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HTML <header> Tag

The <header> tag defines the header for a page or a section. It usually contains a logo, search, navigational links, etc.

This tag doesn’t introduce a new section in the outline. A <header> element commonly contains a heading (an <h1><h6> element) for the surrounding section. However, this is not required.

The <header> tag is one of the HTML5 elements. In an HTML document, you can use several <header> tags. They are commonly placed inside <body>, <article>, or <section> elements.

DANGER

It is not permitted to place the <header> tag inside the <footer> and <address> elements, and in another <header> tag.

Syntax

The <header> tag comes in pairs. The content is written between the opening (<header>) and closing (</header>) tags.

Example of the HTML <header> tag:

Example of the HTML <header> Tag

html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      ul {
        padding: 0;
      }
      ul li {
        display: inline-block;
        margin-right: 10px;
        color: #778899;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <header>
      <nav>
        <ul>
          <li>Home</li>
          <li>About us</li>
        </ul>
      </nav>
      <h1>Welcome to our page</h1>
      <hr>
    </header>
    <article>
      <header>
        <h2>The section title</h2>
        <p>The text paragraph.</p>
      </header>
    </article>
  </body>
</html>

Result

header tag example

Example of the HTML <header> tag with the CSS properties:

Example of the HTML <header> Tag with CSS Properties:

html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      body {
        font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
        line-height: 2;
      }
      h2 {
        text-align: center;
      }
      ul {
        padding: 0;
      }
      ul li {
        list-style-type: none;
        display: inline-block;
        margin-right: 10px;
      }
      a {
        display: block;
        color: #778899;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <header>
      <nav>
        <ul>
          <li>
            <a href="https://www.w3docs.com/learn-html.html">Learn HTML</a>
          </li>
          <li>
            <a href="https://www.w3docs.com/learn-git.html">Learn Git</a>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </nav>
      <h1>Welcome to our page</h1>
      <hr>
    </header>
    <main>
      <h2>Get answers to your coding questions</h2>
      <p>
        Lorem ipsum, or lipsum as it is sometimes known, is dummy text used in laying out print, graphic or web designs. The passage is attributed to an unknown typesetter in the 15th century who is thought to have scrambled parts of Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum for use in a type specimen book.
      </p>
      <p>
        Lorem ipsum, or lipsum as it is sometimes known, is dummy text used in laying out print, graphic or web designs. The passage is attributed to an unknown typesetter in the 15th century who is thought to have scrambled parts of Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum for use in a type specimen book. Lorem ipsum, or lipsum as it is sometimes known, is dummy text used in laying out print, graphic or web designs. The passage is attributed to an unknown typesetter in the 15th century who is thought to have scrambled parts of Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum for use in a type specimen book.
      </p>
    </main>
  </body>
</html>

Attributes

The <header> tag supports Global Attributes and Event Attributes.

How to style an HTML <header> Tag

html
<header id="main-header" class="site-header">
  <h1>Page Title</h1>
</header>

Practice

What is true about the HTML <header> tag according to the content of the specified URL?

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