HyperText Markup Language/Standard Attributes List

Below is a list of all attributes which are available for most elements in HTML.

You can also view a list of HTML elements.

Attributes

class

This attribute allows you to designate an element to be a member of a given class. Multiple elements can be assigned to the same class (eg. <p class="foo"> ... </p> <p class="foo"> ... </p>), as well as a single element belonging to multiple classes (eg. <p class="foo bar"> ... </p>).

dir

With this attribute you can define which direction the text is written for a given element, either ltr for left-to-right or rtl for right-to-left.

height

Setting this attribute with a numerical value defines the height of an element in pixels (eg. <div height="150"> ... </div>)

id

This attribute allows you to define a unique identifier for each element. This would be useful for hyperlinks that link to a specific section of a page or when styling using a style sheet.

lang

With this attribute you can specify a language that is used for an element.

style

This attribute allows you to apply specific styling to a given element.

title

With this attribute you can define what will be displayed when a user hovers the element. It is not available for base, head, html, meta, param, script, style, and title.

width

Setting this attribute with a numerical value defines the width of an element in pixels (eg. <div width="230"> ... </div>)

More attributes

accesskey

The accesskey attribute defines a keyboard shortcut for a hyperlink or form element. The combination of keys need to activate the shortcut varies from browser to browser. In Microsoft Internet Explorer the user must press Alt+accesskey. If the shortcut is for a link the user must then press Enter to follow the link. The choice of Alt+accesskey means that access keys can clash with shortcuts built-in to the browser.

It is quite common to use numbers for the access keys since these don't clash with any major browser's built-in shortcuts, e. g.

• 1 = Home Page
• 0 = List of access keys on this website.

  <div id="navigation">
    <h2>Navigation</h2>
    <ul>
      <li><a accesskey="1" href="/">Home page</a></li>
      <li><a accesskey="2" href="/about">About</a></li>
      <li><a accesskey="0" href="/accesskeys">Access keys</a></li>
    </ul>
  </div>

There is no standard way to let users know the access keys that are available on the page. Some suggestions can be found in Accesskeys: Unlocking Hidden Navigation.