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Create a horizontal line in HTML and style it with in-line HTML or CSS
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Are you learning HTML ? Do you want to add a horizontal line to your web page ? A horizontal line—also known as a horizontal rule—can be used to separate blocks of text or other content on your website. Adding a horizontal line in HTML is really easy. You can also style the horizontal line using CSS or in-line HTML attributes. This allows you to change the line thickness, alignment , or color . This wikiHow teaches you how to add and style a horizontal line in HTML and CSS. [1] X Research source
Steps
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Open or create a new HTML document. HTML documents can be edited using a text editor such as Notepad. You can also use a code editor, such as Adobe Dreamweaver or Visual Studio Code . Use the following steps to open an HTML document in the program of your choice:
- Open Notepad, or a text editor/code editor of your choice.
- Click the File menu.
- Click Open .
- Select an HTML file.
- Click Open .
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Add a head to your HTML document. If your HTML document doesn't already have a head, use the following steps to add a head. The head goes after the "<html>" tag, and before the "<body>" tag.
- Type <head> at the top of the document.
- Press the Enter key twice to add two new lines.
- Type </head> to close the head section.
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Type <style> in the head section. The style tag goes in between the opening and closing head tags. This creates a section where you can input CSS code to style your HTML.
- Alternatively, you can use an external CSS file to style your HTML.
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Type hr { . This is the CSS tag for styling your horizontal line. Add this after the style tag in your head, or in your external CSS file.
- Alternatively, you can define a class style to create different styles for your horizontal lines.
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Add CSS styles for your "<hr>" tag. These go after the "hr {" tag. There are many ways you can style a horizontal line. The following are a few examples.
- Width: Type width: ##px; to set the line width. Replace "##" with the number of pixels wide the line is. You can also use a percentage (%) instead of pixels (px).
- Height: Type height: ##px; to set the line thickness. Replace "##" with the number of pixels thick the line is.
- Color: Type background-color: ##; to set the color of the line. Replace "##" with the name of a color or add a pound (#) followed by a hexadecimal color code .
- Right Margin: Type margin-right: ##px; to set the number of pixels from the right edge. Replace "##" with the number of pixels or "auto". Using "auto" will center the line within its specified width. The remaining space will be split evenly between the left and right margins.
- Left Margin: Type margin-left: ##px; to set the number of pixels from the left edge. Replace "##" with the number of pixels or "auto". Using "auto" will center the line within its specified width. The remaining space will be split evenly between the left and right margins. [2] X Research source
- Top Margin: Type margin-top: ##px; to set a top margin for the line. Replace "##" with the number of pixels thick the margin is.
- Bottom Margin: Type margin-bottom: ##px; to set a bottom margin for the line. Replace "##" with the number of pixels thick the margin is.
- Border: Type border-width: ##px; to create a border around the line (optional). Replace "##" with the number of pixels thick the border is.
- Border Color: Type border-color: ##; to set the border color (optional). Replace "##" with the name of a color, or add a pound sign (#) followed by a hexadecimal color code.
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Type } after the style settings. This closes your style settings for your <hr> tag.
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Press ↵ Enter and type </style> . This creates a new line and then adds the tag to close the style section of your HTML. The "</style>" goes after you have added all the style elements for your HTML document.
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Type <hr> anywhere in the body of your HTML document. The body of your HTML tag is the area in between the "<body>" and "</body>" tags. This adds a horizontal line to your HTML document. Your CSS style settings will apply anytime you use the "<hr>" tag in your HTML.
- If you have defined a style class for your horizontal line, type {{kbd|<div class="[class_name]"></div>} instead. Replace "[class_name]" with the name of the class that you defined. </li
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Save your HTML file. To save a text file as an HTML document, you need to replace the file extension (.txt, .docx) with ".html." Use the following steps to save your HTML document:
- Click the File menu.
- Click Save As if starting a new HTML file. Click Save to save an existing HTML file.
- Type a name for the file next to "File name".
- Delete the file extension at the end (".txt," ".docx," etc)
- Replace the file extension with ".html."
- Click Save .
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Test your HTML. To test your HTML file, right-click on the file and select Open with . Then select a web browser. A solid line should appear where you place the "<hr>" tag. Your HTML code should look something like this:
<!DOCTYPE html> < html > < head > < style > hr { width : 50 % ; height : 20 px ; background-color : red ; margin-right : auto ; margin-left : auto ; margin-top : 5 px ; margin-bottom : 5 px ; border-width : 2 px ; border-color : green ; } </ style > </ head > < body > < h1 > This is a heading </ h1 > < hr > < p1 > This is a paragraph text separated by a horizontal line </ p1 > </ body > </ html >
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Open or create a new HTML document. HTML documents can be edited using a text editor such as Notepad. You can also use a code editor, such as Adobe Dreamweaver or Visual Studio Code . Use the following steps to open an HTML document in the program of your choice:
- Open Notepad, or a text editor/code editor of your choice.
- Click the File menu.
- Click Open .
- Select an HTML file.
- Click Open .
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Select the point at which you want to insert the line. You can insert a horizontal line in the "<body>" section of an HTML document. Scroll down until you find the space above which you want to insert the line, then click the far-left side of the line to place the cursor directly before the line start.
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Press ↵ Enter twice to create a blank space. This moves down the text above which you want to enter the line.
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Move the cursor back to where you want to add a line. Simply click, or use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the cursor back to where you want the line to go.
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Type <hr> into the space before the line begins. The "<hr>" tag is responsible for creating a horizontal line across the entire page. Using this tag by itself will create a basic horizontal line.
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Press ↵ Enter to place the "<hr>" on it's own line. At this point, the <hr> tag should be on its own line with no other code to the left or right of it.
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Type style= in the "<hr>" tag (optional). If you want to style your horizontal line, you can do so using in-line HTML. To style your horizontal line, type "style=" after "hr" inside the "<hr>" tag (i.e. <hr style=>.
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Add your style attributes (optional). If you want to add style attributes, add them after "style=" in quotation marks within the "<hr>" tag. The style attributes are the same as CSS style attributes. You can include as many attributes as want. Separate each attribute with a semi-colon (;) except the last attribute. The following are some style attributes you can add:
- Width: Type width: ##px to set the line width. Replace "##" with the number of pixels wide the line is. You can also use a percentage (%) instead of pixels (px).
- Height: Type height: ##px to set the line thickness. Replace "##" with the number of pixels thick the line is.
- Color: Type background-color: ## to set the color of the line. Replace "##" with the name of a color or a pound (#) followed by a hexadecimal color code .
- Alignment: Type text-align:## to set an alignment for your horizontal rule. Replace "##" with "left," "right," or "center."
- Right Margin: Type margin-right: ##px to set the number of pixels from the right edge. Replace "##" with the number of pixels or "auto". Using "auto" will center the line within its specified width. The remaining space will be split evenly between the left and right margins.
- Left Margin: Type margin-left: ##px to set the number of pixels from the left edge. Replace "##" with the number of pixels or "auto". Using "auto" will center the line within its specified width. The remaining space will be split evenly between the left and right margins. [3] X Research source
- Top Margin: Type margin-top: ##px to set a top margin for the line. Replace "##" with the number of pixels thick the margin is.
- Bottom Margin: Type margin-bottom: ##px; to set a bottom margin for the line. Replace "##" with the number pixels thick the margin is.
- Type border-width: ##px to create a border around the line. Replace "##" with the number of pixels thick the border is.
- Type border-color: ## to set the border color. Replace "##" with the name of a color, or a pound sign (#) followed by a hexadecimal color code.
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Save your HTML file. To save a text file as an HTML document , you need to replace the file extension (".txt," ".docx," etc) with ".html". Use the following steps to save your HTML document:
- Click the File menu.
- Click Save As if starting a new HTML file. Click Save to save an existing HTML file.
- Type a name for the file next to "File name."
- Delete the file extension (".txt," ".docx," etct)
- Replace the file extension with ".html."
- Click Save .
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Test your HTML. To test your HTML file, right-click on the file and select Open with . Then select a web browser. A solid line should appear where you place the "hr" tag. Your HTML code should look something like the following: [4] X Research source
<!DOCTYPE html> < html > < body > < h1 > This is a Heading </ h1 > < hr style = "width:" 50 %; text-align:left ; background-color:green " > < p1 > This is paragraph text that has been separated from the heading by a line. </ p1 > </ body > </ html >
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QuestionCan we enter a header in an HTML program?Community AnswerYou can create a header with the tag, and then style it to look however you want.
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QuestionI want to draw a dotted line on my web pageGreenJarsWithSmallLabelsCommunity AnswerIf you are using the method to draw the line, using the following CSS (enclosed in tags) should have the desired effect: hr{background: none; border: none; border-bottom: 1px dotted black;} You can change "1px" to a different number of pixels to change the width, or "black" to a preferred colour. Using "dashed" instead of "dotted" will also create a slightly different effect.
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About This Article
Article Summary
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1. Open an HTML document in a text editor like Notepad.
2. Go to the body section of an HTML document.
3. Type < hr > where you want to add a horizontal bar.
Did this summary help you?
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 389,782 times.
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