HTML <header> Tag

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

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

The <header> tag is one of the HTML5 elements. In an HTML document, it is allowed to use several <header> tags, which can be placed in any part of it.

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:

<!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>

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Result

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

<!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">Lern HTML</a>
          </li>
          <li>
            <a href="https://www.w3docs.com/learn-git.html">Lern 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>

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Attributes

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

How to style <header> tag?

Common properties to alter the visual weight/emphasis/size of text in <header> tag:

CSS font-style property sets the style of the font. normal | italic | oblique | initial | inherit.
CSS font-family property specifies a prioritized list of one or more font family names and/or generic family names for the selected element.
CSS font-size property sets the size of the font.
CSS font-weight property defines whether the font should be bold or thick.
CSS text-transform property controls text case and capitalization.
CSS text-decoration property specifies the decoration added to text, and is a shorthand property for text-decoration-line, text-decoration-color, text-decoration-style.

Coloring text in <header> tag:

CSS color property describes the color of the text content and text decorations.
CSS background-color property sets the background color of an element.

Text layout styles for <header> tag:

CSS text-indent property specifies the indentation of the first line in a text block.
CSS text-overflow property specifies how overflowed content that is not displayed should be signalled to the user.
CSS white-space property specifies how white-space inside an element is handled.
CSS word-break property specifies where the lines should be broken.

Other properties worth looking at for <header> tag:

CSS text-shadow property adds shadow to text.
CSS text-align-last property sets the alignment of the last line of the text.
CSS line-height property specifies the height of a line.
CSS letter-spacing property defines the spaces between letters/characters in a text.
CSS word-spacing property sets the spacing between words.