Simple HTML For Article Directories

This article introduces the following HTML tags: underline < u >, bold < b >, italics < i >, line break < br >, unordered html list < ul >, list item < li > and anchor < a >, and should be all that you need to know for a simple article.

To make sure that the HTML tags in this article are not mistaken for actual formatting tags, they will have spaces before and after the opening and closing angle brackets. When using the tags for your own articles, remove the 2 spaces.  For easier viewing, the text that is to be in your article will be in italics.

Ready? Onward...

The Open And Close Tags Of HTML

Most HTML tags have an opening and a closing tag, while a few tags are used by themselves.

In the sentence below, the italics tag needs to be closed and is used as follows:

< i >This is in italics.< /i >

Notice the opening tag, < i >, and the closing tag, < /i >.

But the line break tag does not need to be closed and is used as shown:

There is a line break after this sentence.< br >

Nesting Of HTML Tags Within Each Other

Nesting just means that the tags can be used within each other. But do be careful not to made the common error of interlinking instead of nesting the tags.

This is correct:

< i >< b >This text in bold and italics.< /b >< /i >

The following is also correct:

< i >The word < u >underlined< /u > is < u >underlined< /u >.< /i >

This is incorrect:

< b >< i >This text will not be bolded and be in italics.< /b >< /i >

The Bold, Underline And Italic Tag

The bold, italic and underline HTML tags are < b >, < i > and < u > respectively. They have a corresponding closing tag which are < /b >, < /i > and < /u >. They are used to bold your text, put it in italics and to underline it.

The following will bold, italicize and underline the text enclosed:

< u >< b >< i >This line is in italics, underlined and bold.< /i >< /b >< /u >

Line Break Tag

This HTML tag is used to start a new line. This tag is used by itself and does not need a closing tag.

It can be used in the following way:

The line break tag at the end of this line inserts a line break.< br >

You are also permitted to put 2 or even more line breaks together:

You have inserted 2 line breaks after this sentence.< br >< br >

The Anchor HTML Tag

This is the tag that you have to pay particular attention to as it is the most complicated. It is also the one that will bring visitors to your website.

Let's say you want to link to your blog or website at MySiteDotCom. you would write something like the following:

Please visit my site < a href="MySiteDotCom" >here< /a >.

Note that in the previous example, the only word that will be underlined and clickable is the word "here".  In addition, MySiteDotCom must be an actual url.

The Unordered HTML List And List Item Tags

These 2 tags are used together to create an unordered list. The unordered HTML list tag < ul > is used to indicate the start and end of the list while the list item tag < li > indicates each individual item on the list.

As an example, the following is an unordered list of 3 items:

This is a list of 3 items:

< ul >< li >First Item< /li >

< li >Second Item< /li >

< li >Third Item< /li >< /ul >

Notice that the list item tags are nested within the unordered HTML list tag.

Conclusion

Well, we are done. If this is your first time, you will probably need to try it out once or twice. After that, I guarantee that it will be second nature. And remember that there will be some differences in which tag are accepted by which article directory. So, before actually submitting your article, always use the preview button to check that your article displays correctly.