HTML 5 <a> Tag
The HTML <a>
tag is used for creating a hyperlink to another web page.
You can use the target
attribute to specify whether to open the web page in a new browser window or not.
You can also use this tag to link an image.
Demo
Attributes
HTML tags can contain one or more attributes. Attributes are added to a tag to provide the browser with more information about how the tag should appear or behave. Attributes consist of a name and a value separated by an equals (=) sign, with the value surrounded by double quotes. Here's an example, style="color:black;"
.
There are 3 kinds of attributes that you can add to your HTML tags: Element-specific, global, and event handler content attributes.
The attributes that you can add to this tag are listed below.
Element-Specific Attributes
The following table shows the attributes that are specific to this tag/element.
Attribute | Description | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
href | Specifies the URL of a page that the link goes to. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
target | Specifies the target frame to load the page into. Only to be used when the href attribute is present.
Possible values:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
download | Indicates that the link is to be used for downloading a resource (such as a file). The author can specify a default file name by providing a value. This attribute is optional.
Value: [Default file name.] (optional) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
rel | Describes the relationship between the current document and the destination URI. Only to be used when the href attribute is present. Multiple values can be provided, separated by a space.
Possible values:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
hreflang | Language code of the destination URL. Only to be used when the href attribute is present. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
type | Specifies the MIME type of the linked resource. Only to be used when the href attribute is present. |
Global Attributes
The following attributes are standard across all HTML 5 tags.
- accesskey
- class
- contenteditable
- contextmenu
- dir
- draggable
- dropzone
- hidden
- id
- itemid
- itemprop
- itemref
- itemscope
- itemtype
- lang
- spellcheck
- style
- tabindex
- title
- translate
For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 global attributes.
Event Handler Content Attributes
Event handler content attributes enable you to invoke a script from within your HTML. The script is invoked when a certain "event" occurs. Each event handler content attribute deals with a different event.
Here are the standard HTML 5 event handler content attributes.
- onabort
- oncancel
- onblur
- oncanplay
- oncanplaythrough
- onchange
- onclick
- oncontextmenu
- ondblclick
- ondrag
- ondragend
- ondragenter
- ondragexit
- ondragleave
- ondragover
- ondragstart
- ondrop
- ondurationchange
- onemptied
- onended
- onerror
- onfocus
- onformchange
- onforminput
- oninput
- oninvalid
- onkeydown
- onkeypress
- onkeyup
- onload
- onloadeddata
- onloadedmetadata
- onloadstart
- onmousedown
- onmousemove
- onmouseout
- onmouseover
- onmouseup
- onmousewheel
- onpause
- onplay
- onplaying
- onprogress
- onratechange
- onreadystatechange
- onscroll
- onseeked
- onseeking
- onselect
- onshow
- onstalled
- onsubmit
- onsuspend
- ontimeupdate
- onvolumechange
- onwaiting
For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 event handler content attributes.