In this post, I’ll share 21 HTML Tips with code snippets that can boost your coding skills.
Let’s jump right into it.🚀
Creating Contact Links
Create clickable email, phone call, and SMS links using HTML:
<!-- Email link -->
<a href="mailto:name@example.com"> Send Email </a>
<!-- Phone call link -->
<a href="tel:+1234567890"> Call Us </a>
<!-- SMS link -->
<a href="sms:+1234567890"> Send SMS </a>
Creating Collapsible Content
You can use the <details> and <summary> tags, when you want to include collapsible content on your web page.
The <details> tag creates a container for hidden content, while the <summary> tag provides a clickable label to toggle the visibility of that content.
<details>
<summary>Click to expand</summary>
<p>This content can be expanded or collapsed.</p>
</details>
Utilizing Semantic Elements
Choose semantic elements over non-semantic elements for your websites. They make your code meaningful and improve structure, accessibility, and SEO.
Grouping Form Elements
Use the <fieldset> tag to group related elements in a form and the <legend> tag with <fieldset> to define a title for the <fieldset> tag.
This is useful for creating more efficient and accessible forms.
<form>
<fieldset>
<legend>Personal details</legend>
<label for="firstname">First name:</label>
<input type="text" id="firstname" name="firstname" />
<label for="email">Email:</label>
<input type="email" id="email" name="email" />
<label for="contact">Contact:</label>
<input type="text" id="contact" name="contact" />
<input type="button" value="Submit" />
</fieldset>
</form>
Enhancing Dropdown Menus
You can use the <optgroup> tag to group related options in a <select> HTML tag.
This can be used when you are working with large dropdown menus or a long list of options.
<select>
<optgroup label="Fruits">
<option>Apple</option>
<option>Banana</option>
<option>Mango</option>
</optgroup>
<optgroup label="Vegetables">
<option>Tomato</option>
<option>Broccoli</option>
<option>Carrot</option>
</optgroup>
</select>
Improving Video Presentation
The poster attribute can be used with the <video> element to display an image until the user plays the video.
<video controls poster="image.png" width="500">
<source src="video.mp4" type="video/mp4 />
</video>
Supporting Multiple Selections
You can use the multiple attribute with the <input> and <select> elements to allow users to select/enter multiple values at once.
<input type="file" multiple />
<select multiple>
<option value="java">Java</option>
<option value="javascript">JavaScript</option>
<option value="typescript">TypeScript</option>
<option value="rust">Rust</option>
</select>
Display Text as Subscript and Superscript
The <sub> and <sup> elements can be used to display the text as subscript and superscript respectively.
Creating Download Links
You can use the download attribute with the <a> element to specify that when a user clicks the link, the linked resource should be downloaded rather than navigated to.
<a href="document.pdf" download="document.pdf"> Download PDF </a>
Defining Base URL for Relative Links
You can use the <base> tag to define the base URL for all relative URLs in a web page.
This is handy when you want to create a shared starting point for all relative URLs on a web page, making it easier to navigate and load resources.
<head>
<base href="https://shefali.dev" target="_blank" />
</head>
<body>
<a href="/blog">Blogs</a>
<a href="/get-in-touch">Contact</a>
</body>
Control Image Loading
The loading attribute with the <img> element can be used to control how the browser loads the image. It has three values: “eager”, “lazy”, and “auto”.
<img src="picture.jpg" loading="lazy">
Managing Translation Features
You can use the translate attribute to specify whether the content of an element should be translated by the browser’s translation features.
<p translate="no">
This text should not be translated.
</p>
Setting Maximum Input Length
By using the maxlength attribute, you can set the maximum number of characters entered by the user in an input field.
<input type="text" maxlength="4">
Setting Minimum Input Length
By using the minlength attribute, you can set the minimum number of characters entered by the user in an input field.
<input type="text" minlength="3">
Enabling Content Editing
Use the contenteditable attribute to specify whether the element’s content is editable or not.
It allows users to modify the content within the element.
<div contenteditable="true">
You can edit this content.
</div>
Controlling Spell Checking
You can use the spellcheck attribute with <input> elements, content-editable elements, and <textarea> elements to enable or disable spell-checking by the browser.
<input type="text" spellcheck="true"/>
Ensuring Accessibility
The alt attribute specifies an alternate text for an image if the image cannot be displayed.
Always include descriptive alt attributes for images to improve accessibility and SEO.
<img src="picture.jpg" alt="Description for the image">
Defining Target Behavior for Links
You can use the target attribute to specify where a linked resource will be displayed when clicked.
<!-- Opens in the same frame -->
<a href="https://shefali.dev" target="_self">Open</a>
<!-- Opens in a new window or tab -->
<a href="https://shefali.dev" target="_blank">Open</a>
<!-- Opens in the parent frame -->
<a href="https://shefali.dev" target="_parent">Open</a>
<!-- Opens in the full body of the window -->
<a href="https://shefali.dev" target="_top">Open</a>
<!-- Opens in the named frame -->
<a href="https://shefali.dev" target="framename">Open</a>
Providing Additional Information
The title attribute can be used to provide additional information about an element when a user hovers over it.
<p title="World Health Organization">WHO</p>
Accepting Specific File Types
You can use the accept attribute to specify the types of files accepted by the server (only for file type). This is used with the <input> element.
<input type="file" accept="image/png, image/jpeg" />
Optimizing Video Loading
You can make video files load faster for smoother playback by using the preload attribute with <video> element.
<video src="video.mp4" preload="auto">
Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>
That’s all for today.
I hope it was helpful.
Thanks for reading.
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Keep Coding!!
Top comments (92)
Awesome list. A lot of lists like this include elements that are obsolete or of limited and specific use. These are all great.
Two little additions.
In terms of accessibility it is important to note that you shouldn’t add
alttext for an image just to have it there. If the image is meaningful to the information being presented then yes it’s necessary. However, if the image is purely decorative then you should have an emptyaltattribute. This will mark the image as presentational and it will be ignored by screen readers.In the example use case you use for the title attribute you could also use the
abbrelement which indicates that the contents of the element are an abbreviation. Thetitleattribute then provides the full expansion of the term.Thank you so much for your feedback, Luke!
I appreciate it:)
Thank you for writing this great article! I wanted to call out two caveats concerning the
baseelement:It is important to be aware that the above will impact all other elements on the page which has either an
hrefortargetattribute. Therefore, the following will try to load the CSS file from the base domain:Also, if you have a
formelement with atargetattribute, it will be affected by thetargeton thebaseelement as well. Concerning the first example where it will impact thelinkelement. Thebaseelement only impacts elements that come after it in source order so the following will avoid the problem:hey there, I couldn't quite understand what you tried to say here. Can you explain what you have to do to avoid the problem?
Hey! So when you have the following in the head of your HTML document:
It means that all other elements that come after the above in the HTML document and have a
hrefattribute with a relative URL will be affected by the above. For example, let's say you are including a stylesheet as follows:What the browser will do is add the base
hrefto the above:This might be exactly what you wanted, but it might also not be. To avoid impacting the
linkelement you would need to ensure that thelinkelement is before thebaseelement in the HTML Source order so:And not:
If you have an anchor element the same thing will apply:
This will become:
Again this might be totally fine. The other thing is the
targetattribute will also impact the above so all anchor links on the page will open in a new tab/window. But also, any form on the page will also be impacted. In other words:Will become:
Things can also get trickier when you consider the complete URL parsing algorithm that is used. You can read more about that here: schalkneethling.github.io/html-com...
I hope this helps, but should you have any more questions, let me know. Happy coding!
okay nice. I get it now. Thanks for making it clear.
You are very welcome.
Thank you so much for mentioning. I appreciate it 🙌
Good list, I had never heard of the
<base>element before so I did some research. You should definitely understand the need for and effect of using the<base>element on your site before you add it. I found this StackOverflow question helpful here.Thanks a lot for your feedback!
Yes, definitely. Doing research and understanding the practicality and use cases is mandatory.
One tip for download link. We can specify a different name of the file to download instead on its actual name using the
downloadattribute as following:With the above code, the linked PDF file will be saved as "My Document.pdf" by default instead of "document.pdf".
And, to correct your tip, we just need to write the
downloadattribute without the value to allow downloading the file. So the following is valid to allow download of the file without changing the file name:Thanks for mentioning. I appreciate it:)
Awesome tips collection. Thank you for sharing them in this easy to understand format
Thank you so much for checking out, Lucian!
Warning for accessibility, not every single image need an alternative, because some are purely decorative, not transmitting any kind of useful information for the user.
For decorative image, "alt" attribute need to be there, but be left empty.
If you put a non-empty "alt" attribute on a decorative image, you have to hide it to assistive technologies with an aria-hidden="true" attribute.
Thanks for your feedback!
WOW! Thank you so much for this! This is immensely helpful! 🔥
I'm really happy you found it helpful. Thanks for checking out, Anita!
Thanks for sharing essential information like this.
This is for those people who still don't keep the web accessibility concept in mind when they are designing their web pages using HTML5!
Thank you again!
I am not broke at the moment, I could be buying you a cup of coffee!
Thank you so much for that.
I really appreciate it:)
I'm glad you liked it:)
Thanks for sharing about DevSamples.
Thank you for sharing the 21 HTML tips Your insights have provided valuable guidance and inspiration for enhancing our HTML skills. Your willingness to share knowledge is greatly appreciated, and we're excited to implement these tips in our coding journey. Here's to continuous learning and growth in the world of web development.
Thank you so much for checking out!
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