HTML supports ordered, unordered and definition lists.

Unordered Lists

An unordered list is a list of items. The list items are marked with bullets (typically small black circles).

An unordered list starts with the <ul> tag. Each list item starts with the <li> tag.

<ul>
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ul>

Here is how it looks in a browser:

• Coffee
• Milk

Inside a list item you can put paragraphs, line breaks, images, links, other lists, etc.

Ordered Lists

An ordered list is also a list of items. The list items are marked with numbers.

An ordered list starts with the <ol> tag. Each list item starts with the <li> tag.

<ol>
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ol>

Here is how it looks in a browser:

1. Coffee
2. Milk

Inside a list item you can put paragraphs, line breaks, images, links, other lists, etc.

Definition Lists

A definition list is not a list of items. This is a list of terms and explanation of the terms.

A definition list starts with the <dl> tag. Each definition-list term starts with the <dt> tag. Each definition-list definition starts with the <dd> tag.

<dl>
<dt>Coffee</dt>
<dd>Black hot drink</dd>
<dt>Milk</dt>
<dd>White cold drink</dd>
</dl>

Here is how it looks in a browser:

Coffee

Black hot drink

Milk

White cold drink

Inside a definition-list definition (the <dd> tag) you can put paragraphs, line breaks, images, links, other lists, etc.

HTML Forms and Input

 HTML Forms are used to select different kinds of user input.

Forms

A form is an area that can contain form elements.

Form elements are elements that allow the user to enter information (like text fields, textarea fields, drop-down menus, radio buttons, checkboxes, etc.) in a form.

A form is defined with the <form> tag.

<form>
  <input>
  <input>
</form>

Input

The most used form tag is the <input> tag. The type of input is specified with the type attribute. The most commonly used input types are explained below.

Text Fields

Text fields are used when you want the user to type letters, numbers, etc. in a form.

<form>
First name: 
<input type="text" name="firstname">
<br>
Last name: 
<input type="text" name="lastname">
</form>

How it looks in a browser:

Note that the form itself is not visible. Also note that in most browsers, the width of the text field is 20 characters by default. 

Radio Buttons

Radio Buttons are used when you want the user to select one of a limited number of choices.

<form>
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="male"> Male
<br>
<input type="radio" name="sex" value="female"> Female
</form>

How it looks in a browser:

Note that only one option can be chosen.

Checkboxes

Checkboxes are used when you want the user to select one or more options of a limited number of choices.

<form>
<input type="checkbox" name="bike" value="yes">
I have a bike
<br>
<input type="checkbox" name="car" value="yes">
I have a car
</form>

How it looks in a browser:

The Form's Action Attribute and the Submit Button

When the user clicks on the "Submit" button, the content of the form is sent to another file. The form's action attribute defines the name of the file to send the content to. The file defined in the action attribute usually does something with the received input.

<form name="input" action="html_form_action.asp"
method="get">
Username: 
<input type="text" name="user">
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>

How it looks in a browser:

If you type some characters in the text field above, and click the "Submit" button, you will send your input to a page called "html_form_action.asp". That page will show you the received input.

Form Tags:

NN: Netscape, IE: Internet Explorer

HTML Images

With HTML you can display images in a document.

The Image Tag and the Src Attribute

In HTML, images are defined with the <img> tag. 

The <img> tag is empty, which means that it contains attributes only and it has no closing tag.

To display an image on a page, you need to use the src attribute. Src stands for "source". The value of the src attribute is the URL of the image you want to display on your page.

The syntax of defining an image:

<img src="url">

The URL points to the location where the image is stored. An image named "boat.gif" located in the directory "images" on 

The browser puts the image where the image tag occurs in the document. If you put an image tag between two paragraphs, the browser shows the first paragraph, then the image, and then the second paragraph.

The Alt Attribute

The alt attribute is used to define an "alternate text" for an image. The value of the alt attribute is an author-defined text:

<img src="boat.gif" alt="Big Boat">

The "alt" attribute tells the reader what he or she is missing on a page if the browser can't load images. The browser will then display the alternate text instead of the image. It is a good practice to include the "alt" attribute for each image on a page, to improve the display and usefulness of your document for people who have text-only browsers.

Basic Notes - Useful Tips

If an HTML file contains ten images - eleven files are required to display the page right. Loading images take time, so my best advice is: Use images carefully.

Image Tags:

NN: Netscape, IE: Internet Explorer

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