HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide, 6th Edition

Core Attributes

Prior to HTML 4.0, few attributes could be used consistently for all the HTML tags. HTML 4.0 changed this, defining a set of 16 core attributes that you can apply to almost all the elements in both HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0. For brevity, we list these core attributes in this section and spare you the redundancies in the table that follows:

class= name	Specify a style class controlling the appearance of the tag’s contents.
dir= dir	Specify the rendering direction for text—either left to right (ltr) or right to left (rtl).
id= name	Define a reference name for the tag that is unique in the document.
lang= language	Specify the human language for the tag’s contents with an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 639 standard two-character name and optional dialect subcode.
onclick= applet	Specify an applet to be executed when the user clicks the mouse on the tag’s content display area.
ondblclick= applet	Specify an applet to be executed when the user double-clicks the mouse button on the tag’s content display area.
onkeydown= applet	Specify an applet to be executed when the user presses down on a key while the tag’s contents have input focus.
onkeypress= applet	Specify an applet to be executed when the user presses and releases a key while the tag’s contents have focus.
onkeyup= applet	Specify an applet to be executed when the user releases a pressed key while the tag’s contents have focus.
onmousedown= applet	Specify an applet to be executed when ...