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Commonly Used Text Tags

The primary method used to convey information on most Web pages is text. There are several simple ways you can control the display format of text.

Paragraphs and Line Breaks
The text tag you'll probably use most is , which is used to start a new paragraph. is one of those tags that doesn't require a closing tag, although can be used if you wish.

The tag causes the browser to skip a line before outputting the text, with the result that paragraphs are separated by blank space. It has one attribute: align, which can be set to left, right, or center. If you don't specify an alignment, the paragraph will align left. Here's a sample of the tag in action:

This paragraph is centered. This paragraph is aligned right. This one is aligned left.

produces:

This paragraph is centered.

This paragraph is aligned right.

This one is aligned left.

To cause a line break - like pressing ENTER in a word processor - you have to use a tag. Simply breaking text onto multiple lines like this:

This is line one. This is line two.

will have no effect. The browser will display:

This is line one.This is line two.

To get the text on separate lines, use the line break tag like this:

This is line one. This is line two.

You don't actually have to put the lines on separate lines; they can be on the same line with the between them, and the effect is the same.

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