HTML Headings

Headings are important in HTML documents.

HTML Headings

Headings are defined with the <h1> to <h6> tags.

<h1> defines the largest heading. <h6> defines the smallest heading.

Example

<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<h2>This is a heading</h2>
<h3>This is a heading</h3>

Note: Browsers automatically add an empty line before and after a heading.

Headings Are Important

Use HTML headings for headings only. Don't use headings to make text BIG or bold.

Search engines use your headings to index the structure and content of your web pages.

Since users may skim your pages by its headings, it is important to use headings to show the document structure.

H1 headings should be used as main headings, followed by H2 headings, then the less important H3 headings, and so on.

HTML Lines

The <hr /> tag creates a horizontal line in an HTML page.

The hr element can be used to separate content:

Example

<p>This is a paragraph</p>
<hr />
<p>This is a paragraph</p>
<hr />
<p>This is a paragraph</p>

 

HTML Comments

Comments can be inserted into the HTML code to make it more readable and understandable. Comments are ignored by the browser and are not displayed.

Comments are written like this:

Example

<!-- This is a comment -->

Note: There is an exclamation point after the opening bracket, but not before the closing bracket.

HTML Tip - How to View HTML Source

Have you ever seen a Web page and wondered "Hey! How did they do that?"

To find out, right-click in the page and select "View Source" (IE) or "View Page Source" (Firefox), or similar for other browsers. This will open a window containing the HTML code of the page.

HTML Tag Reference

W3Schools' tag reference contains additional information about these tags and their attributes.

You will learn more about HTML tags and attributes in the next chapters of this tutorial.

Tag Description
<html> Defines an HTML document
<body> Defines the document's body
<h1> to <h6> Defines HTML headings
<hr /> Defines a horizontal line
<!--> Defines a comment