Tech With Raja

day #9 : Web Development Journey

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Raja Kumar
·

2 min read

Today, I delved into the fascinating world of HTML entities—a subtle yet essential aspect of web development. If you’ve ever encountered unexpected symbols or characters breaking your web page, understanding HTML entities is the key to fixing them. Here's a summary of what I learned and why it's crucial for creating clean, user-friendly websites.

What Are HTML Entities?

HTML entities are special codes used to display reserved or invisible characters in HTML. They are particularly useful for:

  1. Displaying Reserved Characters: Characters like <, >, &, and " have specific roles in HTML. For example:

    • < starts a tag.

    • > ends a tag.
      To display these characters literally on a web page, we use their entity codes.

  2. Representing Invisible Characters: Entities also help include invisible characters like non-breaking spaces (&nbsp;) to control text spacing.

  3. Displaying Special Symbols: They allow us to display symbols like ©, €, or emojis without using Unicode encoding directly.

Common HTML Entities and Their Usage

Here are a few common HTML entities I explored today:

CharacterEntity NameEntity NumberExample Use
<&lt;&#60;<tag> → &lt;tag&gt;
>&gt;&#62;
&&amp;&#38;AT&T → AT&amp;T
"&quot;&#34;"Hello" → &quot;Hello&quot;
'&apos;&#39;
©&copy;&#169;© 2025 → &copy; 2025
€&euro;&#8364;

Why HTML Entities Matter

  1. Preventing Errors: Directly using reserved characters like < or & in content can confuse the browser. Entities avoid this.

  2. Improved Readability: Entities ensure special characters are properly displayed, enhancing the visual presentation of your site.

  3. Cross-Browser Compatibility: Proper use of entities ensures your content displays consistently across all browsers.

Practical Examples

Here’s a simple example of how I used HTML entities today:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>HTML Entities</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Understanding HTML Entities</h1>
    <p>To use a less-than sign, write: &lt; instead of <.</p>
    <p>Company Name: AT&amp;T</p>
    <p>Copyright: &copy; 2025</p>
    <p>Non-breaking space:&nbsp;This&nbsp;text&nbsp;has&nbsp;extra&nbsp;spaces.</p>
</body>
</html>

Thank you….😊😊

HTML5CSSjsWeb Development