissa and mint, or spinach and feta cheese. Experiment and see what works for you.\n\n Storage\n\n Refrigerate the finished hummus in a sealed container. You should be able to use it for about a week after you've made it. If it starts to become fizzy, you should definitely discard it.\n\n Hummus is suitable for freezing; you should thaw it and use it within a couple of months.\n</textarea>\n\n<div class=\"playable-buttons\">\n <input id=\"reset\" type=\"button\" value=\"Reset\" />\n <input id=\"solution\" type=\"button\" value=\"Show solution\" />\n</div>\n</code></pre></div>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><pre class=\"brush: css hidden notranslate\"><code>html {\n font-family: sans-serif;\n}\n\nh2 {\n font-size: 16px;\n}\n\n.a11y-label {\n margin: 0;\n text-align: right;\n font-size: 0.7rem;\n width: 98%;\n}\n\nbody {\n margin: 10px;\n background: #f5f9fa;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><pre class=\"brush: js hidden notranslate\"><code>const textarea = document.getElementById(\"code\");\nconst reset = document.getElementById(\"reset\");\nconst solution = document.getElementById(\"solution\");\nconst output = document.querySelector(\".output\");\nconst code = textarea.value;\nlet userEntry = textarea.value;\n\nfunction updateCode() {\n output.innerHTML = textarea.value;\n}\n\nconst htmlSolution =\n '<h1>Quick hummus recipe</h1>\\n\\n<p>This recipe makes quick, tasty hummus, with no messing. It has been adapted from a number of different recipes that I have read over the years.</p>\\n\\n<p>Hummus is a delicious thick paste used heavily in Greek and Middle Eastern dishes. It is very tasty with salad, grilled meats and pitta breads.</p>\\n\\n<h2>Ingredients</h2>\\n\\n<ul>\\n<li>1 can (400g) of chick peas (garbanzo beans)</li>\\n<li>175g of tahini</li>\\n<li>6 sundried tomatoes</li>\\n<li>Half a red pepper</li>\\n<li>A pinch of cayenne pepper</li>\\n<li>1 clove of garlic</li>\\n<li>A dash of olive oil</li>\\n</ul>\\n\\n<h2>Instructions</h2>\\n\\n<ol>\\n<li>Remove the skin from the garlic, and chop coarsely.</li>\\n<li>Remove all the seeds and stalk from the pepper, and chop coarsely.</li>\\n<li>Add all the ingredients into a food processor.</li>\\n<li>Process all the ingredients into a paste.</li>\\n<li>If you want a coarse \"chunky\" hummus, process it for a short time.</li>\\n<li>If you want a smooth hummus, process it for a longer time.</li>\\n</ol>\\n\\n<p>For a different flavor, you could try blending in a small measure of lemon and coriander, chili pepper, lime and chipotle, harissa and mint, or spinach and feta cheese. Experiment and see what works for you.</p>\\n\\n<h2>Storage</h2>\\n\\n<p>Refrigerate the finished hummus in a sealed container. You should be able to use it for about a week after you\\'ve made it. If it starts to become fizzy, you should definitely discard it.</p>\\n\\n<p>Hummus is suitable for freezing; you should thaw it and use it within a couple of months.</p>';\nlet solutionEntry = htmlSolution;\n\nreset.addEventListener(\"click\", () => {\n textarea.value = code;\n userEntry = textarea.value;\n solutionEntry = htmlSolution;\n solution.value = \"Show solution\";\n updateCode();\n});\n\nsolution.addEventListener(\"click\", () => {\n if (solution.value === \"Show solution\") {\n textarea.value = solutionEntry;\n solution.value = \"Hide solution\";\n } else {\n textarea.value = userEntry;\n solution.value = \"Show solution\";\n }\n updateCode();\n});\n\ntextarea.addEventListener(\"input\", updateCode);\nwindow.addEventListener(\"load\", updateCode);\n\n// stop tab key tabbing out of textarea and\n// make it write a tab at the caret position instead\n\ntextarea.onkeydown = (e) => {\n if (e.code === \"Tab\") {\n e.preventDefault();\n insertAtCaret(\"\\t\");\n }\n\n if (e.code === \"Escape\") {\n textarea.blur();\n }\n};\n\nfunction insertAtCaret(text) {\n const scrollPos = textarea.scrollTop;\n let caretPos = textarea.selectionStart;\n\n const front = textarea.value.substring(0, caretPos);\n const back = textarea.value.substring(\n textarea.selectionEnd,\n textarea.value.length,\n );\n textarea.value = front + text + back;\n caretPos += text.length;\n textarea.selectionStart = caretPos;\n textarea.selectionEnd = caretPos;\n textarea.focus();\n textarea.scrollTop = scrollPos;\n}\n\n// Update the saved userCode every time the user updates the text area code\ntextarea.onkeyup = () => {\n // We only want to save the state when the user code is being shown,\n // not the solution, so that solution is not saved over the user code\n if (solution.value === \"Show solution\") {\n userEntry = textarea.value;\n } else {\n solutionEntry = textarea.value;\n }\n\n updateCode();\n};\n</code></pre></div><div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"></div><iframe class=\"sample-code-frame\" title=\"Active learning Marking up our recipe page sample\" id=\"frame_active_learning_marking_up_our_recipe_page\" width=\"900\" height=\"620\" src=\"about:blank\" data-live-path=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals\" data-live-id=\"active_learning_marking_up_our_recipe_page\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts\" loading=\"lazy\"></iframe></div>\n<p>If you get stuck, you can always press the <em>Show solution</em> button, or check out our <a href=\"https://github.com/mdn/learning-area/blob/main/html/introduction-to-html/html-text-formatting/text-complete.html\" class=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">text-complete.html</a> example on our GitHub repo.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"nesting_lists","title":"Nesting lists","isH3":true,"content":"<p>It is perfectly OK to nest one list inside another one. You might want to have some sub-bullets sitting below a top-level bullet. Let's take the second list from our recipe example:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><ol>\n <li>Remove the skin from the garlic, and chop coarsely.</li>\n <li>Remove all the seeds and stalk from the pepper, and chop coarsely.</li>\n <li>Add all the ingredients into a food processor.</li>\n <li>Process all the ingredients into a paste.</li>\n <li>If you want a coarse \"chunky\" hummus, process it for a short time.</li>\n <li>If you want a smooth hummus, process it for a longer time.</li>\n</ol>\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>Since the last two bullets are very closely related to the one before them (they read like sub-instructions or choices that fit below that bullet), it might make sense to nest them inside their own unordered list and put that list inside the current fourth bullet. This would look like so:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><ol>\n <li>Remove the skin from the garlic, and chop coarsely.</li>\n <li>Remove all the seeds and stalk from the pepper, and chop coarsely.</li>\n <li>Add all the ingredients into a food processor.</li>\n <li>\n Process all the ingredients into a paste.\n <ul>\n <li>\n If you want a coarse \"chunky\" hummus, process it for a short time.\n </li>\n <li>If you want a smooth hummus, process it for a longer time.</li>\n </ul>\n </li>\n</ol>\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>Try going back to the previous active learning example and updating the second list like this.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"emphasis_and_importance","title":"Emphasis and importance","isH3":false,"content":"<p>In human language, we often emphasize certain words to alter the meaning of a sentence, and we often want to mark certain words as important or different in some way. HTML provides various semantic elements to allow us to mark up textual content with such effects, and in this section, we'll look at a few of the most common ones.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"emphasis","title":"Emphasis","isH3":true,"content":"<p>When we want to add emphasis in spoken language, we <em>stress</em> certain words, subtly altering the meaning of what we are saying. Similarly, in written language we tend to stress words by putting them in italics. For example, the following two sentences have different meanings.</p>\n<blockquote>\n <p>I am glad you weren't late.</p>\n <p>I am <em>glad</em> you weren't <em>late</em>.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The first sentence sounds genuinely relieved that the person wasn't late. In contrast, the second one, with both the words \"glad\" and \"late\" in italics, sounds sarcastic or passive-aggressive, expressing annoyance that the person arrived a bit late.</p>\n<p>In HTML we use the <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/em\"><code><em></code></a> (emphasis) element to mark up such instances. As well as making the document more interesting to read, these are recognized by screen readers, which can be configured to speak them in a different tone of voice. Browsers style this as italic by default, but you shouldn't use this tag purely to get italic styling. To do that, you'd use a <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/span\"><code><span></code></a> element and some CSS, or perhaps an <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/i\"><code><i></code></a> element (see below).</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><p>I am <em>glad</em> you weren't <em>late</em>.</p>\n</code></pre></div>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"strong_importance","title":"Strong importance","isH3":true,"content":"<p>To emphasize important words, we tend to stress them in spoken language and <strong>bold</strong> them in written language. For example:</p>\n<blockquote>\n <p>This liquid is <strong>highly toxic</strong>.</p>\n <p>I am counting on you. <strong>Do not</strong> be late!</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>In HTML we use the <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/strong\"><code><strong></code></a> (strong importance) element to mark up such instances. As well as making the document more useful, again these are recognized by screen readers, which can be configured to speak them in a different tone of voice. Browsers style this as bold text by default, but you shouldn't use this tag purely to get bold styling. To do that, you'd use a <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/span\"><code><span></code></a> element and some CSS, or perhaps a <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/b\"><code><b></code></a> element (see below).</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><p>This liquid is <strong>highly toxic</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>I am counting on you. <strong>Do not</strong> be late!</p>\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>You can nest strong and emphasis inside one another if desired:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><p>This liquid is <strong>highly toxic</strong> — if you drink it, <strong>you may <em>die</em></strong>.</p>\n</code></pre></div><div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"></div><iframe class=\"sample-code-frame\" title=\"Strong importance sample\" id=\"frame_strong_importance\" src=\"about:blank\" data-live-path=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals\" data-live-id=\"strong_importance\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts\" loading=\"lazy\"></iframe></div>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"active_learning_lets_be_important","title":"Active learning: Let's be important","isH3":true,"content":"<p>In this active learning section, we've provided an editable example. Inside it, we'd like you to try adding emphasis and strong importance to the words you think need them, just to have some practice.</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><pre class=\"brush: html hidden notranslate\"><code><h2>Live output</h2>\n\n<div class=\"output\" style=\"min-height: 50px;\"></div>\n\n<h2>Editable code</h2>\n<p class=\"a11y-label\">\n Press Esc to move focus away from the code area (Tab inserts a tab character).\n</p>\n\n<textarea id=\"code\" class=\"input\" style=\"min-height: 200px; width: 95%\">\n<h1>Important notice</h1>\n<p>On Sunday January 9th 2010, a gang of goths were\n spotted stealing several garden gnomes from a\n shopping center in downtown Milwaukee. They were\n all wearing green jumpsuits and silly hats, and\n seemed to be having a whale of a time. If anyone\n has any information about this incident, please\n contact the police now.</p>\n</textarea>\n\n<div class=\"playable-buttons\">\n <input id=\"reset\" type=\"button\" value=\"Reset\" />\n <input id=\"solution\" type=\"button\" value=\"Show solution\" />\n</div>\n</code></pre></div>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><pre class=\"brush: css hidden notranslate\"><code>html {\n font-family: sans-serif;\n}\n\nh2 {\n font-size: 16px;\n}\n\n.a11y-label {\n margin: 0;\n text-align: right;\n font-size: 0.7rem;\n width: 98%;\n}\n\nbody {\n margin: 10px;\n background: #f5f9fa;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><pre class=\"brush: js hidden notranslate\"><code>const textarea = document.getElementById(\"code\");\nconst reset = document.getElementById(\"reset\");\nconst solution = document.getElementById(\"solution\");\nconst output = document.querySelector(\".output\");\nconst code = textarea.value;\nlet userEntry = textarea.value;\n\nfunction updateCode() {\n output.innerHTML = textarea.value;\n}\n\nconst htmlSolution =\n \"<h1>Important notice</h1>\\n<p>On <strong>Sunday January 9th 2010</strong>, a gang of <em>goths</em> were spotted stealing <strong><em>several</em> garden gnomes</strong> from a shopping center in downtown <strong>Milwaukee</strong>. They were all wearing <em>green jumpsuits</em> and <em>silly hats</em>, and seemed to be having a whale of a time. If anyone has <strong>any</strong> information about this incident, please contact the police <strong>now</strong>.</p>\";\nlet solutionEntry = htmlSolution;\n\nreset.addEventListener(\"click\", () => {\n textarea.value = code;\n userEntry = textarea.value;\n solutionEntry = htmlSolution;\n solution.value = \"Show solution\";\n updateCode();\n});\n\nsolution.addEventListener(\"click\", () => {\n if (solution.value === \"Show solution\") {\n textarea.value = solutionEntry;\n solution.value = \"Hide solution\";\n } else {\n textarea.value = userEntry;\n solution.value = \"Show solution\";\n }\n updateCode();\n});\n\ntextarea.addEventListener(\"input\", updateCode);\nwindow.addEventListener(\"load\", updateCode);\n\n// Stop tab key tabbing out of textarea and\n// make it write a tab at the caret position instead\ntextarea.onkeydown = (e) => {\n if (e.code === \"Tab\") {\n e.preventDefault();\n insertAtCaret(\"\\t\");\n }\n\n if (e.code === \"Escape\") {\n textarea.blur();\n }\n};\n\nfunction insertAtCaret(text) {\n const scrollPos = textarea.scrollTop;\n let caretPos = textarea.selectionStart;\n\n const front = textarea.value.substring(0, caretPos);\n const back = textarea.value.substring(\n textarea.selectionEnd,\n textarea.value.length,\n );\n textarea.value = front + text + back;\n caretPos += text.length;\n textarea.selectionStart = caretPos;\n textarea.selectionEnd = caretPos;\n textarea.focus();\n textarea.scrollTop = scrollPos;\n}\n\n// Update the saved userCode every time the user updates the text area code\ntextarea.onkeyup = () => {\n // We only want to save the state when the user code is being shown,\n // not the solution, so that solution is not saved over the user code\n if (solution.value === \"Show solution\") {\n userEntry = textarea.value;\n } else {\n solutionEntry = textarea.value;\n }\n\n updateCode();\n};\n</code></pre></div><div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"></div><iframe class=\"sample-code-frame\" title=\"Active learning Lets be important sample\" id=\"frame_active_learning_lets_be_important\" width=\"700\" height=\"520\" src=\"about:blank\" data-live-path=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals\" data-live-id=\"active_learning_lets_be_important\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts\" loading=\"lazy\"></iframe></div>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"italic_bold_underline…","title":"Italic, bold, underline…","isH3":true,"content":"<p>The elements we've discussed so far have clear-cut associated semantics. The situation with <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/b\"><code><b></code></a>, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/i\"><code><i></code></a>, and <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/u\"><code><u></code></a> is somewhat more complicated. They came about so people could write bold, italics, or underlined text in an era when CSS was still supported poorly or not at all. Elements like this, which only affect presentation and not semantics, are known as <strong>presentational elements</strong> and should no longer be used because, as we've seen before, semantics is so important to accessibility, SEO, etc.</p>\n<p>HTML5 redefined <code><b></code>, <code><i></code>, and <code><u></code> with new, somewhat confusing, semantic roles.</p>\n<p>Here's the best rule you can remember: It's only appropriate to use <code><b></code>, <code><i></code>, or <code><u></code> to convey a meaning traditionally conveyed with bold, italics, or underline when there isn't a more suitable element; and there usually is. Consider whether <code><strong></code>, <code><em></code>, <code><mark></code>, or <code><span></code> might be more appropriate.</p>\n<p>Always keep an accessibility mindset. The concept of italics isn't very helpful to people using screen readers, or to people using a writing system other than the Latin alphabet.</p>\n<ul>\n <li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/i\"><code><i></code></a> is used to convey a meaning traditionally conveyed by italic: foreign words, taxonomic designation, technical terms, a thought…</li>\n <li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/b\"><code><b></code></a> is used to convey a meaning traditionally conveyed by bold: keywords, product names, lead sentence…</li>\n <li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/u\"><code><u></code></a> is used to convey a meaning traditionally conveyed by underline: proper name, misspelling…</li>\n</ul>\n<div class=\"notecard note\">\n <p><strong>Note:</strong> People strongly associate underlining with hyperlinks. Therefore, on the web, it's best to only underline links. Use the <code><u></code> element when it's semantically appropriate, but consider using CSS to change the default underline to something more appropriate on the web. The example below illustrates how it can be done.</p>\n</div>\u003c!-- cSpell:ignore spel -->\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code>\n<p>\n The Ruby-throated Hummingbird (<i>Archilochus colubris</i>) is the most common\n hummingbird in Eastern North America.\n</p>\n\n\n<p>\n The menu was a sea of exotic words like <i lang=\"uk-latn\">vatrushka</i>,\n <i lang=\"id\">nasi goreng</i> and <i lang=\"fr\">soupe à l'oignon</i>.\n</p>\n\n\n<p>Someday I'll learn how to <u class=\"spelling-error\">spel</u> better.</p>\n\n\n<dl>\n <dt>Semantic HTML</dt>\n <dd>\n Use the elements based on their <b>semantic</b> meaning, not their\n appearance.\n </dd>\n</dl>\n</code></pre></div><div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"></div><iframe class=\"sample-code-frame\" title=\"Italic, bold, underline… sample\" id=\"frame_italic_bold_underline…\" width=\"100%\" height=\"270\" src=\"about:blank\" data-live-path=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals\" data-live-id=\"italic_bold_underline…\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts\" loading=\"lazy\"></iframe></div>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"test_your_skills!","title":"Test your skills!","isH3":false,"content":"<p>You've reached the end of this article, but can you remember the most important information? You can find some further tests to verify that you've retained this information before you move on — see <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Test_your_skills:_HTML_text_basics\">Test your skills: HTML text basics</a>.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"summary","title":"Summary","isH3":false,"content":"<p>That's it for now! This article should have given you a good idea of how to start marking up text in HTML and introduced you to some of the most important elements in this area. There are a lot more semantic elements to cover in this area, and we'll look at a lot more in our <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Advanced_text_formatting\">Advanced text formatting</a> article later on in the course. In the next article, we'll be looking in detail at how to <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Creating_hyperlinks\">create hyperlinks</a>, possibly the most important element on the web.</p><ul class=\"prev-next\">\n <li><a class=\"button secondary\" href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/The_head_metadata_in_HTML\"><span class=\"button-wrap\"> Previous </span></a></li>\n <li><a class=\"button secondary\" href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML\"><span class=\"button-wrap\"> Overview: Introduction to HTML</span></a></li>\n <li><a class=\"button secondary\" href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/Creating_hyperlinks\"><span class=\"button-wrap\"> Next </span></a></li>\n</ul>"}}],"toc":[{"text":"The basics: headings and paragraphs","id":"the_basics_headings_and_paragraphs"},{"text":"Lists","id":"lists"},{"text":"Emphasis and importance","id":"emphasis_and_importance"},{"text":"Test your skills!","id":"test_your_skills!"},{"text":"Summary","id":"summary"}],"summary":"That's it for now! This article should have given you a good idea of how to start marking up text in HTML and introduced you to some of the most important elements in this area. There are a lot more semantic elements to cover in this area, and we'll look at a lot more in our Advanced text formatting article later on in the course. In the next article, we'll be looking in detail at how to create hyperlinks, possibly the most important element on the web.","popularity":0.0685,"modified":"2024-10-25T00:08:46.000Z","other_translations":[{"locale":"de","title":"Grundlagen des HTML-Textes","native":"Deutsch"},{"locale":"es","title":"Fundamentos de texto en HTML","native":"Español"},{"locale":"fr","title":"Fondamentaux du texte HTML","native":"Français"},{"locale":"ja","title":"HTML テキストの基礎","native":"日本語"},{"locale":"ko","title":"HTML text fundamentals","native":"한국어"},{"locale":"pt-BR","title":"Fundamentos do texto em HTML","native":"Português (do Brasil)"},{"locale":"ru","title":"Основы редактирования текста в HTML","native":"Русский"},{"locale":"zh-CN","title":"HTML 文本处理基础","native":"中文 (简体)"},{"locale":"zh-TW","title":"基本 HTML 文字","native":"正體中文 (繁體)"}],"pageType":"learn-module-chapter","source":{"folder":"en-us/learn/html/introduction_to_html/html_text_fundamentals","github_url":"https://github.com/mdn/content/blob/main/files/en-us/learn/html/introduction_to_html/html_text_fundamentals/index.md","last_commit_url":"https://github.com/mdn/content/commit/baac7f2a43813a7930ff97b11d9c38b413f97c78","filename":"index.md"},"short_title":"HTML text fundamentals","parents":[{"uri":"/en-US/docs/Learn","title":"Guides"},{"uri":"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML","title":"HTML"},{"uri":"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML","title":"Introduction to HTML"},{"uri":"/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals","title":"HTML text fundamentals"}],"pageTitle":"HTML text fundamentals - Learn web development | MDN","noIndexing":false}}</script></body></html>