---
title: "HTML Attributes: Using attributes in HTML tags"
description: "In HTML, each tag can have different attributes applied. Attributes allow the HTML tags to have specific properties added to them. You can assign a \"class\" to either reuse styles throughout your..."
url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/website/basic-html-attributes/
date: 2011-09-01
modified: 2021-08-16
author: "Brad Markle"
categories: ["Website"]
type: post
lang: en
---
# HTML Attributes: Using attributes in HTML tags
In HTML, [each tag](/support/website/html-reference/) can have different attributes applied. Attributes allow the HTML tags to have specific properties added to them. You can assign a “*class*” to either reuse styles throughout your website or style your elements with the “*style*” attribute. Don’t worry about how the style and class attributes work at this moment, this will be discussed further in our Using & Understanding CSS course.
## Basic HTML attributes
The following example explains how an `` anchor tag uses the attributes “*href*“, “*target*“, and “*title*“.
In this example, the anchor is a hyperlink to Google.com. The href attribute will direct the visitor to Google. The target attribute will open the link in a different window or the same window. In this case _blank opens to a new window or tab. The title attribute will display text when hovering over the link. Below is a small list of common attributes used and a description. Below are the most commonly used HTML attributes.
| Most common HTML Attributes |
| --- |
| class | This attribute is used to apply CSS styles in a style sheet. For example: `.` |
| style | Allows CSS style to be applied to a specific element. An example usage of this is the following: `.` |
| id | This is a particular identifier of the element. This can only be used once per element. For example: `.` |
| title | The title codes information in the tag about the tag. For example in an `` anchor tag, you can use the title attribute to allow a small text pop up when the mouse is hovers over the anchor. For example: `` |
| name | This gives the element a name. This is different than the title in that the name is not seen by the visitor. The most common use of this is in the `` anchor tag. The name will navigate the visitor to a specific place on the page. For example: ``. This will navigate your browser to the location of this anchor when you visit the url in the browser like the following: `https://example.com/#this-page-location` |
| width | The width attribute can be used in elements that support dimensions. For example: `` |
| align | The align attribute tells the browser if the text is centered, left, or right aligned. For example: `` |
These attributes are used most often to style and label your HTML tags. You can add or remove attributes as needed for the tag to function how you want.
## HTML Attribute reference
Below is an more exhaustive reference and their correlating tags they are used for.
| attribute | Supported Elements |
| --- | --- |
| abbr | `| | ` |
| accept-charset | ` |