HOME > Paragraphs
If the content in your page is not formatted, the text will appear as one long run-on paragraph. Browsers ignore white space. Two or more spaces in a row are ignored; blank lines are ignored. Here are three separate paragraphs in a web page.
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>The Eiffel Tower</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is located on the Left Bank (that is, the southern bank) of the Seine river, at the northwestern extreme of the Parc du Champ de Mars, a park in front of the École Militaire that used to be a military parade ground (whence the name), in the southwestern portion of the city. The four pillars supporting the tower are aligned to the points of the compass, and the base covers almost exactly the area of two (American) football fields placed side by side lengthwise.
The nearest Métro stations are Bir-Hakeim to the southwest, and Trocadéro to the northwest. The former is at the same level as the tower and somewhat closer, but less scenic; the latter is on the side of the Parvis (Plaza) du Trocadéro opposite the tower, so if you get off at that station, you can take a very scenic walk through the Trocadéro and down across the Seine to the tower, with many good photograph opportunities. One of my pictures of the tower was taken from this location.
The area of the tower is in the chic seventh arrondissement of Paris, also the home of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister’s palace, and the Hôtel des Invalides. This district is roughly at the eight-o’clock position on a map of Paris, and somewhat more centered than the adjacent Fifteenth.
</BODY>
</HTML>
To make paragraphs be paragraphs, we need the <P></P> tags. Example 2 shows Example 1 revised with the <P></P> tags.
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>The Eiffel Tower</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<P>The Eiffel Tower</P>
<P>The Eiffel Tower is located on the Left Bank (that is, the southern bank) of the Seine river, at the northwestern extreme of the Parc du Champ de Mars, a park in front of the École Militaire that used to be a military parade ground (whence the name), in the southwestern portion of the city. The four pillars supporting the tower are aligned to the points of the compass, and the base covers almost exactly the area of two (American) football fields placed side by side lengthwise.</P>
<P>The nearest Métro stations are Bir-Hakeim to the southwest, and Trocadéro to the northwest. The former is at the same level as the tower and somewhat closer, but less scenic; the latter is on the side of the Parvis (Plaza) du Trocadéro opposite the tower, so if you get off at that station, you can take a very scenic walk through the Trocadéro and down across the Seine to the tower, with many good photograph opportunities. One of my pictures of the tower was taken from this location.</P>
<P>The area of the tower is in the chic seventh arrondissement of Paris, also the home of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister’s palace, and the Hôtel des Invalides. This district is roughly at the eight-o’clock position on a map of Paris, and somewhat more centered than the adjacent Fifteenth.</P>
</BODY>
</HTML>
The <P></P> tags create blank lines between paragraphs. Sometimes you may not want that blank link. For instance if you were putting an address on your page.
<P>The Munsters</P>
<P>123
Mockingbird Lane</P>
<P>Anytown, PA 12345</P>
It would actually be displayed as:
The Munsters
123 Mockingbird Lane
Anytown, PA 12345
To not make it do that you can use the <BR> (the line break) tag.
<P>The Munsters<BR>
123 Mockingbird
Lane<BR>
Anytown, PA
12345</P>
By default, paragraphs are aligned to the left. They can be aligned to the right, centered, and justified. The <P></P> tag has an attribute called: ALIGN
ALIGN options are: left, right, center, justify
To change the alignment you would put the attribute in the open part of the tag: <P ALIGN=RIGHT>. Example 3 shows Example 2 revised with the align attribute in use.
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>The Eiffel Tower</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<P>The Eiffel Tower</P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY>The Eiffel Tower is located on the Left Bank (that is, the southern bank) of the Seine river, at the northwestern extreme of the Parc du Champ de Mars, a park in front of the École Militaire that used to be a military parade ground (whence the name), in the southwestern portion of the city. The four pillars supporting the tower are aligned to the points of the compass, and the base covers almost exactly the area of two (American) football fields placed side by side lengthwise.</P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY>The nearest Métro stations are Bir-Hakeim to the southwest, and Trocadéro to the northwest. The former is at the same level as the tower and somewhat closer, but less scenic; the latter is on the side of the Parvis (Plaza) du Trocadéro opposite the tower, so if you get off at that station, you can take a very scenic walk through the Trocadéro and down across the Seine to the tower, with many good photograph opportunities. One of my pictures of the tower was taken from this location.</P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY>The area of the tower is in the chic seventh arrondissement of Paris, also the home of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister’s palace, and the Hôtel des Invalides. This district is roughly at the eight-o’clock position on a map of Paris, and somewhat more centered than the adjacent Fifteenth.</P>
</BODY>
</HTML>
WEB DESIGN: Basics • Last Modified: 5/1/02