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HTML course · Beginner · Lesson 60/68

Mark the main page areas with <nav> and <main>.

The nav tag

The <nav> tag marks the page's main menu. Links usually go inside as a list. That way screen readers say 'menu here' and the user can jump to it.

Example: <nav><ul><li><a href="/home">Home</a></li><li><a href="/about">About</a></li></ul></nav>. Use <nav> only for the main menu, not to wrap every link on the page.

The main tag

The <main> tag marks the page's main content. A page has only one <main>, and inside it lives the page's real content, not its title, menu or footer.

Example: <main><h1>Post Title</h1><p>Post text...</p></main>. Screen-reader users say 'jump to main' and land here. Search engines also tell the real content apart this way.

Exercise Write the menu and the main content

Add a <nav> and a <main> to body. Inside the nav add a <ul> with one <li>; inside the <li> write <a href="/me">About</a>. Inside the main add an <h1> with the text About us.

Show example solution 
<body>
  <nav>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="/me">About</a></li>
    </ul>
  </nav>
  <main>
    <h1>About us</h1>
  </main>
</body>

Test yourself

  1. How many <main> tags appear on a page?

    • Two
    • Three
    • One
    • Unlimited
    Show answer

    One — Correct. main appears only once on a page.

  2. Write the nav tag

    <____>
  <ul>
    <li><a href="/home">Home</a></li>
  </ul>
</nav>
    Show answer 
    <nav>
  <ul>
    <li><a href="/home">Home</a></li>
  </ul>
</nav>

  3. Match each tag to its role

    <nav>
    Main menu
    <main>
    Main content
    <ul>
    List container
    <a>
    Link

All lessons in Beginner

1 Document basics

  1. What is HTML?
  2. The document skeleton
  3. Head and meta tags
  4. Title and language
  5. Comments and readability
  6. Summary - My first HTML page

2 Text content

  1. Headings: h1–h6
  2. Paragraphs
  3. Line break and horizontal rule
  4. Emphasis and important text
  5. Quotations and sources
  6. Summary - Article page

3 Project: About me page

  1. Project: About me page
  2. Skeleton and title
  3. Introductory text
  4. Emphasis and separation
  5. Project final - About me

4 Links and navigation

  1. Anchor links
  2. Absolute and relative URLs
  3. In-page links
  4. Link targets
  5. Email and phone links
  6. Summary - Navigation menu

5 Lists

  1. Unordered lists
  2. Ordered lists
  3. Description lists
  4. Nested lists
  5. Links in list items
  6. Summary - Table of contents

6 Project: Business card page

  1. Project: Business card page
  2. Name and title
  3. Contact list
  4. Skills and links
  5. Project final - Business card

7 Images and media

  1. Adding images
  2. Image dimensions
  3. Figure and figcaption
  4. Audio and video
  5. Alternative sources
  6. Summary - Media gallery

8 Intro to tables

  1. Table skeleton
  2. Header cells
  3. Table sections
  4. Caption and title
  5. Cell spanning
  6. Summary - Class schedule table

9 Project: Recipe page

  1. Project: Recipe page
  2. Recipe title and summary
  3. Ingredient list
  4. Steps and baking table
  5. Project final - Recipe page

10 Intro to forms

  1. Form skeleton
  2. Labelled input
  3. Input types
  4. Textarea and button
  5. Selection fields
  6. Summary - Feedback form

11 Intro to semantic tags

  1. Why semantic tags matter
  2. Header and footer
  3. Nav and main
  4. Article and section
  5. Aside and address
  6. Summary - Semantic blog skeleton

12 Beginner final

  1. Challenge - Document skeleton
  2. Challenge - Text and links
  3. Challenge - Lists and tables
  4. Challenge - Form and semantic structure
  5. Challenge - Beginner capstone