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    Introduction to HTML
    • 14 May 2024
    • 2 Minutes to read
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    Contents

    Introduction to HTML

    • Updated on 14 May 2024
    • 2 Minutes to read
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    Article summary

    Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard language used to create documents made to display in a web browser. HTML uses nested sections to define and organize the content of the site, including images, links, and text. A web browser, like Chrome or Firefox, references an HTML document to render the webpage you see when you visit a URL.

    HTML Element

    An HTML element consists of an opening tag, the content, and a closing tag. These tags can be used to create a bulleted list, add a table, embed pictures and videos into the website, and much more. Below is a list of common tags you might see while web scraping. This is not an all-encompassing list and there are many more tags, so do not be alarmed if in your HTML journey you discover something new.

    TagTag nameDescription
    <p></p>Paragraph tagUsed to define paragraph content.
    <a></a>Anchor tagUsed to link one page to another page.
    <li></li>List tagUsed to list the content.
    <ul></ul>Unordered List tagUsed to list the content without order.
    <ol></ol>Ordered List tagUsed to list the content in numeric order.
    <img></img>Image tagUsed to add image elements - note that this is a single tag. This is because the image itself is embedded in the image tag. There is nothing to close off.
    <table></table>Table tagUsed to create a table.
    <th/th>Table header tagUsed to define the column header in a table.
    <tr/tr>Table row tagUsed to define a row in a table.
    <td/td>Table cell tagUsed to define the content cells in a table.
    <form> </form>Form tagUsed to create an html form.
    <h1> </h1>Header 1 tagUsed to define headings, this should only be used once per page.
    <h2> </h2>Header 2 tagUsed to define headings, usually a sub-header.
    <h3> </h3>Header 3 tagUsed to define headings. usually used for smaller sub-header.
    <em></em>Emphasis tagUsed to define emphasis (italicized) on a word(s).
    <b></b>Bold tagUsed to define bold text.
    <div></div>Divider tagTypically used to divide the website into different sections.

    Attribute / Value

    An HTML element can include an attribute that controls or modifies its behavior. Attributes generally display as name-value pairs, where the attribute name and value are separated using =.

    In the example HTML below, the <span> element includes the <class> attribute and the “price”value:

    <span class="price">29.99</span>

    HTML Structure:

    HTML documents use a hierarchy similar to a family tree to organize content, so it's common to use family terms to describe the relationship between elements. A parent is any element that contains one or more child element, and child elements are typically indented under their parent element.

    image.png

    Let's start at the top:

    • Parent element:
      • HTML is parent to head and body.
      • head is parent to title, while body is parent to h1* and p.
    • Sibling element
      • head and body are siblings.
      • h1 and p are siblings.
    • Child element
      • title is a child to head.
      • h1 and p are children to body.
    • Grandparent/ancestor:
      • HTML is a grandparent or ancestor to title, h1 and p.

    Why it matters

    The better you understand HTML, the easier it is to create effective web harvesting agents. A grasp of HTML elements and their place within a hierarchy allows you to create and customize XPath expressions that facilitate consistent and clean data capture.

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