HTML attributes

Let's consider the HTML tag for an image.

<img src="http://placehold.it/80x80" alt="An image" />

You'll notice that this is a self-closing tag. That makes sense because images don't have text "inside" them in the same way a paragraph or heading would.

You'll also notice two attributes:

• src, or source
• alt, or alt-text

We use these attributes to specify the URL of the image file we want to display, and some alt-text that will be read out by a screen reader for visually impaired users.

Attributes have a name, an equals sign, and then a value inside double-quote marks. Don't forget the quote marks.

Here is another example of a tag with an attribute:

<a href="http://google.com">Click me</a>

This is an anchor tag, more commonly known as a hyperlink. Unlike the <img> tag, it is not self-closing. The href attribute holds the URL the link will open if clicked.

Some attributes are mandatory for a HTML tag to work, and others are optional.