HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 6-2. Internet Explorer puts a special border
around an image that is inside an anchor
6.3.1.3. The name and id attributes
Use the
name
and
id
attributes with the
<a>
tag to create a fragment
identifier within a document. Once created, the fragment identifier be-
comes a potential target of a link.
Prior to HTML 4.0, the only way to create a fragment identifier was to
use the
name
attribute with the
<a>
tag. With the advent of the
id
at-
tribute in HTML 4.0, and its ability to be used with almost any tag, any
HTML or XHTML element can be a fragment identifier. The
<a>
tag re-
tains the
name
attribute for historic purposes and honors the
id
attribute
as well. These attributes can be used interchangeably, with
id
being the
more "modern" version of the
name
attribute. Both
name
and
id
can be
specified in conjunction with the
href
attribute, allowing a single
<a>
to
be both a hyperlink and a fragment identifier.
An easy way to think of a fragment identifier is as the HTML analog of
the
goto
statement label common in many programming languages. The
name
attribute within the
<a>
tag or the
id
attribute within the
<a>
or oth-
