Content in EE is displayed using html tags, while the functionality is displayed using Expression Engine tags. All EE tags begin with {exp: and end with a the bracket }.

For example, this tag displays the name of the weblog created in the previous tutorial: {exp:weblog:weblog_name weblog="news"}

The first part of the tag, exp:, tells ExpressionEngine that this is a tag. The second part, weblog, is the module that the tag belongs to, in this case the Weblog module. The third part (which not every tag will have), weblog_name, is the specific function from within the module that you’re calling; in this case the function to display the “Weblog name,” which is news.

The following combination of html, CSS and EE tags displays 10 news stories in the news weblog:

1. {embed="includes/header"}

2. {embed="includes/leftnav1"}

3. <div id="maindisplay">

4. <h2>News</h2>

5. {exp:weblog:entries weblog="news" limit="10"}

6. <a href="{title_permalink=news/article}"><h4>{title}</h4></a>

7. {summary}

8. {/exp:weblog:entries}

9. </div>

10. {embed="includes/footer"}

Here is an explaination of each line:

1. Displays a page header that is pulled from a template called includes

2. Displays a left nav pulled from a template called includes

3. A CSS tag

4. An HTML tag that displays the name of the section

5. An EE tag that displays 10 entries (articles) that have been published within the news weblog

6. A combination of html and EE that displays the title and a link to the full story

7. A summary of the story that is explained in our guide on how to publish a story

8. A closing EE tag that ends the display of any more stories.

9. A CSS tag that closes the first CSS tag

10. A footer that is pulled from a template called includes