HTML a tag

Note: If you don't know what a tag is and/or how you must use it we recommend you to read our
HTML tags and attributes tutorial that you can find in our HTML tutorials section.
Table of contents

Description

Attributes

Events

Examples

Description
The HTML a tag defines an anchor and may be used to establish a link to other document, as a
bookmark on a page, or as both of them.
When used to set a bookmark you must define an id or name (use "id" for Strict XHTML or both
"id" and "name" with the same value for compatibility) to be able to point to it in other instances.
The id must be unique and follow the rules described for the "name" attribute. If no "href"
attribute is defined, the visual aspect of text is not changed.
Example:
Code
<a id="bookmark" name="bookmark">First bookmark
named as "bookmark". We'll refer to it in other
examples.</a>

View
First bookmark named as
"bookmark". We'll refer to it in
other examples.

When the HTML a tag is used to link to other page the "href" attribute is defined and describes
the location of the referred resource. The links are usually rendered in a special way by browsers
using text decorations, as color and/or underline.
Example:
Code
<a href="http://www.w3.org/">World Wide Web

View
World Wide Web

consortium</a><br />
<a href="comment.html">The HTML comment tag</a>

consortium
The HTML comment tag

And finally, the HTML a tag may be used for both purposes. While referring to another
document, this anchor will set a bookmark on this page.
Code
<a id="doctypelink" href="doctype.html">The HTML !DOCTYPE
tag</a>

View
The HTML !DOCTYPE
tag

Attributes
id (name)
The "id" attribute assigns an identifier to the associated element. This identifier must be unique
in the document and can be used to refer to that element.
Example:
Code begin <p id="paragraph1">This is the first paragraph named as paragraph1. To
dynamically change its properties use this identifier.</p>Code end

class (cdata)
The "class" attribute assigns a class name (or a list of class names separated by spaces) to the
container element. It's used with style sheets and tells the browser the class to which the element
is associated with. A class gives visual attributes to elements.
Example:
Code begin <p class="references">This article is based on the book "Wind in the trees" by Jhon
L. Brooks</p>
<p class="references important">This article is based on the book "Wind in the trees" by Jhon L.
Brooks... and is more important than the one before.</p>Code end

style (style)

Defines a visual style of this element. Is a better practice to define styles attributes in external
style sheets grouping them in classes. Attributes in the "style" parameter must preserve this order
"name : value" and be separated by a semi-colon.
If you're writing XHTML code it's recommended not to use this attribute and try style sheet
classes (with the "class" attribute).
Example:
Code begin <p style="color: #0000FF; font-size: 12pt">This is a paragraph with a defined
style</p>
<p>And this is another text without style.</p>Code end

title (text)
Indicates a title for the element. Used to give a short description about the element that is usually
shown as a "tool tip" when the user put the mouse pointer over the element.
Example:
Code
View
<a title="HTMLQuick.com" href="http://www.htmlquick.com">HTML code</a> HTML code

charset (charset)
Specifies the character encoding of the target URL. Refer to the type definition and the reference
for character encoding for more information.
Example:
Code begin <a charset="utf-8" href="http://www.htmlquick.com">HTML code</a>Code end

href (uri)
Specifies the destination resource for the element. Commonly used to refer to pages in the same
domain name or external pages.
Example:

Code
Link to page on this site: <a
href="http://www.htmlquick.com/tutorials/links.html">Links in HTML
tutorial</a><br />
Link to external site: <a href="http://www.w3.org">World Wide Web
Consortium</a>

View
Link to page on this
site: Links in HTML
tutorial
Link to external site:
World Wide Web
Consortium

hreflang (langcode)
Defines the destination resources' language. This attribute may only be used when the "href"
attribute is present.
Example:
Code begin <a hreflang="en" href="english-version.html">English version</a>Code end

type (content-type)
Tells the browser the content type of the resource named in "href" attribute.
Example:
Code begin <a href="logo.gif" type="image/gif">Check out our logo</a><br />
<a href="article.html" type="text/html">Read the article</a>Code end

rel (link-types)
Describes de relationship from the current document to the destination resource. In other words
defines the meaning of the referred resource for the actual document.
Example:
Code begin <a rel="prev" href="article1.html">Read previous article</a>
<a rel="next" href="article3.html">Read next article</a>
<a rel="copyright" href="copyright.html">Article copyrights</a>
<a rel="alternate" href="english-version.html" hreflang="en">English version</a>Code end

rev (link-types)
Stablish a relationship from the resource pointed by the "href" attribute to the current document.
In other words, establishes what represents the actual document for the referred resource.
Example:
Code begin List of articles:
<a rev="index" href="article1.html">Article 1</a>
<a rev="index" href="article2.html">Article 2</a>
...Code end

shape
Specifies the form of a shape used to define an area. Values are case-insensitive and may be one
of these:

default: Specifies the entire region.

rect: Define a rectangular region.

circle: Define a circular region.

poly: Define a polygonal region.

coords
Defines the coordinates and position of a shape. It's used together with the "shape" attribute, and
the coordinates depend of the "shape" value:

rect: left-x, top-y, right-x, bottom-y.

circle: center-x, center-y, radius. If the radius is measured in percentage, its calculated as
that percentage of the smaller size of the associated object.

poly: x1, y1, x2, y2, ..., xN, yN. This defines a closed polygon. If you define an open
polygon, the browser should close it by adding a segment from the first point to the last
one.

Coordinates are relative to the top-left corner of the associated object. Each coordinate is of
length type and are separated by commas.

target (frame-target)
Specifies the name of the frame where the destination document should be loaded. Refer to the
frame-target type definition for further information.
Code begin Open in a new window: <a href="http://www.w3c.org" target="_blank">WWW
Consortium</a>
Open in a frame named "content" (frame must be present in the actual frameset): <a
href="http://www.w3c.org" target="content">WWW Consortium</a>Code end

tabindex (number)
Specifies the position of this element in the tabbing order. The tabbing order defines the
sequence with all the elements than can receive the focus. Users can navigate this sequence via
keyboard (usually with the "tab" key).

accesskey (character)
Stablish a relationship between this element and a character key, allowing the user to activate it
with that key (usually when used together with the "alt" key). The activation result depends on
the actual element's nature. For links, this action automatically follows the link, and other
elements simply get the focus.

name (name)
Defines a unique name for the element so it can be located later. It's used to set bookmarks on a
page. It's recommended to use the "id" attribute instead because of its compatibility with
XHTML code.