This section lists the tags and attributes in HTML 4.01.
3.1. Core Attributes
Prior to HTML Version 4, there were few
attributes that could be used consistently for all HTML tags. HTML 4
changes this, defining a set of 16 core attributes that can be
applied to almost all the tags in the language. For brevity, we list
these core attributes in this section and spare you the redundancies
in the table that follows:
- class=name
-
Specify a
style class controlling the appearance of the tag's
contents.
- dir=dir
-
Specify the
rendering direction for text, either left to right
(ltr) or right to left (rtl).
- id=name
-
Define a
reference name for the tag that is unique in the document.
- lang=language
-
Specify the
human language for the tag's contents with an ISO639
standard two-character name and optional dialect subcode.
- onclick=applet
-
Specify an
applet to be executed when the user clicks the mouse on the
tag's contents display area.
- ondblclick=applet
-
Specify
an applet to be executed when the user double-clicks the mouse button
on the tag's contents display area.
- onkeydown=applet
-
Specify
an applet to be executed when the user presses down on a key while
the tag's contents have input focus.
- onkeypress=applet
-
Specify
an applet to be executed when the user presses and releases a key
while the tag's contents have input focus.
- onkeyup=applet
-
Specify an
applet to be executed when the user releases a pressed key while the
tag's contents have input focus.
- onmousedown=applet
-
Specify an applet to be executed when
the user presses down on the mouse button when pointing to the
tag's contents display area.
- onmousemove=applet
-
Specify an applet to be executed when
the user moves the mouse in the tag's contents
display area.
- onmouseout=applet
-
Specify
an applet to be executed when the user moves the mouse off the
tag's contents display area.
- onmouseover=applet
-
Specify an applet to be executed when
the user moves the mouse into the tag's contents
display area.
- onmouseup=applet
-
Specify
an applet to be executed when the user releases the mouse button when
in the tag's contents display area.
- style=style
-
Specify an
inline style for the tag.
- title=string
-
Specify a
title for the tag.
A small handful of tags do not accept all of these attributes. They
are:
<applet> <embed> <html> <marquee> <script>
<base> <font> <iframe> <meta> <server>
<basefont> <frame> <ilayer> <multicol> <spacer>
<bdo> <frameset> <isindex> <nobr> <style>
<br> <head> <keygen> <noembed> <title>
<comment> <hr> <layer> <param> <wbr>
In the reference section, we list all the attributes supported by
these special tags, including the common ones. For all other tags,
assume the common attributes in the preceding list apply.