Work Text:
basics → most html tags are contained by < & >. the opening of the tag is <[whatever code]> and the ending is </[whatever tag]>. the backslash is what breaks the code. you'll be able to see the formatting in action when you switch from HTML to Rich Text, preview the work, or post it. you can use these codes and tags in the body, summery, a/n, etc.
check out the official ao3 page on HTML codes here
if you're new to coding, or think it's a hassle, write in the Rich Text area instead. This will do it all for you. if you switch from Rich Text to HTML you will be able to see the tags automatically in place.
paragraph beginning & ending → <p> & </p>
bold → defined by the word strong. so, it'd be <strong> & </strong>. like this
italics → defined by the word em. so, it'd be <em> & </em>. like this
you could also do a bolded and italicized word by writing it out like this
strikethrough → defined by word strike. so, it'd be <strike> & </strike>. like this
underlined → defined by u. so, it'd be <u> & </u>. like this
superscript → defined by sup. so, it'd be <sup> & </sup>. like this
subscript → defined by sub. so, it'd be <sub> & </sub> like this
bullet points → defined by <ul><li> & </ul></li> (ul stands for unordered list). so...
- this
numbered lists → defined by <ol><li> & </ol></li> (ol stands for ordered list). so...
- this
things not listed here i can go over: the six levels of text headings, right-to-left script, link within page (so something that looks like this1), and a few more