HTML Boilerplate Generator

Options

Using the HTML Boilerplate Generator

This generator creates a clean and simple starting point for any new HTML file. It includes the essential tags and provides options to add common necessities like a CSS reset and file links.

  1. Select Your Options: Use the checkboxes to decide what to include in your boilerplate.
  2. Copy the Code: Click the "Copy" button to grab the complete HTML document.
  3. Start Your Project: Create a new file (e.g., index.html), paste the code, and start building your webpage.

Anatomy of the HTML Boilerplate

Even a simple boilerplate contains several important declarations that tell the browser how to interpret and render the page.

  • <!DOCTYPE html>: This is the very first thing in your document. It declares that the document is an HTML5 file and ensures the browser renders the page in "standards mode".
  • <html lang="en">: The root element of the page. The lang attribute declares the primary language of the page's content, which is important for accessibility and search engines.
  • <head>: This section contains meta-information about the document that is not displayed on the page itself.
  • <meta charset="UTF-8">: This specifies the character encoding for the document. UTF-8 is the standard and can handle almost any character or symbol from any language.
  • <meta name="viewport" ...>: This is the viewport meta tag. It is essential for responsive design, telling browsers (especially mobile ones) to render the page at the width of the device's screen and to set the initial zoom level.
  • <title>: Defines the title of the document, which is shown in the browser's title bar or tab.

Optional Inclusions

This generator provides a few common options you might want to include:

  • CSS Reset: Browsers have their own default styles for HTML elements (e.g., margins on headings, list padding). A CSS reset is a block of CSS that removes or normalizes these default styles, providing a consistent baseline to build your own styles upon. The one included here is a simple, modern reset.
  • Stylesheet Link: The <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css"> tag is the standard way to connect your HTML document to an external CSS file where you will write your styles.
  • Script Link: The <script defer src="script.js"></script> tag links to an external JavaScript file. The defer attribute is a modern best practice; it tells the browser to download the script while the page is parsing but to wait until the HTML is fully parsed before executing it. This prevents the script from blocking the rendering of your page.