Web developers these days are often expected to know and work in multiple languages. As a result, it's tricky to learn everything a language has to offer and easy to find yourself not utilizing the full potential of some more specialized but very useful tags.
Unfortunately, we haven't been tapping into the full potential of these more obscure HTML tags as of late. But it's never too late to get back into the game and start writing code that taps into the power of some under-used tags.
Here are the most underused and misunderstood tags in HTML. While they might be less familiar, they're still quite useful in certain situations.
<cite>
All of us will be familiar with the <blockquote> tag, but did you know about <blockquote>'s little brother <cite>? <cite> allows you to define the text inside the element as a reference. Typically, the browser will render the text inside the <cite> tag in italics, but this can be changed with a touch of CSS.
The <cite> tag is really useful for citing bibliographic and other site references. Here's an example of how to use the cite tag in a paragraph:
<p>David Allen's breakthrough organization book <cite>Getting Things Done</cite> has taken the web by storm.</p>
<optgroup>
The <optgroup> tag is a great way to add a little definition between groups of options inside a select box. This allows the select list to visually separate the items.
If you needed to group movie listings by time, for example, then it would look like this:
<acronym>
The <acronym> tag is a way to define or further explain a group of words. When you hover over text that has the <acronym> tag used, a box appears below with the text from the title tag. For example:
The microblogging site <acronym title="Founded in 2006"> Twitter</acronym> has recently struggled with downtimes.
<address>
The <address> tag is quite an obscure little tag, but that doesn't mean it isn't useful! As the name implies, <address> allows you to semantically mark up addresses in HTML. The nifty little tag will also italicize all of the data within the brackets, though the style can easily be changed through simple CSS.
<address>Glen Stansberry 1234 Web Dev Lane Anywhere, USA </address>
<ins> and <del>
If you want to display editing revisions with markup, <ins> and <del> are just the ticket. As the name implies, <ins> highlights what's been added to the document with an underline, and <del> shows what's been taken out with a strikethrough.
John <del>likes</del> <ins>LOVES</ins> his new iPod.
<label>
Form elements seem the easiest to forget when marking up a document. Of the form elements, one of the most forgotten is the <label> tag. Not only is it a quick way to note the label's text, but the <label> tag can also pass a "for" attribute to specify which element is to be given the label. These <label> tags are great for styling, and they also allow you to make the caption clickable for the associated element.
<label for="username">Username</label> <input id="username" type="text" />
<fieldset>
Fieldset is a nifty little attribute that you can add to your forms to logically group form elements. Once applied, the <fieldset> tag draws a box around the elements within the fieldset. Bonus points for adding a <label> tag within the fieldset to define the title of the group.
<abbr>
The <abbr> tag is much akin to the <acronym> tag, except the <abbr> tag is only used to define abbreviated words. Just like <acronym>, you define a title within the tag. When a visitor hovers over the abbreviated text, the full definition appears below. The <abbr> tag is rarely used, but the benefits are many for screen readers, spellcheckers, and search engines.
<abbr title="Sergeant">Sgt.</abbr> Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club is my favorite album.
<wbr>
The <wbr> tag is an incredibly obscure tag. To be honest, I doubt many of you have come into contact with the tag, as it's hardly ever used. (Truthfully, I hadn't seen the tag before I started researching this article.) Essentially, the tag allows you to specify a place where you think a line break might be useful, but only if needed. This tag is unique as it relies on the discretion of the browser to insert the line break, if needed. It's perfect for creating layouts that you want to avoid having horizontal scrollbars.
<details>The details tag is used to provide or hide more information about the content on a website. It is used to create an interactive widget that the user can open or close. The content of the details tag is visible when opening the set attributes.
The details element is combined with the <summary> tag to create a headline that can be clicked to open or close the information you wish to learn more about.
<mark>
The <mark> tag is used to highlight a text or a piece of information that is very important and needs attention.
<p>The <mark>mark</mark> tag is used to highlight a text or a piece of information that is very important needs attention</p>
<meter>
The <meter> tag is used to define a scale for measuring in a specific range and can also handle fractional values. A gauge is another name for it. The interpretation of the <meter> tag can be determined using six different attributes.
value: specifies the current measurement value<strong>min</strong>: specifies the lower bound of the range <strong>max</strong>: specifies the upper bound of the range <strong>low</strong>: specifies the range that is a low value<strong>high</strong>: specifies the range that is a high value<strong>optimum</strong>: specifies the best or optimal numeric rangeHere's an example of the <meter> tag usage:
<progress>The HTML < progress> tag is used to show how far work has progressed. It makes it simple for web developers to add a progress bar to their website. It could also be used to represent the competence level of a developer's skill on their portfolio website or the progress of a file uploading with the <progress> tag.
The max attribute specifies the range of the progress bar.
<meta>The <meta> description and author tag is another thing that is often overlooked by developers when coding. This tag is used to specify the description or keywords of the HTML document which helps users find your website or content easily.
<meta name="keywords" content="managing, Javascript, state "> <meta name="description" content="All about how to manage the state of your application with Javascript">
The author <meta> tag is used to specify the author of the document.
<meta name="author" content="Ezekiel Lawson">
<q>The <q> element is used to identify quoted text on a web page. It is primarily used to indicate a brief quotation.
<q>Tests are stories we tell the next generation of programmers on a project.</q>
The <cite> attribute specifies the source of the quotation.
<p><cite>Roy Osherove</cite> said, <q>Tests are stories we tell the next generation of programmers on a project.</q>.</p>
<base>For relative links, the HTML base element is used to provide a base URL. You can, for instance, specify the base URL at the top of your page, and then other relative links on the page will use the same URL.
<base href="https://code.tutsplus.com/" target="_blank">
Please note that the <base> tag must be placed between the document's <head> tags, and each document can only have one <base> element. For example:
<html>
<head>
<title>Base Tag Example</title>
<base href="https://code.tutsplus.com/" target="_blank">
</head>
<body>
<p>Understand <a href="articles/data-structures-with-javascript-stack-and-queue--cms-23348">Data Structures</a>.</p>
</body>
</html>
That's just a few of the lesser-known HTML tags that you might not have known. Maybe you found one that will be useful on your next web project?
This post has been updated with contributions from Ezekiel Lawson. Ezekiel is a front-end developer who focuses on writing clean, maintainable code with web technologies like JavaScript, Vue.js, HTML, and CSS.
Create Modern Vue Apps Using Create-Vue and Vite
/
5Pros and Cons of Using WordPress
/
-4How to Fix the “There Has Been a Critical Error in Your Website” Error in WordPress
/
1How To Fix The “There Has Been A Critical Error in Your Website” Error in WordPress
How to Create a Privacy Policy Page in WordPress
/
7WordPress Website Maintenance Guide For Beginners
/
6How Long Does It Take to Learn JavaScript?
/
-1How Long Does it Take to Learn JavaScript
/
1The Best Way to Deep Copy an Object in JavaScript
/
-2
4
-6Adding and Removing Elements From Arrays in JavaScript
/
-1Create a JavaScript AJAX Post Request: With and Without jQuery
/
85 Real-Life Uses for the JavaScript reduce() Method
/
-10How to Enable or Disable a Button With [removed] jQuery vs. Vanilla
/
2How to Enable or Disable a Button With [removed] jQuery vs Vanilla
/
-3Confirm Yes or No With JavaScript
/
-3How to Change the URL in [removed] Redirecting
/
-415+ Best WordPress Twitter Widgets
/
-227 Best Tab and Accordion Widget Plugins for WordPress (Free & Premium)
/
1121 Best Tab and Accordion Widget Plugins for WordPress (Free & Premium)
/
-1130 HTML Best Practices for Beginners
/
-731 Best WordPress Calendar Plugins and Widgets (With 5 Free Plugins)
/
625 Ridiculously Impressive HTML5 Canvas Experiments
/
-4
1How to Implement Email Verification for New Members
/
2How to Create a Simple Web-Based Chat Application
/
630 Popular WordPress User Interface Elements
/
-4Top 18 Best Practices for Writing Super Readable Code
/
3Best Affiliate WooCommerce Plugins Compared
/
-1018 Best WordPress Star Rating Plugins
/
1410+ Best WordPress Twitter Widgets
/
320+ Best WordPress Booking and Reservation Plugins
/
5Working With Tables in React: Part Two
/
-4Best CSS Animations and Effects on CodeCanyon
/
-1630 CSS Best Practices for Beginners
/
4How to Create a Custom WordPress Plugin From Scratch
/
510 Best Responsive HTML5 Sliders for Images and Text… and 3 Free Options
/
-516 Best Tab and Accordion Widget Plugins for WordPress
/
-518 Best WordPress Membership Plugins and 5 Free Plugins
/
325 Best WooCommerce Plugins for Products, Pricing, Payments and More
/
210 Best WordPress Twitter Widgets
1 /
1512 Best Contact Form PHP Scripts for 2020
/
-420 Popular WordPress User Interface Elements
/
-210 Best WordPress Star Rating Plugins
/
-412 Best CSS Animations on CodeCanyon
/
112 Best WordPress Booking and Reservation Plugins
/
220 Best WordPress Calendar Plugins and Widgets
/
-312 Elegant CSS Pricing Tables for Your Latest Web Project
/
724 Best WordPress Form Plugins for 2020
/
-214 Best PHP Event Calendar and Booking Scripts
/
-2Create a Blog for Each Category or Department in Your WooCommerce Store
/
28 Best WordPress Booking and Reservation Plugins
/
-18Best Exit Popups for WordPress Compared
/
20Best Exit Popups for WordPress Compared
/
-611 Best Tab & Accordion WordPress Widgets & Plugins
/
-1012 Best Tab & Accordion WordPress Widgets & Plugins
1 /
1New Course: Practical React Fundamentals
/
3Short Course: Better Angular App Architecture With Modules
/
3Preview Our New Course on Angular Material
/
4Object-Oriented PHP With Classes and Objects
/
3Best Practices for ARIA Implementation
/
-3Accessible Apps: Barriers to Access and Getting Started With Accessibility
/
-4Dramatically Speed Up Your React Front-End App Using Lazy Loading
/
1915 Best Modern JavaScript Admin Templates for React, Angular, and Vue.js
/
-1515 Best Modern JavaScript Admin Templates for React, Angular and Vue.js
/
219 Best JavaScript Admin Templates for React, Angular, and Vue.js
/
3New Course: Build an App With JavaScript and the MEAN Stack
/
12Hands-on With ARIA: Accessibility Recipes for Web Apps
/
910 Best WordPress Facebook Widgets
13 /
-5Hands-on With ARIA: Accessibility for eCommerce
/
6New eBooks Available for Subscribers
/
-6Hands-on With ARIA: Homepage Elements and Standard Navigation
/
10
-8Site Accessibility: Getting Started With ARIA
/
4How Secure Are Your JavaScript Open-Source Dependencies?
/
-1New Course: Secure Your WordPress Site With SSL
/
-3Testing Components in React Using Jest and Enzyme
/
-9Testing Components in React Using Jest: The Basics
/
-515 Best PHP Event Calendar and Booking Scripts
/
-1Create Interactive Gradient Animations Using Granim.js
/
10How to Build Complex, Large-Scale Vue.js Apps With Vuex
1Examples of Dependency Injection in PHP With Symfony Components
/
-6Set Up Routing in PHP Applications Using the Symfony Routing Component
1 /
11A Beginner’s Guide to Regular Expressions in JavaScript
/
13Introduction to Popmotion: Custom Animation Scrubber
/
-6Introduction to Popmotion: Pointers and Physics
/
-10New Course: Connect to a Database With Laravel’s Eloquent ORM
/
-5How to Create a Custom Settings Panel in WooCommerce
/
-12Building the DOM faster: speculative parsing, async, defer and preload
120 Useful PHP Scripts Available on CodeCanyon
3 /
51How to Find and Fix Poor Page Load Times With Raygun
/
1Introduction to the Stimulus Framework
/
-12Single-Page React Applications With the React-Router and React-Transition-Group Modules
/
2
812 Best Contact Form PHP Scripts
1 /
-5Getting Started With the Mojs Animation Library: The ShapeSwirl and Stagger Modules
/
1Getting Started With the Mojs Animation Library: The Shape Module
/
-4Getting Started With the Mojs Animation Library: The HTML Module
/
4Project Management Considerations for Your WordPress Project
/
-88 Things That Make Jest the Best React Testing Framework
/
3Creating an Image Editor Using CamanJS: Layers, Blend Modes, and Events
/
-2New Short Course: Code a Front-End App With GraphQL and React
/
1Creating an Image Editor Using CamanJS: Applying Basic Filters
/
-14Creating an Image Editor Using CamanJS: Creating Custom Filters and Blend Modes
/
-3Challenge: Create a To-Do List in React
1 /
1Deploy PHP Web Applications Using Laravel Forge
/
-2Getting Started With the Mojs Animation Library: The Burst Module
/
6
-1010 Things Men Can Do to Support Women in Tech
/
1A Gentle Introduction to Higher-Order Components in React: Best Practices
/
-4Challenge: Build a React Component
/
-4A Gentle Introduction to HOC in React: Learn by Example
/
5A Gentle Introduction to Higher-Order Components in React
/
-6Creating Pretty Popup Messages Using SweetAlert2
/
5Creating Stylish and Responsive Progress Bars Using ProgressBar.js
/
1818 Best Contact Form PHP Scripts for 2022
/
-3How to Make a Real-Time Sports Application Using Node.js
/
-1Creating a Blogging App Using Angular & MongoDB: Delete Post
/
-15Set Up an OAuth2 Server Using Passport in Laravel
/
1Creating a Blogging App Using Angular & MongoDB: Edit Post
/
-2Creating a Blogging App Using Angular & MongoDB: Add Post
/
-1Introduction to Mocking in Python
/
-1Creating a Blogging App Using Angular & MongoDB: Show Post
/
9Creating a Blogging App Using Angular & MongoDB: Home
/
8
3Creating a Blogging App Using Angular & MongoDB: Login
/
13Creating Your First Angular App: Implement Routing
/
12Persisted WordPress Admin Notices: Part 4
/
-4Creating Your First Angular App: Components, Part 2
/
4Persisted WordPress Admin Notices: Part 3
/
4
8Persisted WordPress Admin Notices: Part 2
/
-3Create Your First Angular App: Storing and Accessing Data
/
3Persisted WordPress Admin Notices: Part 1
/
-3Error and Performance Monitoring for Web & Mobile Apps Using Raygun
/
6Using Luxon for Date and Time in JavaScript
7 /
-6How to Create an Audio Oscillator With the Web Audio API
/
-4How to Cache Using Redis in Django Applications
/
220 Essential WordPress Utilities to Manage Your Site
/
-6Introduction to API Calls With React and Axios
/
18Beginner’s Guide to Angular 4: HTTP
/
12Rapid Web Deployment for Laravel With GitHub, Linode, and RunCloud.io
/
9Beginners Guide to Angular 4: Routing
/
-9Beginner’s Guide to Angular 4: Components
/
2Creating a Drop-Down Menu for Mobile Pages
/
6Introduction to Forms in Angular 4: Writing Custom Form Validators
/
510 Best WordPress Booking & Reservation Plugins
/
-1Getting Started With Redux: Connecting Redux With React
/
15Getting Started With Redux: Learn by Example
/
16Getting Started With Redux: Why Redux?
/
9Understanding Recursion With JavaScript
/
-3How to Auto Update WordPress Salts
/
-7How to Download Files in Python
/
-3
-22Eloquent Mutators and Accessors in Laravel
1 /
18
-11
1310 Best HTML5 Sliders for Images and Text
/
6Site Authentication in Node.js: User Signup
/
-4Creating a Task Manager App Using Ionic: Part 2
/
1Creating a Task Manager App Using Ionic: Part 1
/
1
4Introduction to Forms in Angular 4: Template-Driven Forms
/
-224 Essential WordPress Utilities to Manage Your Site
/
-225 Essential WordPress Utilities to Manage Your Site
/
-11Get Rid of Bugs Quickly Using BugReplay
1 /
-16Manipulating HTML5 Canvas Using Konva: Part 1, Getting Started
/
610 Must-See Easy Digital Downloads Extensions for Your WordPress Site
/
-122 Best WordPress Booking and Reservation Plugins
/
-6Understanding ExpressJS Routing
/
-715 Best WordPress Star Rating Plugins
/
13Inheritance and Extending Objects With JavaScript
/
-9Introduction to the CSS Grid Layout With Examples
1 /
1
7Performant Animations Using KUTE.js: Part 5, Easing Functions and Attributes
/
-9Performant Animations Using KUTE.js: Part 4, Animating Text
/
-14Performant Animations Using KUTE.js: Part 3, Animating SVG
/
-9New Course: Code a Quiz App With Vue.js
/
-1Performant Animations Using KUTE.js: Part 2, Animating CSS Properties
/
3
8Performant Animations Using KUTE.js: Part 1, Getting Started
/
110 Best Responsive HTML5 Sliders for Images and Text (Plus 3 Free Options)
/
-3Single-Page Applications With ngRoute and ngAnimate in AngularJS
/
-13Deferring Tasks in Laravel Using Queues
/
-5
4Site Authentication in Node.js: User Signup and Login
/
11Working With Tables in React, Part Two
/
-16Working With Tables in React, Part One
/
6How to Set Up a Scalable, E-Commerce-Ready WordPress Site Using ClusterCS
/
-4New Course on WordPress Conditional Tags
/
2TypeScript for Beginners, Part 5: Generics
/
1
-13Building With Vue.js 2 and Firebase
6 /
11
-7
-1Best Unique Bootstrap JavaScript Plugins
/
-9
-4Essential JavaScript Libraries and Frameworks You Should Know About
/
7
2Vue.js Crash Course: Create a Simple Blog Using Vue.js
/
-13Build a React App With a Laravel RESTful Back End: Part 1, Laravel 5.5 API
/
4API Authentication With Node.js
/
-5Beginner’s Guide to Angular: HTTP
/
7Beginner’s Guide to Angular: Routing
/
-4Beginners Guide to Angular: Routing
/
-5Beginner’s Guide to Angular: Services
/
4How to Create a Custom Authentication Guard in Laravel
/
5Learn Computer Science With [removed] Part 3, Loops
/
-4Build Web Applications Using Node.js
/
1Learn Computer Science With [removed] Part 4, Functions
/
4Learn Computer Science With [removed] Part 2, Conditionals
/
14Learn Computer Science With [removed] Part 1, The Basics
/
-4Create Interactive Charts Using Plotly.js, Part 5: Pie and Gauge Charts
/
-9Create Interactive Charts Using Plotly.js, Part 4: Bubble and Dot Charts
/
18Create Interactive Charts Using Plotly.js, Part 3: Bar Charts
/
-13Awesome JavaScript Libraries and Frameworks You Should Know About
/
-4Create Interactive Charts Using Plotly.js, Part 2: Line Charts
/
-8Bulk Import a CSV File Into MongoDB Using Mongoose With Node.js
/
-5Build a To-Do API With Node, Express, and MongoDB
/
-7Getting Started With End-to-End Testing in Angular Using Protractor
/
9TypeScript for Beginners, Part 4: Classes
/
-10Object-Oriented Programming With JavaScript
/
610 Best Affiliate WooCommerce Plugins Compared
/
8Stateful vs. Stateless Functional Components in React
/
9Make Your JavaScript Code Robust With Flow
/
-5Build a To-Do API With Node and Restify
/
7Testing Components in Angular Using Jasmine: Part 2, Services
/
2Testing Components in Angular Using Jasmine: Part 1
/
-2Creating a Blogging App Using React, Part 6: Tags
/
-11React Crash Course for Beginners, Part 3
/
2React Crash Course for Beginners, Part 2
/
10React Crash Course for Beginners, Part 1
/
2Set Up a React Environment, Part 4
1 /
8Set Up a React Environment, Part 3
/
-12New Course: Get Started With Phoenix
/
-10Set Up a React Environment, Part 2
/
2Set Up a React Environment, Part 1
/
1Command Line Basics and Useful Tricks With the Terminal
/
5How to Create a Real-Time Feed Using Phoenix and React
/
-7Build a React App With a Laravel Back End: Part 2, React
/
2Build a React App With a Laravel RESTful Back End: Part 1, Laravel 9 API
/
-6Creating a Blogging App Using React, Part 5: Profile Page
/
-5Pagination in CodeIgniter: The Complete Guide
/
23JavaScript-Based Animations Using Anime.js, Part 4: Callbacks, Easings, and SVG
JavaScript-Based Animations Using Anime.js, Part 3: Values, Timeline, and Playback
Learn to Code With [removed] Part 1, The Basics
/
510 Elegant CSS Pricing Tables for Your Latest Web Project
/
-8Getting Started With the Flux Architecture in React
/
-3Getting Started With Matter.js: The Composites and Composite Modules
/
4Getting Started With Matter.js: The Engine and World Modules
/
1410 More Popular HTML5 Projects for You to Use and Study
/
-24Understand the Basics of Laravel Middleware
/
-6Iterating Fast With Django & Heroku
/
8Creating a Blogging App Using React, Part 4: Update & Delete Posts
/
4Creating a jQuery Plugin for Long Shadow Design
/
-10How to Register & Use Laravel Service Providers
2 /
-13Unit Testing in React: Shallow vs. Static Testing
/
4Creating a Blogging App Using React, Part 3: Add & Display Post
/
16Creating a Blogging App Using React, Part 2: User Sign-Up
20 /
-6Creating a Blogging App Using React, Part 1: User Sign-In
/
99 More Popular HTML5 Projects for You to Use and Study
/
17Creating a Grocery List Manager Using Angular, Part 2: Managing Items
/
8Dynamic Page Templates in WordPress, Part 3
/
-1Angular vs. React: 7 Key Features Compared
/
5Creating a Grocery List Manager Using Angular, Part 1: Add & Display Items
/
3New eBooks Available for Subscribers in June 2017
/
6Create Interactive Charts Using Plotly.js, Part 1: Getting Started
/
1133 Popular WordPress User Interface Elements
/
2New Course: How to Hack Your Own App
/
-11How to Install Yii on Windows or a Mac
/
5What Is a JavaScript Operator?
/
-5How to Register and Use Laravel Service Providers
/
8
waly Good blog post. I absolutely love this…