HTML Style Guide
A consistent style creates clean, readable, and maintainable code. It also makes collaboration easier.
Use Lowercase for Tags and Attributes
Writing tag names and attribute names in lowercase is a widely accepted convention. While browsers will render uppercase tags, lowercase is standard and required for stricter document types like XHTML.
Good: <p>This is a paragraph.</p>
Bad: <P>This is a paragraph.</P>
Always Close HTML Elements
In modern HTML, you are not required to close all elements (like the <p> element). However, it is a strong recommendation to always include the closing tag. It makes the code cleaner and avoids unexpected errors in nesting.
Always Quote Attribute Values
Attribute values should always be enclosed in quotes. Double quotes are the most common, but single quotes are also allowed.
Good:
<p class="note">Bad (Avoid):
<p class=note>Use Indentation for Readability
Always use indentation to show the structure of your HTML document. Indenting nested elements makes the code much easier for humans to read and understand.
Indentation Example
Bad (Hard to read):
<body>
<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
</body>Good (Easy to read):
<body>
<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>
</body>Test Yourself with an Exercise
Which is the recommended way to write tag names in HTML?