Useful and Ready-to-use HTML5 Snippets

Jean-Baptiste Jung

Oct. 02, 13 · Web Dev Zone · Interview

Like (0)

Save

13.90K Views

HTML is super easy to write, but when creating webpages, you often need to do the same repetitive tasks, such as creating forms. In this article, I have compiled 10+ ready-to-use HTML snippets to speed up your frontend coding.

HTML5 Starter Template

When starting a new project, you need a starter template. Here is a concise and clean template to serve as a basis for your HTML5 projects.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
	<head>
		<meta charset="utf-8">
		<title>Untitled</title>
		<!--[if lt IE 9]>
		<script src="http://html5shim.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/html5.js"></script>
		<![endif]-->
	</head>
	<body>
		
	</body>
</html>

Source: http://snipplr.com/view/68539/plain-html5-starter-template/

Get Directions Form (Google Maps)

Here is a simple yet powerful code to create a form where the user can enter his location to get directions to a specific place. Very useful for contact pages.

<form action="http://maps.google.com/maps" method="get" target="_blank">
   <label for="saddr">Enter your location</label>
   <input type="text" name="saddr" />
   <input type="hidden" name="daddr" value="350 5th Ave New York, NY 10018 (Empire State Building)" />
   <input type="submit" value="Get directions" />
</form>

Source: http://css-tricks.com/snippets/html/get-directions-form-google-maps/

Base64 Encode of a 1*1px “spacer” GIF

I don’t recommend using transparent “spacer” gifs, but I know that even in 2013, many people are still using them from time to time. If you’re one of them, you’ll probably enjoy this Base64 encode of a 1*1px “spacer” gif. Way better than using an image.

<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7">

Source: http://css-tricks.com/snippets/html/base64-encode-of-1x1px-transparent-gif/

Regexp Pattern for Email Validation

HTML5 allows, among other things, validating emails using a regular expression pattern. Here is a ready to use input field with the regexp pattern to validate an email address.

<input type="text" title="email" required pattern="[^@]+@[^@]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,6}" />

Source: http://blog.staffannoteberg.com/2012/03/01/html5-form-validation-with-regex/

Valid Flash Embed

Are you often embedding Flash files into your html pages? If yes, you’d better save the valid flash embed code below for future use.

<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" 
  data="your-flash-file.swf" 
  width="0" height="0">
  <param name="movie" value="your-flash-file.swf" />
  <param name="quality" value="high"/>
</object>

Source: http://yoast.com/articles/valid-flash-embedding/

HTML5 Video with Flash Fallback

Another great feature of the new HTML5 specification is definitely the video tag which allows you to easily embed video files. But unfortunately, some browsers can’t deal with embedded HTML5 video. So, here is a complete code snippet with a flash fallback for older browsers.

<video width="640" height="360" controls>
	<source src="__VIDEO__.MP4"  type="video/mp4" />
	<source src="__VIDEO__.OGV"  type="video/ogg" />
	<object width="640" height="360" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="__FLASH__.SWF">
		<param name="movie" value="__FLASH__.SWF" />
		<param name="flashvars" value="controlbar=over&image=__POSTER__.JPG&file=__VIDEO__.MP4" />
		<img src="__VIDEO__.JPG" width="640" height="360" alt="__TITLE__"
		     title="No video playback capabilities, please download the video below" />
	</object>
</video>

Source: http://camendesign.com/code/video_for_everybody

iPhone Call & SMS Links

With the release of the iPhone, Apple introduced a quick way to create call and SMS links. Here is a code snippet to keep in your library.

<a href="tel:1-408-555-5555">1-408-555-5555</a>
<a href="sms:1-408-555-1212">New SMS Message</a>

Source: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/featuredarticles…

Autocompletion with HTML5 Datalists

Using the datalist element, HTML5 allows you to create a list of data to autocomplete an input field. Super useful! Here is a code snippet to re-use in your own projects.

<input name="frameworks" list="frameworks" />

<datalist id="frameworks">
	<option value="MooTools">
	<option value="Moobile">
	<option value="Dojo Toolkit">
	<option value="jQuery">
	<option value="YUI">
</datalist>

Source: http://davidwalsh.name/datalist

Country Drop-down List for Web Forms

Here’s another time saver: A ready-to-use dropdown list with all countries. Due to the size of the code, please see the source directly.

Source: http://snipplr.com/view/4792/country-drop-down-list-for-web-forms/

Downloadable Files

HTML5 allows you to force download of files using the download attribute. Here is a standard link to a downloadable file.

<!-- will download as "expenses.pdf" -->
<a href="/files/adlafjlxjewfasd89asd8f.pdf" download="expenses.pdf">Download Your Expense Report</a>

Source: http://snipplr.com/view/4792/country-drop-down-list-for-web-forms/

Crash IE6

In 2013, most people have finally upgraded from the horrible Internet Explorer 6 which gave nightmares to every front-end developer for years, but some people are still using it. If you want to get rid of this prehistoric browser for good, here is a very funny code to include in your HTML pages.

This code will crash IE6. Bam!

<style>*{position:relative}</style><table><input></table>

Source: http://www.catswhocode.com/blog/html5-code-snippets-to-take-your-website-to-the-next-level

HTML Snippet (programming) Internet Explorer 6

Published at DZone with permission of Jean-Baptiste Jung, DZone MVB. See the original article here.

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Comments