The HTML address Tag

The address tag's purpose is to provide contact information for authors of content and for the website itself.

Name, telephone number, email address (although be aware that spammer's bots might harvest it), geographical location, and social media handles may be put into the HTML address tag.

In the recent past, search engine spiders seemed to, and perhaps still do, take contact information from the address tag.

When publishing articles, the HTML address tag may be used for the author's contact information. For the website, the address tag may be used on the contact page or, if appropriate, in the footer area of every web page on the site.

Here is an example.

The above is coded like this:

<address>
Author: Will Bontrager<br>
Contact: <a href="https://www.willmaster.com/contact.php">Willmaster Contact Page</a>
</address>

The HTML address tag starts a new line on the web page. And, content that follows the tag also starts a new line. That is how a div tag works, too.

Like the div tag, the address tag can be displayed without automatic line breaks. To remove the line breaks, use display:inline-block; for the display style.

For most browsers, the font style is italic. As in div tags, the style can be changed. In this address block, the name of the author of this article is bolded, enlarged, colored, and has a bit of letter spacing.

The above example is coded like this:

<address>
Author: <span style="font-weight:bold; font-size:125%; color:gold; letter-spacing:2px;">Will Bontrager</span><br>
Contact: <a href="https://www.willmaster.com/contact.php">Willmaster Contact Page</a>
</address>

A border may come in handy to differentiate the address information from other content on the page.

The above example is coded like this:

<address style="display:table; border:3px solid gold; border-radius:6px; padding:1rem;">
Author: <span style="font-weight:bold; font-size:125%; color:gold; letter-spacing:2px;">Will Bontrager</span><br>
Contact: <a href="https://www.willmaster.com/contact.php">Willmaster Contact Page</a>
</address>

You got the idea.

The address tag is for information related to getting or staying in touch with the author of an article or with the staff of a website. If desired, the information may be styled other than the default italic font.

(This article first appeared with an issue of the Possibilities newsletter.)

Will Bontrager