What is an HTML element?

This screen is part of a Web Feed Reference section for the Web Feed Generator. Please ask us if you cannot find the answer to your question.

HTML elements are like containers that hold the text of a Web page. There are a range of elements with distinct names and they are designed to contain particular types of text. For instance, a main heading should be marked with an <H1> element, a lower level heading with <H2> , by wrapping the text in start and end tags.

<h1>
  The main page heading
</h1>
      

There are also HTML elements to contain different types of lists, paragraphs, addresses and quotations. And you can nest other elements within these higher level containers, such as <strong> and <em> to add emphasis to segments of text.

There are standard ways of ordering and nesting HTML elements that are recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium. The Web Feed Generator is designed to work with Web pages that use these standard forms but does allow some common exceptions to the rules.