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Meta Tags |
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The META tag belongs in the header of an HTML document. Its primary use is to provide information that is not seen directly in the web page. The tag itself is very simple. It contains two parts, a name for a piece of information, and the information itself. The general format of a META tag is as follows: |
| <META NAME = "type of information" CONTENT = "information itself"> |
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It should be put inside <head> and </head> |
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Providing indexing information |
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The META tag is used to provide information to search engines like WebCrawler and to make a page automatically reload. |
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The search engine looks for words in the headings, titles, etc. of a web page, and uses them as keywords. It then uses the first few lines of text from the page as the description. |
<html>
<head>
<META NAME = "keywords" CONTENT = "HTML tutorial, learn HTML">
<META NAME = "description" CONTENT = "Introduction to HTML">
<title>Guide to Learning HTML</title>
</head>
</html> |
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Sending the browser to a new URL |
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A META may be used to send the browser to a new URL. You may have visited a web site that has moved, where the old web site sends you to the new location after a short wait. This is done by providing what is called an HTTP-EQUIV, instead of a NAME. |
<html>
</head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV = "REFRESH" CONTENT = "10; URL=meta.htm#Refresh">
<title>Reload</title>
</head>
<body>
This page will send you back after 10 seconds.If it doesn't, use <a href="meta.htm">this link</A>.
</body>
</html> |
| View the page |
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The number, in this case 10, represents the number of seconds before the page refreshes. Make sure that you allow enough time for all the text and images to load. |
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