HTML SEMANTIC TAGS CHEAT SHEET

Semantic HTML introduces elements that can tell developers exactly what the element does or where it’s placed based on the name of that element.


Basic Structure

Tag Name Description
<header> Header Describes the content at the top of the page body. It may include a logo, navigational links or a search bar.
<nav> Nav Encapsulates the page’s navigational links. It is often placed inside the header or footer.
<main> Main Encapsulates the main content of a page between the header/navigation and the footer areas.
<footer> Footer Includes the page’s footer content at the bottom of the body

Sections, Articles and Asides

Tag Name Description
<section> Section Defines elements in a document, such as chapters, headings, or any other area of the document with the same theme.
<article> Article Holds content that makes sense on its own such as articles, blogs, and comments.
Generally developers will use section to define a theme for the webpage and use article to write independent content for that theme. This does not mean that article has to be used with section.
<aside> Aside Used to mark additional information that can enhance another element but isn’t required in order to understand the main content.

Media

Tag Name Description
<video> Video Allows us to add videos to our website.
<audio> Audio Allows us to implement audio into our website
<embed> Embed Can be used to implement any type of media
These elements are universal in that they all use the src attribute to link the source of the content. Video and audio requires a closing tag while embed is a self-closing tag.
<figure> Figure Used to encapsulate media such as an image, diagram. or code snippet
<figcaption> Figure Caption Used to describe the media encapsulated within the figure element
Developers will normally use figcaption within the figure element to group the media and description. This way, if a developer decides to change the position of the media, the description will follow along with it.