{"history":[],"article":{"id":"1f9b67f2-af6f-449f-baa1-714dccac47e6","title":"HTML element","slug":"html-element","content":":::summary\n:::\n\n# \nAn **[HTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/html) element** is a type of [HTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/html) (HyperText Markup Language) document component, one of several types of [HTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/html) nodes (there are also text nodes, comment nodes and others).\nThe first used version of HTML was written by [Tim Berners-Lee](https://bliptext.com/articles/tim-berners-lee) in 1993 and there have since been many versions of HTML.\nThe current de facto standard is governed by the industry group [WHATWG](https://bliptext.com/articles/whatwg) and is known as the HTML Living Standard.\nAn HTML document is composed of a [tree](https://bliptext.com/articles/tree-structure) of simple HTML [nodes](https://bliptext.com/articles/node-computer-science), such as text [nodes](https://bliptext.com/articles/node-computer-science), and HTML elements, which add [semantics](https://bliptext.com/articles/semantics) and formatting to parts of a document (e.g., make text bold, organize it into paragraphs, lists and tables, or embed [hyperlinks](https://bliptext.com/articles/hyperlink) and images).\nEach element can have [HTML attributes](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-attribute) specified.\nElements can also have content, including other elements and text.\n\n# Concepts\n# [HTML element content categories | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/HTML///element///content///categories.svg]\n\n## Elements vs. tags\nAs is generally understood, the position of an element is indicated as spanning from a start tag and is terminated by an end tag.\nThis is the case for many, but not all, elements within an HTML document.\nThe distinction is explicitly emphasised in HTML 4.01 Specification:\n\"Elements are not tags. Some people refer to elements as tags (e.g., \"the P tag\"). Remember that the element is one thing, and the tag (be it start or end tag) is another. For instance, the HEAD element is always present, even though both start and end HEAD tags may be missing in the markup.\"\nSimilarly the W3C Recommendation **HTML 5.1 2nd Edition** explicitly says:\n\"Tags are used to delimit the start and end of elements in the markup. (...) The start and end tags of certain normal elements can be omitted, (...) The contents of the element must be placed between just after the start tag (which might be implied, in certain cases) and just before the end tag (which again, might be implied, in certain cases).\"\nand:\n\"Certain tags can be omitted. NOTE: Omitting an element's start tag (...) does not mean the element is not present; it is implied, but it is still there. For example, an HTML document always has a root element, even if the string doesn't appear anywhere in the markup.\"\nAs HTML (before HTML5) is based on [SGML](https://bliptext.com/articles/sgml), its parsing also depends on the [Document Type Definition (DTD)](https://bliptext.com/articles/document-type-definition), specifically an HTML DTD (e.g. HTML 4.01 ).\nThe DTD specifies which element types are possible (i.e. it defines the set of element types) and also the valid combinations in which they may appear in a document.\nIt is part of general SGML behavior that, where only one valid structure is (per the DTD), its explicit statement in any given document is not generally required.\nAs a simple example, the tag indicating the start of a paragraph element should be complemented by a tag indicating its end.\nBut since the DTD states that paragraph elements cannot be nested, an HTML document fragment is thus inferred to be equivalent to.\n(If one paragraph element cannot contain another, any currently open paragraph must be closed before starting another.) Because this implication is based on the combination of the DTD and the individual document, it is not usually possible to infer elements from document tags but only by using an SGML—or HTML—aware parser with knowledge of the DTD.\n[HTML5](https://bliptext.com/articles/html5) creates a similar result by defining what tags can be omitted.\n\n## SGML vs. XML\nSGML is complex, which has limited its widespread understanding and adoption.\n[XML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xml) was developed as a simpler alternative.\nAlthough both can use the DTD to specify the supported elements and their permitted combinations as document structure, XML parsing is simpler.\nThe relation from tags to elements is always that of parsing the actual tags included in the document, without the implied closures that are part of SGML.\nHTML as used on the current web is likely to be either treated as XML, by being [XHTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml), or as [HTML5](https://bliptext.com/articles/html5); in either case the parsing of document tags into [Document Object Model](https://bliptext.com/articles/document-object-model) (DOM) elements is simplified compared to legacy HTML systems.\nOnce the DOM of elements is obtained, behavior at higher levels of interface (example: screen rendering) is identical or nearly so.\n\n## vs. box\nPart of this CSS presentation behavior is the notion of the \"[box model](https://bliptext.com/articles/css-box-model)\".\nThis is applied to those elements that CSS considers to be \"block\" elements, set through the CSS declaration.\nHTML also has a similar concept, although different, and the two are very frequently confused.\nand are groups within the HTML DTD that group elements as being either \"block-level\" or \"inline\".\nThis is used to define their nesting behavior: block-level elements cannot be placed into an inline context.\nThis behavior cannot be changed; it is fixed in the DTD.\nBlock and [inline elements](https://bliptext.com/articles/inline-elements) have the appropriate and different [CSS](https://bliptext.com/articles/css) behaviors attached to them by default, including the relevance of the box model for particular element types.\nNote though that this CSS behavior can, and frequently is, changed from the default.\nLists with are elements and are presented as block elements by default.\nHowever, it is quite common to set these with CSS to display as an inline list.\n\n# Overview\n\n## Syntax\nIn the HTML syntax, most elements are written with a start tag and an end tag, with the content in between.\nAn **HTML tag** is composed of the name of the element, surrounded by [angle brackets](https://bliptext.com/articles/angle-bracket).\nAn end tag also has a slash after the opening angle bracket, to distinguish it from the start tag.\nFor example, a paragraph, which is represented by the element, would be written as:\nHowever, not all of these elements the end tag, or even the start tag, to be present.\nSome elements, the so-called [void elements](https://bliptext.com/articles/), do not have an end tag.\nA typical example is the (hard line-break) element.\nA void element's behavior is predefined, and it cannot contain any content or other elements.\nFor example, an address would be written as:\nWhen using [XHTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml), it is required to open and close all elements, including void elements.\nThis can be done by placing an end tag immediately after the start tag, but this is not legal in HTML 5 and will lead to two elements being created.\nAn alternative way to specify that it is a void element, which is compatible with both XHTML and HTML 5, is to put a at the of the tag (not to be confused with the at the of a closing tag).\n[HTML attributes](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-attribute) are specified inside the start tag.\nFor example, the element, which represents an [abbreviation](https://bliptext.com/articles/abbreviation), expects a attribute within its opening tag.\nThis would be written as:\nInformally, HTML elements are sometimes referred to as \"tags\" (an example of [synecdoche](https://bliptext.com/articles/synecdoche)), though many prefer the term tag strictly in reference to the markup delimiting the start and end of an element.\nElement (and attribute) names may be written in any combination of upper or lower case in HTML, but must be in lower case in XHTML.\nThe canonical form was upper-case until [HTML 4](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-4), and was used in HTML specifications, but in recent years, lower-case has become more common.\n\n### Types of element\nThere are three kinds of [HTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/html) elements: normal elements, raw text elements, and void elements.\n**Normal elements** usually have both a start tag and an end tag, although for some elements the end tag, or both tags, can be omitted.\nIt is constructed in a similar way:\n**Raw text elements** (also known as text or text-only elements) are constructed with:\nAn example is the element, which must not contain other elements (including markup of text), only text.\n**Void elements** (also sometimes called empty elements, single elements or stand-alone elements) only have a start tag (in the form ), which contains any HTML attributes.\nThey may not contain any children, such as text or other elements.\nFor compatibility with [XHTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml), the HTML specification allows an optional space and slash ( is permissible).\nThe slash is required in [XHTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml) and other [XML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xml) applications.\nTwo common void elements are (for a [hard line-break](https://bliptext.com/articles/hard-return), such as in a poem or an address) and (for a thematic break).\nOther such elements are often place-holders which reference external files, such as the image element.\nThe attributes included in the element will then point to the external file in question.\nAnother example of a void element is, for which the syntax is:\nThis element points the browser at a [style sheet](https://bliptext.com/articles/style-sheet-web-development) to use when presenting the HTML document to the user.\nIn the HTML syntax attributes do not have to be quoted if they are composed only of certain characters: letters, digits, the hyphen-minus and the period.\nWhen using the XML syntax (XHTML), on the other hand, all attributes must be quoted, and a spaced trailing [slash](https://bliptext.com/articles/slash-punctuation) is required before the last angle bracket:\n\n### Attributes\n**[HTML attributes](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-attribute)** define desired behavior or indicate additional element properties.\nMost attributes require a value.\nIn HTML, the value can be left unquoted if it does not include spaces, or it can be quoted with single or double quotes ( or ).\nIn [XML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xml), those quotes are required.\n[Boolean](https://bliptext.com/articles/boolean-data-type) attributes, on the other hand, do not require a value to be specified.\nAn example is the for checkboxes:\nIn the XML (and thus [XHTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml)) syntax, though, a value is required, and the name should be repeated as the value:\n\n## Element standards\nHTML elements are defined in a series of freely available open standards issued since 1995, initially by the [IETF](https://bliptext.com/articles/ietf) and subsequently by the [W3C](https://bliptext.com/articles/w3c).\nDuring the [browser wars](https://bliptext.com/articles/browser-wars) of the 1990s, developers of [user agents](https://bliptext.com/articles/user-agent) (e.g. [web browsers](https://bliptext.com/articles/web-browser)) often developed their own elements, some of which have been adopted in later standards.\nOther user agents may not recognize non-standard elements, and they will be ignored, possibly causing the page to be displayed improperly.\nIn 1998, [XML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xml) (a simplified form of SGML) introduced mechanisms to allow anyone to develop their own elements and incorporate them in [XHTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml) documents, for use with [XML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xml)-aware user agents.\nSubsequently, HTML 4.01 was rewritten in an [XML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xml)-compatible form, [XHTML 1.0](https://bliptext.com/articles/) (eXtensible HTML).\nThe elements in each are identical, and in most cases valid XHTML 1.0 documents will be valid or nearly valid HTML 4.01 documents.\nThis article mainly focuses on real HTML, unless noted otherwise; however, it remains applicable to XHTML.\nSee [HTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/html) for a discussion of the minor differences between the two.\n\n## Element status\nSince the first version of HTML, several elements have become outmoded, and are [deprecated](https://bliptext.com/articles/deprecated) in later standards, or do not appear at all, in which case they are invalid (and will be found invalid, and perhaps not displayed, by [validating](https://bliptext.com/articles/xml-validation) user agents).\nIn [HTML 4.01](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-4-01) / [XHTML 1.0](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml-1-0), the status of elements is complicated by the existence of three types of [DTD](https://bliptext.com/articles/document-type-definition):\nHTML5 instead provides a listing of **obsolete** features to go along with the **standardized** normative content.\nThey are broken down into \"obsolete but conforming\" for which implementation instructions exist and \"non-conforming\" ones that should be replaced.\nThe first Standard ([HTML 2.0](https://bliptext.com/articles/html)) contained four deprecated elements, one of which was invalid in [HTML 3.2](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-3-2).\nAll four are invalid in [HTML 4.01 Transitional](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-4), which also deprecated a further ten elements.\nAll of these, plus two others, are invalid in [HTML 4.01 Strict](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-4).\nWhile the frame elements are still current in the sense of being present in the Transitional and Frameset DTDs, there are no plans to preserve them in future standards, as their function has been largely replaced, and they are highly problematic for user accessibility.\n(Strictly speaking, the most recent XHTML standard, [XHTML 1.1](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml-1-1) (2001), does not include frames at all; it is approximately equivalent to [XHTML 1.0 Strict](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml-1-0), but also includes the **[Ruby markup](https://bliptext.com/articles/ruby-annotation-markup)** module.)\nA common source of confusion is the loose use of deprecated to refer to both deprecated and invalid status, and to elements that are expected to be formally deprecated in the future.\n\n## Content vs. presentation and behavior\nSince HTML 4, HTML has increasingly focused on the separation of content (the visible text and images) from presentation (like color, font size, and layout).\nThis is often referred to as a [separation of concerns](https://bliptext.com/articles/separation-of-concerns).\nHTML is used to represent the structure or content of a document, its presentation remains the sole responsibility of [CSS](https://bliptext.com/articles/css) style sheets.\nA default [style sheet](https://bliptext.com/articles/style-sheet-web-development) is suggested as part of the CSS standard, giving a default rendering for HTML.\nBehavior (interactivity) is also kept separate from content, and is handled by [scripts](https://bliptext.com/articles/client-side-scripting).\nImages are contained in separate [graphics](https://bliptext.com/articles/graphics) files, separate from text, though they can also be considered part of the content of a page.\nSeparation of concerns allows the document to be presented by different user agents according to their purposes and abilities.\nFor example, a user agent can select an appropriate style sheet to present a document by displaying on a monitor, printing on paper, or to determine speech characteristics in an audio-only user agent.\nThe structural and semantic functions of the markup remain identical in each case.\nHistorically, user agents did not always support these features.\nIn the 1990s, as a stop-gap, presentational elements (like and ) were added to HTML, at the cost of creating problems for interoperability and user accessibility.\nThis is now regarded as outmoded and has been superseded by style sheet-based design; most presentational elements are now deprecated.\nExternal image files are incorporated with the or elements.\n(With [XHTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml), the [SVG](https://bliptext.com/articles/scalable-vector-graphics) language can also be used to write graphics within the document, though linking to external [SVG](https://bliptext.com/articles/scalable-vector-graphics) files is generally simpler.) Where an image is not purely decorative, HTML allows replacement content with similar semantic value to be provided for non-visual user agents.\nAn HTML document can also be extended through the use of scripts to provide additional behaviors beyond the abilities of HTML hyperlinks and forms.\nThe elements and, with related [HTML attributes](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-attributes), provide style sheets and scripts.\n\n# Document structure elements\nhtml:\nThe root element of an HTML document; all other elements are contained in this.\nThe HTML element delimits the beginning and the end of an HTML document.\nBoth the start and end tags may be omitted (HTML5).\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nhead:\nContainer for processing information and metadata for an HTML document.\nBoth the start and end tags may be omitted and inferred from child elements (HTML5).\nStandardized in HTML 5.0; still current.\nbody:\nContainer for the displayable content of an HTML document.\nBoth the start and end tags may be omitted and inferred from child elements (HTML5).\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\n\n# Document head elements\nbase:\nSpecifies a base URL for all relative and other links in the document.\nMust appear before any element that refers to an external resource.\nHTML permits only one element for each document.\nThis element has HTML attributes, but no contents.\nA development version of this element (as ) is mentioned in HTML Tags; standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nbasefont:\nSpecifies a base font size, typeface, and color for the document.\nUsed together with elements.\nDeprecated in favor of style sheets.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional; invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\nisindex:\ncould either appear in the document head or in the body, but only once in a document.\nSee Forms.\nlink:\nSpecifies links to other documents, such as previous and next links, or alternate versions.\nA common use is to link to external style sheets, using the form,.\nA less-common, but important, usage is to supply navigation hints consistently through use of microformats.\nSeveral common relationships are defined, that may be exposed to users through the browser interface rather than directly in the web page, such as:.\nA document's element may contain any number of elements.\nThis element has HTML attributes, but no contents.\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nmeta:\nCan be used to specify additional metadata about a document, such as its author, publication date, expiration date, language, page title, page description, keywords, or other information not provided through the other header elements and HTML attributes.\nBecause of their generic nature, elements specify associative key-value pairs.\nIn general, a meta element conveys hidden information about the document.\nSeveral meta tags can be used, all of which should be nested in the head element.\nThe specific purpose of each element is defined by its attributes.\nOutside of XHTML, it is often given without the slash, despite being a void element.\nIn one form, elements can specify HTTP headers which should be sent by a web server before the actual content.\nFor example, specifies that the page should be served with an HTTP header called that has a value.\nIn the general form, a element specifies and associated HTML attributes describing aspects of the HTML page.\nTo prevent possible ambiguity, an optional third attribute,, may be supplied to specify a semantic framework that defines the meaning of the key and its value.\nFor example, in the element identifies itself as containing the element, with a value of , from the DC or Dublin Core resource description framework.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nobject:\nUsed for including generic objects within the document header.\nThough rarely used within a element, it could potentially be used to extract foreign data and associate it with the current document.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nscript:\nCan act as a container for script instructions or link to an external script with the optional attribute.\nAlso usable in the document body to dynamically generate either both block or inline content.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nstyle:\nSpecifies a CSS style for the document, usually in the form,.\nCan either act as a container for style instructions or link to external style sheets – for example, in CSS, with directives of the form,\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\ntitle:\nThis tag defines a document title.\nRequired in every HTML and XHTML document.\nUser agents may use the title in different ways.\nFor example:\nThe element must not contain other elements, only text.\nOnly one element is permitted in a document.\nExisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\n\n# Document body elements\nIn visual browsers, displayable elements can be rendered as either block or inline.\nWhile all elements are part of the document sequence, block elements appear within their parent elements:\nConversely, inline elements are treated as part of the flow of document text; they cannot have margins, width, or height set, and do break across lines.\n\n## Block elements\nBlock elements, or block-level elements, have a rectangular structure.\nBy default, these elements will span the entire width of its parent element, and will thus not allow any other element to occupy the same horizontal space as it is placed on.\nThe rectangular structure of a block element is often referred to as the [box model](https://bliptext.com/articles/file-w3c-and-internet-explorer-box-models-svg), and is made up of several parts.\nEach element contains the following:\nThe above section refers only to the detailed implementation of CSS rendering and has no relevance to HTML elements themselves.\n\n### Basic text\np:\nCreates a paragraph, perhaps the most common block level element.\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nh1:\nh2:\nh3:\nh4:\nh5:\nh6:\nSection headings at different levels.\ndelimits the highest-level heading, the next level down (sub-section), for a level below that, and so on to.\nThey are sometimes referred to collectively as tags, n meaning any of the available heading levels.\nMost visual browsers show headings as large bold text by default, though this can be overridden with CSS.\nHeading elements are not intended merely for creating large or bold text – in fact, they should be used for explicitly styling text.\nRather, they describe the document's structure and organization.\nSome programs use them to generate outlines and tables of contents.\nHeadings existed in HTML Tags, and were standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\n\n### Lists\ndl:\nA description list (a.k.a. association list or definition list) consists of name–value groups, and was known as a definition list prior to HTML5.\nDescription lists are intended for groups of \"terms and definitions, metadata topics and values, questions and answers, or any other groups of name–value data\".\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\ndt:\nA name in a description list (previously definition term in a definition list).\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\ndd:\nA value in a description list (previously definition data in a definition list).\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nol:\nAn ordered (enumerated) list.\nThe attribute can be used to specify the kind of marker to use in the list, but style sheets give more control.\nThe default is Arabic numbering.\nIn an HTML attribute: ; or in a CSS declaration: – replacing with one of the following:\nCSS provides several other options not available as pure-HTML markup, including, and options for CJK, Hebrew, Georgian, and Armenian script.\nThe attribute is deprecated in HTML 3.2 and 4.01, but not in HTML 5.\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nul:\nAn unordered (bulleted) list.\nThe type of list item marker can be specified in an HTML attribute: ; or in a CSS declaration: – replacing with one of the following (the same values are used in HTML and CSS): (the default),, or.\nOnly the CSS method is supported in HTML5; the attribute is deprecated in HTML 3.2 and 4.01.\nCSS also provides, and the ability to replace these bullets with custom images.\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nli:\nA list item in ordered or unordered lists.\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\ndir:\nA directory listing.\nThe original purpose of this element was never widely supported; deprecated in favor of.\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional; invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\n\n### Other block elements\naddress:\nContact information for the document author.\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\narticle:\nUsed for articles and other similar content.\nStandardized in HTML5.\naside:\nUsed for content in a document which is separate from the main page content, for example, sidebars or advertising.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nblockquote:\nA block level quotation, for when the quotation includes block level elements, e.g. paragraphs.\nThe attribute (not to be confused with the element) may give the source, and must be a fully qualified Uniform Resource Identifier.\nThe default presentation of block quotations in visual browsers is usually to indent them from both margins.\nThis has led to the element being unnecessarily used just to indent paragraphs, regardless of semantics.\nFor quotations not containing block level elements see the quote element.\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nSee blockquote element for more information.\ncenter:\nCreates a block-level center-aligned division.\nDeprecated in favor of or another element with centering defined using style sheets.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; deprecated in HTML 4.0; not supported in HTML5.\ndel:\nMarks a deleted section of content.\nThis element can also be used as inline.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ndiv:\nA block-level logical division.\nA generic element with no semantic meaning used to distinguish a document section, usually for purposes such as presentation or behavior controlled by style sheets or DOM calls.\nProposed in the HTML 3.0 Drafts; Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nfigure:\nUsed to group images and captions, along with.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nfigcaption:\nA caption for an image.\nAlways placed inside the element.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nfooter:\nUsed for document footers.\nThese might contain author or copyright information, or links to other pages.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nheader:\nUsed for document headers.\nThese typically contain content introducing the page.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nhr:\nA thematic break (originally: horizontal rule).\nPresentational rules can be drawn with style sheets.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nins:\nMarks a section of inserted content.\nThis element can also be used as inline.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nmain:\nContains the main content of a document.\nStandardized in HTML 5.1.\nmenu:\nHTML 2.0: A menu listing.\nShould be more compact than a list.\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional; invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict; then redefined in HTML5, removed in HTML 5.2, but is included in the HTML Living Standard in 2019.\nnav:\nUsed in navigational sections of articles (areas of webpages which contain links to other webpages).\nStandardized in HTML5.\nnoscript:\nReplacement content for scripts.\nUnlike script this can only be used as a block-level element.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\npre:\nPre-formatted text.\nText within this element is typically displayed in a non-proportional font exactly as it is laid out in the file (see ASCII art).\nWhereas browsers ignore white-space for other HTML elements, in

, white-space should be rendered as authored.\n(With the CSS properties:, other elements can be presented in the same way.) This element can contain any inline element except:, , , , , and .\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nsection:\nUsed for generic sections of a document.\nThis is different from in that it is only used to contain sections of a page, which the W3C defines as a group of content with a similar theme.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nscript:\nPlaces a script in the document.\nAlso usable in the head and in inline contexts.\nIt may be used as with a attribute to supply a URL from which to load the script, or used as around embedded script content.\nis not itself either a block or inline element; by itself it should not display at all, but it can contain instructions to dynamically generate either both block or inline content.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\n\n## Inline elements\nInline elements cannot be placed directly inside the element; they must be wholly nested within block-level elements.\n\n### Anchor\na:\nAn anchor element is called an anchor because web designers can use it to \"anchor\" a URL to some text on a web page.\nWhen users view the web page in a browser, they can click the text to activate the link and visit the page whose URL is in the link.\nIn HTML, an \"anchor\" can be either the (the anchor text) or the (destination) end of a hyperlink.\nAs an origin, setting the attribute, creates a hyperlink; it can point to either another part of the document or another resource (e.g. a webpage) using an external URL.\nAs a target, setting the or HTML attributes, allows the element to be linked from a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) via a fragment identifier.\nThe two forms, origin and anchor, can be used concurently.\nIn HTML5, any element can now be made into a target by using the attribute, so using is not necessary, although this way of adding anchors continues to work.\nTo illustrate: the header of a table of contents section on example.com 's homepage could be turned into a target by writing:.\nContinuing with this example, now that the section has been marked up as a target, it can be referred to from external sites with a link like: ;\nor with a link on the same page like:.\nThe attribute may be set to give brief information about the link:.\nIn most graphical browsers, when the cursor hovers over a link, the cursor changes into a hand with an extended index finger and the value is displayed in a tooltip or in some other manner.\nSome browsers render alt text the same way, although this is not what the specification calls for.\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0;\n\n### Phrase elements\nPhrase elements are used for marking up phrases and adding structure or semantic meaning to text fragments.\nFor example, the and tags can be used for adding emphasis to text.\n\n#### General\nabbr:\nMarks an abbreviation, and can make the full form available:\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nacronym:\nSimilar to the element, but marks an acronym:\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current, not supported in HTML5.\nRecommended replacement is the tag.\ndefn:\nInline definition of a single term.\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was fully standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nem:\nEmphasis (conventionally displayed in italics)\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nstrong:\nimportance ; originally strong emphasis (conventionally displayed bold).\nAn aural user agent may use different voices for emphasis.\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current, redefined in HTML5.\n\n#### Computer phrase elements\nThese elements are useful primarily for documenting computer code development and user interaction through differentiation of source code ( existed in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nkbd:\nKeyboard – text to be entered by the user ( kbd example ).\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nsamp:\nSample output – from a program or script: ( samp example ).\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nvar:\nVariable ( var example ).\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\n\n### Presentation\nAs visual presentational markup only applies directly to visual browsers, its use is discouraged.\nStyle sheets should be used instead.\nSeveral of these elements are deprecated or invalid in HTML 4 / XHTML 1.0, and the remainder are invalid in the current draft of [XHTML 2.0](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined).\nThe current draft of [HTML5](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined), however, re-includes, , and , assigning new semantic meaning to each.\nIn an [HTML5](https://bliptext.com/articles/html5) document, the use of these elements is no longer discouraged, provided that it is semantically correct.\nb:\nIn HTML 4, set font to boldface where possible.\nEquivalent CSS:.\nThe element usually has the same effect in visual browsers, as well as having more semantic meaning, under HTML 4.01.\nIn HTML5, however, has its own meaning, distinct from that of.\nIt denotes \"text to which attention is being drawn for utilitarian purposes without conveying any extra importance and with no implication of an alternate voice or mood.\"\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current, redefined in HTML5.\ni:\nIn HTML 4, set font to italic where possible.\nEquivalent CSS:.\nUsing has the same visual effect in most browsers, as well as having a semantic meaning as emphasis, under HTML 4.01.\n(Purely typographic italics have many non-emphasis purposes, as HTML 5 more explicitly recognized.)\nIn HTML5, however, has its own semantic meaning, distinct from that of.\nIt denotes \"a different quality of text\" or \"an alternate voice or mood\" e.g., a thought, a ship name, a binary species name, a foreign-language phrase, etc. existed in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current, redefined in HTML5.\nu:\nIn HTML 4, underlined text.\nEquivalent CSS:.\nDeprecated in HTML 4.01.\nRestored in HTML5.\nIn HTML5, the element denotes \"a span of text with an unarticulated, though explicitly rendered, non-textual annotation, such as labelling the text as being a proper name in Chinese text (a Chinese proper name mark), or labelling the text as being misspelt.\"\nThe HTML5 specification reminds developers that other elements are almost always more appropriate than and admonishes designers not to use underlined text where it could be confused for a hyper-link.\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, was standardized in HTML 3.2 but was deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional and was invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\nReintroduced in HTML5.\nsmall:\nIn HTML 4, decreased font size ( smaller text).\nEquivalent CSS:\nIn HTML5, the element denotes \"side comments such as small print.\"\nThis has caused some confusion with the element.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\ns:\nIn HTML 4, indicated strike-through text ( Strikethrough ) and was equivalent to.\nIn HTML5, the element denotes information that is \"no longer accurate or no longer relevant\", and is not to be confused with, which indicates removal/deletion.\nwas deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional (having not appeared in any previous standard), and was invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\nReintroduced in HTML5, which instead deprecated.\nundefined:\nIncreased font size ( bigger text).\nEquivalent CSS:\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; not supported in HTML5.\nundefined:\nStrike-through text ( Strikethrough ), (Equivalent CSS: )\nwas standardized in HTML 3.2; deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional; invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\ntt:\nFixed-width font (typewriter-like), also known as teletype, thus \"tt\".\n(Equivalent CSS: )\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was Standardized in HTML 2.0; not supported in HTML5.\nPossible replacements: for marking user input, for variables (usually rendered italic, and not with a change to monospace), for source code, for output.\nfont:\nCan specify the font color with the attribute (note the American spelling), typeface with the attribute, and absolute or relative size with the attribute.\nExamples (all uses are deprecated, use CSS equivalents if possible):\nEquivalent CSS for font attributes:\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional; invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\nNot part of HTML5.\n\n### Span\nspan:\nAn inline logical division.\nA generic element with no semantic meaning used to distinguish a document section, usually for purposes such as presentation or behavior controlled by style sheets or DOM calls.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\n\n### Other inline elements\nbr:\nA forced line break.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nbdi:\nIsolates an inline section of text that may be formatted in a different direction from other text outside of it, such as user-generated content with unknown directionality.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nbdo:\nMarks an inline section of text in which the reading direction is the opposite from that of the parent element.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ncite:\nA citation or a reference for a quote or statement in the document.\nCITE existed in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nNote: The HTML 5 specifications have been confusingly forked, including with regard to this element.\nIn HTML 4 and earlier, was for \"a citation or a reference to other sources\" without any particular limitations or requirements.\nThe W3C HTML 5 spec uses a refinement of this idea, reflecting how the element has historically been used, but now requiring that it contain (but not be limited to) at least one of \"the title of the work or the name of the author (person, people or organization) or an URL reference, or a reference in abbreviated form as per the conventions used for the addition of citation metadata.\"\nBut the WHATWG spec only permits the element to be used around the title of a work.\nThe W3C specs began with the broader definition, then switched to the very narrow one after WHATWG made this change.\nHowever, W3C reverted their own change in 2012, in response to negative developer-community feedback; the element was in broadly-deployed use with the broader scope, e.g., various blog and forum platforms wrap commenters' IDs and e-mail addresses in , and people using the element for bibliographic citations were (and still are) routinely wrapping each entire citation in this element.\nAnother problem with the element is that WHATWG recommends that it be italicized by default (thus almost all browsers do so), because it (in their view) is only for publication titles.\nBy convention, however, only certain kinds of titles actually take italics, while others are expected to be put in quotation marks, and standards may actually vary by publishing context and language.\nConsequently, many website authors and admins use a site-wide stylesheet to undo this element's auto-italics.\ndata:\nLinks inline content with a machine-readable translation.\nStandardized in HTML5.\ndel:\nDeleted text.\nTypically rendered as a strikethrough: Deleted text.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nins:\nInserted text.\nOften used to mark up replacement text for material struck with or.\nTypically rendered underlined: Inserted text.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nBoth and elements may also be used as block elements: containing other block and inline elements.\nHowever, these elements must still remain wholly within their parent element to maintain a well-formed HTML document.\nFor example, deleting text from the middle of one paragraph across several other paragraphs and ending in a final paragraph would need to use three separate elements.\nTwo elements would be required as inline elements to indicate the deletion of text in the first and last paragraphs, and a third, used as a block element, to indicate the deletion in the intervening paragraphs.\nmark:\nProduces text that looks like this.\nIntended for highlighting relevant text in a quotation.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nq:\nAn inline quotation (for block level quotation see ).\nQuote elements may be nested.\nautomatically generate quotation marks in conjunction with style sheets.\nPractical concerns due to browser non-compliance may force authors to find workarounds.\nThe attribute gives the source, and must be a fully qualified URI.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nLengthy inline quotations may be displayed as indented blocks (as ) using style sheets.\nFor example, with a suitable CSS rule associated with : Lengthy quote here.\nrb:\nRepresents the base component of a ruby annotation.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nrp:\nProvides fallback parenthesis for browsers lacking ruby annotation support.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nrt:\nIndicates pronunciation for a character in a ruby annotation.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nrtc:\nSemantic annotations for a ruby annotation.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nruby:\nRepresents a ruby annotation for showing the pronunciation of East Asian characters.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nscript:\nPlaces a script in the document.\nAlso usable in the head and in block contexts.\nis not itself either a block or inline element; by itself it should not display at all, but it can contain instructions to dynamically generate either both block or inline content.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nsub:\nsup:\nMark subscripted or superscripted text.\n(Equivalent CSS: and, respectively.)\nBoth were proposed in the HTML 3.0 Drafts; Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\ntemplate:\nCode fragments to be copied by scripts.\nStandardized in HTML5.\ntime:\nRepresents a time on the 24-hour clock or a date on the Gregorian calendar, optionally with time and time zone information.\nAlso allows times and dates to be represented in a machine-readable format.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nwbr:\nAn optional word break.\nWas widely used (and supported by all major browsers) for years despite being non-standard until finally being standardized in HTML5.\n\n## Images and objects\napplet:\nEmbeds a Java applet in the page.\nDeprecated in favor of, as it could only be used with Java applets, and had accessibility limitations.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional; invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\nAs of 2011, still widely used as the implementations of the replacing are not consistent between different browsers.\narea:\nSpecifies a focusable area in a. Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\naudio:\nAdds playable HTML audio to the page.\nThe audio URL is determined using the attribute.\nSupported audio formats vary from browser to browser.\nStandardized in HTML5.\ncanvas:\nAdds a canvas whose contents can be edited with JavaScript.\nFrequently used for online games.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nembed:\nInserts a non-standard object (like applet) or external content (typically non-HTML) into the document.\nDeprecated in HTML 4 in favor of, but then was added back into the HTML5 specification\nimg:\nUsed by visual user agents to insert an image in the document.\nThe attribute specifies the image URL.\nThe required attribute provides alternative text in case the image cannot be displayed.\n(Though is intended as alternative text, Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and below render it as a tooltip if no attribute is given. Safari and Google Chrome, on the other hand, do not display the alt attribute at all.) The element was first proposed by Marc Andreessen and implemented in the NCSA Mosaic web browser.\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nmap:\nSpecifies a client-side image map.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nobject:\nIncludes an object in the page of the type specified by the attribute.\nThis may be in any MIME-type the user agent understands, such as an embedded HTML page, a file to be handled by a plug-in such as Flash, a Java applet, a sound file, etc. Standardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nparam:\nOriginally introduced with, this element is now used with, and should only occur as a child of.\nIt uses HTML attributes to set a parameter for the object, e.g. width, height, font, background color, etc., depending on the type of object.\nAn object can have multiple elements.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nsource:\nSpecifies different sources for audio or video.\nMakes use of the attribute in a way similar to the and elements.\nStandardized in HTML5.\ntrack:\nProvides text tracks, like subtitles and captions, for audio and video.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nvideo:\nAdds a playable HTML video to the page.\nThe video URL is determined using the attribute.\nSupported video formats vary from browser to browser.\nStandardized in HTML5.\n\n## Forms\nThese elements can be combined into a form or in some instances used separately as user-interface controls; in the document, they can be simple HTML or used in conjunction with Scripts.\nHTML markup specifies the elements that make up a form, and the method by which it will be submitted.\nHowever, some form of scripts ([server-side](https://bliptext.com/articles/server-side-script), client-side, or both) must be used to process the user's input once it is submitted.\n(These elements are either block or inline elements, but are collected here as their use is more restricted than other inline or block elements.)\nform:\nCreates a form.\nThe element specifies and operates the overall action of a form area, using the required attribute.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nbutton:\nA generic form button which can contain a range of other elements to create complex buttons.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ndatalist:\nA list of s for use in form elements.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nfieldset:\nA container for adding structure to forms.\nFor example, a series of related controls can be grouped within a, which can then have a added in order to identify their function.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ninput:\nelements allow a variety of standard form controls to be implemented.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nInput Types:\ncheckbox:\nA checkbox.\nCan be checked or unchecked.\nradio:\nA radio button.\nIf multiple radio buttons are given the same name, the user will only be able to select one of them from this group.\nbutton:\nA general-purpose button.\nThe element is preferred if possible (i.e., if the client supports it) as it provides richer possibilities.\nsubmit:\nA submit button.\nimage:\nAn image button.\nThe image URL may be specified with the attribute.\nreset:\nA reset button for resetting the form to default values.\ntext:\nA one-line text input field.\nThe attribute specifies the default width of the input in character-widths.\nsets the maximum number of characters the user can enter (which may be greater than size).\nsearch:\nA variation of which produces a search bar.\npassword:\nA variation of.\nThe difference is that text typed in this field is – characters are displayed as an asterisk, a dot, or another replacement.\nThe password is still submitted to the server as plaintext, so an underlying secure communication protocol like HTTPS is needed if confidentiality is a concern.\nfile:\nA file select field (for uploading files to a server).\ntel:\nA variation of for telephone numbers.\nemail:\nA variation of for email addresses.\nurl:\nA variation of for URLs.\ndate:\nA date selector.\ntime:\nA time selector.\nnumber:\nA variation of for numbers.\nrange:\nProduces a slider for that returns a number, but the number is not visible to the user.\ncolor:\nA color picker.\nhidden:\ninputs are not visible in the rendered page, but allow a designer to maintain a copy of data that needs to be submitted to the server as part of the form.\nThis may, for example, be data that this web user entered or selected on a previous form that needs to be processed in conjunction with the current form.\nNot displayed to the user but data can still be altered client-side by editing the HTML source.\nisindex:\ncould either appear in the document head or in the body, but only once in a document.\noperated as a primitive HTML search form; but was de facto obsoleted by more advanced HTML forms introduced in the early to mid-1990s.\nRepresents a set of hyperlinks composed of a base URI, an ampersand and percent-encoded keywords separated by plus signs.\nexisted in HTML Tags; standardized in HTML 2.0; deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional; invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\nkeygen:\nA key pair generator.\nStandardized in HTML5, but removed in HTML 5.2.\nlabel:\nCreates a label for a form input, such as.\nClicking on the label fires a click on the matching input.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nlegend:\nA legend (caption) for a. Standardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nmeter:\nA meter which needs a attribute.\nCan also have:, , , and.\nStandardized in HTML5.\noption:\nCreates an item in a list.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\noptgroup:\nIdentifies a group of elements in a list.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\noutput:\nThe value of a form element.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nprogress:\nA bar for showing the progress of an action.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nselect:\nCreates a selection list, from which the user can select a single option.\nMay be rendered as a dropdown list.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\ntextarea:\nA multiple-line text area, the size of which is specified by (where a column is a one-character width of text) and HTML attributes.\nThe content of this element is restricted to plain text, which appears in the text area as default text when the page is loaded.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\n\n## Tables\nThe format of [HTML Tables](https://bliptext.com/articles/) was proposed in the [HTML 3.0 Drafts](https://bliptext.com/articles/) and the later RFC 1942 [HTML Tables](https://bliptext.com/articles/).\nThey were inspired by the [CALS Table Model](https://bliptext.com/articles/cals-table-model).\nSome elements in these proposals were included in HTML 3.2; the present form of HTML Tables was standardized in HTML 4.\n(Many of the elements used within tables are neither block nor inline elements.)\ntable:\nIdentifies a table.\nSeveral HTML attributes are possible in HTML Transitional, but most of these are invalid in HTML Strict and can be replaced with style sheets.\nThe attribute is informally required for accessibility purposes, though its usage is not simple.\nProposed in the HTML 3.0 Drafts; Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\ntr:\nContains a row of cells in a. Proposed in the HTML 3.0 Drafts; Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nth:\nA header cell; contents are conventionally displayed bold and centered.\nAn aural user agent may use a louder voice for these items.\nProposed in the HTML 3.0 Drafts; Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\ntd:\nA data cell.\nProposed in the HTML 3.0 Drafts; Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\ncolgroup:\nSpecifies a column group in a. Proposed in HTML Tables; Standardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ncol:\nSpecifies a column in a. Proposed in HTML Tables; Standardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ncaption:\nSpecifies a caption for a. Proposed in the HTML 3.0 Drafts; Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nthead:\nSpecifies the header part of a.\nThis section may be repeated by the user agent if the table is split across pages (in printing or other paged media).\nProposed in HTML Tables; Standardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ntbody:\nSpecifies a body of data for a. Proposed in HTML Tables; Standardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ntfoot:\nSpecifies the footer part of a.\nLike, this section may be repeated by the user agent if the table is split across pages (in printing or other paged media).\nProposed in HTML Tables; Standardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\n\n# Frames\nFrames allow a visual HTML browser window to be split into segments, each of which can show a different document.\nThis can lower bandwidth use, as repeating parts of a layout can be used in one frame, while variable content is displayed in another.\nThis may come at a certain usability cost, especially in non-visual user agents, due to separate and independent documents (or websites) being displayed adjacent to each other and being allowed to interact with the same parent window.\nBecause of this cost, frames (excluding the element) are only allowed in HTML 4.01 Frame-set.\nIframes can also hold documents on different servers.\nIn this case the interaction between windows is blocked by the browser.\nSites like [Facebook](https://bliptext.com/articles/facebook) and [Twitter](https://bliptext.com/articles/twitter) use iframes to display content ([plugins](https://bliptext.com/articles/plug-in-computing)) on third party websites.\nGoogle [AdSense](https://bliptext.com/articles/adsense) uses iframes to display banners on third party websites.\nIn HTML 4.01, a document may contain a and a a and a, but not both a and a.\nHowever, can be used in a normal document body.\nframeset:\nContains the set of elements for a document.\nThe layout of frames is given by comma separated lists in the and HTML attributes.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0 Frameset, obsolete in HTML5.\nframe:\nDefines a single frame, or region, within the.\nA separate document is linked to a frame using the attribute inside the element.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0 Frameset, obsolete in HTML5.\nnoframes:\nContains normal HTML content for user agents that do not support elements.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0 Transitional, obsolete in HTML5.\niframe:\nAn inline frame places another HTML document in a frame.\nUnlike an element, an can be the \"target\" frame for links defined by other elements, and it can be selected by the user agent as the focus for printing, viewing its source, and so on.\nThe content of the element is used as alternative text to be displayed if the browser does not support inline frames.\nA separate document is linked to a frame using the attribute inside the, an inline HTML code is embedded to a frame using the attribute inside the element.\nFirst introduced by Microsoft Internet Explorer in 1997, standardized in HTML 4.0 Transitional, allowed in HTML5.\n\n## attribute\nIn** **[HTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/html),** **** **** **is** **an** **attribute** **used** **within** **the,** **,** **or** **elements.\nIt is supposed to be a [URL](https://bliptext.com/articles/url) to a document that provides a **long description** for the image, frame, or iframe in question.\nThis attribute should contain a URL, – as is commonly mistaken – the text of the description itself.\nwas designed to be used by [screen readers](https://bliptext.com/articles/screen-reader) to display image information for computer users with [accessibility](https://bliptext.com/articles/accessibility) issues, such as the blind or [visually impaired](https://bliptext.com/articles/visual-impairment), and is widely implemented by both web browsers and [screen readers](https://bliptext.com/articles/screen-reader).\nSome developers object that it is actually seldom used for this purpose because there are relatively few authors who use the attribute and most of those authors use it incorrectly; thus, they recommend deprecating.\nThe publishing industry has responded, advocating the retention of.\n\n### Example\nContent of :\n\n### Linking to the long description in the text\nSince very few graphical browsers support making the link available natively (Opera and iCab being the exceptions), it is useful to include a link to the description page near the element whenever possible, as this can also aid sighted users.\n\n#### Example\n\n# Historic elements\nThe following elements were part of the early HTML developed by [Tim Berners-Lee](https://bliptext.com/articles/tim-berners-lee) from 1989 to 1991; they are mentioned in HTML Tags, but deprecated in HTML 2.0 and were never part of HTML standards.\nlisting:\nThis element displayed the text inside the tags in a monospace font and without interpreting the HTML.\nThe HTML 2.0 specification recommended rendering the element at up to 132 characters per line.\nDeprecated in HTML 3.2; obsolete in HTML5.\nplaintext:\ndoes not have an end tag as it terminates the markup and causes the rest of the document to be parsed as if it were plaintext.\nexisted in HTML Tags; deprecated in HTML 2.0; invalid in HTML 4.0.\nxmp:\nThis element displayed the text inside the tags in a monospace font and without interpreting the HTML.\nThe HTML 2.0 specification recommended rendering the element at 80 characters per line.\nDeprecated in HTML 3.2; obsolete in HTML5.\nnextid:\nThis element enabled NeXT web designing tool to generate automatic NAME labels for its anchors and was itself automatically generated.\nexisted in HTML Tags (described as obsolete); deprecated in HTML 2.0; invalid in HTML 3.2 and later.\n\n# Non-standard elements\nThis section lists some widely used obsolete elements, which means they are not used in [valid](https://bliptext.com/articles/validator) code.\nThey may not be supported in all user agents.\nblink:\nCauses text to blink.\nIntroduced in imitation of the ANSI escape codes.\nCan be done with CSS where supported: (This effect may have negative consequences for people with photosensitive epilepsy; its use on the public Internet should follow the appropriate guidelines.)\noriginated in Netscape Navigator and is mostly recognized by its descendants, including Firefox; deprecated or invalid in HTML 2.0 and later.\nThe replacement CSS tag, while standard, is not required to be supported.\nlayer:\nCreates an absolute positioned and framed layer.\nCan be done with frames and/or CSS instead.\nThere are attributes, including ID, LEFT, TOP, PAGEX, PAGEY, SRC, Z-INDEX, ABOVE, WIDTH, HEIGHT, BELOW, CLIP, VISIBILITY and CLIP.\noriginated in Netscape 4; deprecated or invalid in HTML 4.01 and later.\nmarquee:\nCreates scrolling text.\nCan be done with scripting instead.\n(This effect may have negative consequences for people with photosensitive epilepsy; its use on the public Internet should follow the appropriate guidelines.) There are three options, including Alternate, Scroll and slide.\nScrolldelay can also be added.\noriginated in Microsoft Internet Explorer; deprecated or invalid in HTML 4.01 and later.\nnobr:\nCauses text to not break at end of line, preventing word wrap where text exceeds the width of the enclosing object.\nAdjacent text may break before and after it.\nCan be done with CSS:\nis a proprietary element which is recognized by most browsers for compatibility reasons; deprecated or invalid in HTML 2.0 and later.\nnoembed:\nSpecifies alternative content, if the embed cannot be rendered.\nReplaced by the content of the or element.\n\n# Comments\ncomment:\nA comment in HTML (and related XML, SGML and SHTML) uses the same syntax as the SGML comment or XML comment, depending on the doctype.\nUnlike most HTML tags, comments do not nest.\nMore generally, there are some strings that are not allowed to appear in the comment text.\nThose are (the beginning of a comment),(this ends the comment so it trivially follows it can not appear inside it) and.\nAdditionally, the strings and cannot appear at the beginning of a comment and cannot appear at the end.\nAs a result, the markup is ill-formed and will yield the comment Xbegin after it, or sometimes just Xend-->, depending on browser.\nComments can appear anywhere in a document, as the HTML parser is supposed to ignore them no matter where they appear so long as they are not inside other HTML tag structures (i.e., they cannot be used next to attributes and values; this is invalid markup: ).\nComments can even appear before the doctype declaration; no other tags are permitted to do this.\nHowever, not all browsers and HTML editors are fully compliant with the HTML syntax framework and may do unpredictable things under some syntax conditions.\nDefective handling of comments only affects about 5% of all browsers and HTML editors in use, and even then only certain versions are affected by comment mishandling issues (Internet Explorer 6 accounts for most of this high percentage).\nThere are a few compatibility quirks involving comments:\n\n## HTML standards\n\n## Other sources","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-25T19:00:04.514Z","updated_at":"2025-01-25T19:00:04.514Z","search_vector":"'element':2 'html':1","search_content":" \n \n\n# \nAn **[HTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/html) element** is a type of [HTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/html) (HyperText Markup Language) document component, one of several types of [HTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/html) nodes (there are also text nodes, comment nodes and others).\nThe first used version of HTML was written by [Tim Berners-Lee](https://bliptext.com/articles/tim-berners-lee) in 1993 and there have since been many versions of HTML.\nThe current de facto standard is governed by the industry group [WHATWG](https://bliptext.com/articles/whatwg) and is known as the HTML Living Standard.\nAn HTML document is composed of a [tree](https://bliptext.com/articles/tree-structure) of simple HTML [nodes](https://bliptext.com/articles/node-computer-science), such as text [nodes](https://bliptext.com/articles/node-computer-science), and HTML elements, which add [semantics](https://bliptext.com/articles/semantics) and formatting to parts of a document (e.g., make text bold, organize it into paragraphs, lists and tables, or embed [hyperlinks](https://bliptext.com/articles/hyperlink) and images).\nEach element can have [HTML attributes](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-attribute) specified.\nElements can also have content, including other elements and text.\n\n# Concepts\n# [HTML element content categories | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/HTML///element///content///categories.svg]\n\n## Elements vs. tags\nAs is generally understood, the position of an element is indicated as spanning from a start tag and is terminated by an end tag.\nThis is the case for many, but not all, elements within an HTML document.\nThe distinction is explicitly emphasised in HTML 4.01 Specification:\n\"Elements are not tags. Some people refer to elements as tags (e.g., \"the P tag\"). Remember that the element is one thing, and the tag (be it start or end tag) is another. For instance, the HEAD element is always present, even though both start and end HEAD tags may be missing in the markup.\"\nSimilarly the W3C Recommendation **HTML 5.1 2nd Edition** explicitly says:\n\"Tags are used to delimit the start and end of elements in the markup. (...) The start and end tags of certain normal elements can be omitted, (...) The contents of the element must be placed between just after the start tag (which might be implied, in certain cases) and just before the end tag (which again, might be implied, in certain cases).\"\nand:\n\"Certain tags can be omitted. NOTE: Omitting an element's start tag (...) does not mean the element is not present; it is implied, but it is still there. For example, an HTML document always has a root element, even if the string doesn't appear anywhere in the markup.\"\nAs HTML (before HTML5) is based on [SGML](https://bliptext.com/articles/sgml), its parsing also depends on the [Document Type Definition (DTD)](https://bliptext.com/articles/document-type-definition), specifically an HTML DTD (e.g. HTML 4.01 ).\nThe DTD specifies which element types are possible (i.e. it defines the set of element types) and also the valid combinations in which they may appear in a document.\nIt is part of general SGML behavior that, where only one valid structure is (per the DTD), its explicit statement in any given document is not generally required.\nAs a simple example, the tag indicating the start of a paragraph element should be complemented by a tag indicating its end.\nBut since the DTD states that paragraph elements cannot be nested, an HTML document fragment is thus inferred to be equivalent to.\n(If one paragraph element cannot contain another, any currently open paragraph must be closed before starting another.) Because this implication is based on the combination of the DTD and the individual document, it is not usually possible to infer elements from document tags but only by using an SGML—or HTML—aware parser with knowledge of the DTD.\n[HTML5](https://bliptext.com/articles/html5) creates a similar result by defining what tags can be omitted.\n\n## SGML vs. XML\nSGML is complex, which has limited its widespread understanding and adoption.\n[XML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xml) was developed as a simpler alternative.\nAlthough both can use the DTD to specify the supported elements and their permitted combinations as document structure, XML parsing is simpler.\nThe relation from tags to elements is always that of parsing the actual tags included in the document, without the implied closures that are part of SGML.\nHTML as used on the current web is likely to be either treated as XML, by being [XHTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml), or as [HTML5](https://bliptext.com/articles/html5); in either case the parsing of document tags into [Document Object Model](https://bliptext.com/articles/document-object-model) (DOM) elements is simplified compared to legacy HTML systems.\nOnce the DOM of elements is obtained, behavior at higher levels of interface (example: screen rendering) is identical or nearly so.\n\n## vs. box\nPart of this CSS presentation behavior is the notion of the \"[box model](https://bliptext.com/articles/css-box-model)\".\nThis is applied to those elements that CSS considers to be \"block\" elements, set through the CSS declaration.\nHTML also has a similar concept, although different, and the two are very frequently confused.\nand are groups within the HTML DTD that group elements as being either \"block-level\" or \"inline\".\nThis is used to define their nesting behavior: block-level elements cannot be placed into an inline context.\nThis behavior cannot be changed; it is fixed in the DTD.\nBlock and [inline elements](https://bliptext.com/articles/inline-elements) have the appropriate and different [CSS](https://bliptext.com/articles/css) behaviors attached to them by default, including the relevance of the box model for particular element types.\nNote though that this CSS behavior can, and frequently is, changed from the default.\nLists with are elements and are presented as block elements by default.\nHowever, it is quite common to set these with CSS to display as an inline list.\n\n# Overview\n\n## Syntax\nIn the HTML syntax, most elements are written with a start tag and an end tag, with the content in between.\nAn **HTML tag** is composed of the name of the element, surrounded by [angle brackets](https://bliptext.com/articles/angle-bracket).\nAn end tag also has a slash after the opening angle bracket, to distinguish it from the start tag.\nFor example, a paragraph, which is represented by the element, would be written as:\nHowever, not all of these elements the end tag, or even the start tag, to be present.\nSome elements, the so-called [void elements](https://bliptext.com/articles/), do not have an end tag.\nA typical example is the (hard line-break) element.\nA void element's behavior is predefined, and it cannot contain any content or other elements.\nFor example, an address would be written as:\nWhen using [XHTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml), it is required to open and close all elements, including void elements.\nThis can be done by placing an end tag immediately after the start tag, but this is not legal in HTML 5 and will lead to two elements being created.\nAn alternative way to specify that it is a void element, which is compatible with both XHTML and HTML 5, is to put a at the of the tag (not to be confused with the at the of a closing tag).\n[HTML attributes](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-attribute) are specified inside the start tag.\nFor example, the element, which represents an [abbreviation](https://bliptext.com/articles/abbreviation), expects a attribute within its opening tag.\nThis would be written as:\nInformally, HTML elements are sometimes referred to as \"tags\" (an example of [synecdoche](https://bliptext.com/articles/synecdoche)), though many prefer the term tag strictly in reference to the markup delimiting the start and end of an element.\nElement (and attribute) names may be written in any combination of upper or lower case in HTML, but must be in lower case in XHTML.\nThe canonical form was upper-case until [HTML 4](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-4), and was used in HTML specifications, but in recent years, lower-case has become more common.\n\n### Types of element\nThere are three kinds of [HTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/html) elements: normal elements, raw text elements, and void elements.\n**Normal elements** usually have both a start tag and an end tag, although for some elements the end tag, or both tags, can be omitted.\nIt is constructed in a similar way:\n**Raw text elements** (also known as text or text-only elements) are constructed with:\nAn example is the element, which must not contain other elements (including markup of text), only text.\n**Void elements** (also sometimes called empty elements, single elements or stand-alone elements) only have a start tag (in the form ), which contains any HTML attributes.\nThey may not contain any children, such as text or other elements.\nFor compatibility with [XHTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml), the HTML specification allows an optional space and slash ( is permissible).\nThe slash is required in [XHTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml) and other [XML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xml) applications.\nTwo common void elements are (for a [hard line-break](https://bliptext.com/articles/hard-return), such as in a poem or an address) and (for a thematic break).\nOther such elements are often place-holders which reference external files, such as the image element.\nThe attributes included in the element will then point to the external file in question.\nAnother example of a void element is, for which the syntax is:\nThis element points the browser at a [style sheet](https://bliptext.com/articles/style-sheet-web-development) to use when presenting the HTML document to the user.\nIn the HTML syntax attributes do not have to be quoted if they are composed only of certain characters: letters, digits, the hyphen-minus and the period.\nWhen using the XML syntax (XHTML), on the other hand, all attributes must be quoted, and a spaced trailing [slash](https://bliptext.com/articles/slash-punctuation) is required before the last angle bracket:\n\n### Attributes\n**[HTML attributes](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-attribute)** define desired behavior or indicate additional element properties.\nMost attributes require a value.\nIn HTML, the value can be left unquoted if it does not include spaces, or it can be quoted with single or double quotes ( or ).\nIn [XML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xml), those quotes are required.\n[Boolean](https://bliptext.com/articles/boolean-data-type) attributes, on the other hand, do not require a value to be specified.\nAn example is the for checkboxes:\nIn the XML (and thus [XHTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml)) syntax, though, a value is required, and the name should be repeated as the value:\n\n## Element standards\nHTML elements are defined in a series of freely available open standards issued since 1995, initially by the [IETF](https://bliptext.com/articles/ietf) and subsequently by the [W3C](https://bliptext.com/articles/w3c).\nDuring the [browser wars](https://bliptext.com/articles/browser-wars) of the 1990s, developers of [user agents](https://bliptext.com/articles/user-agent) (e.g. [web browsers](https://bliptext.com/articles/web-browser)) often developed their own elements, some of which have been adopted in later standards.\nOther user agents may not recognize non-standard elements, and they will be ignored, possibly causing the page to be displayed improperly.\nIn 1998, [XML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xml) (a simplified form of SGML) introduced mechanisms to allow anyone to develop their own elements and incorporate them in [XHTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml) documents, for use with [XML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xml)-aware user agents.\nSubsequently, HTML 4.01 was rewritten in an [XML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xml)-compatible form, [XHTML 1.0](https://bliptext.com/articles/) (eXtensible HTML).\nThe elements in each are identical, and in most cases valid XHTML 1.0 documents will be valid or nearly valid HTML 4.01 documents.\nThis article mainly focuses on real HTML, unless noted otherwise; however, it remains applicable to XHTML.\nSee [HTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/html) for a discussion of the minor differences between the two.\n\n## Element status\nSince the first version of HTML, several elements have become outmoded, and are [deprecated](https://bliptext.com/articles/deprecated) in later standards, or do not appear at all, in which case they are invalid (and will be found invalid, and perhaps not displayed, by [validating](https://bliptext.com/articles/xml-validation) user agents).\nIn [HTML 4.01](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-4-01) / [XHTML 1.0](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml-1-0), the status of elements is complicated by the existence of three types of [DTD](https://bliptext.com/articles/document-type-definition):\nHTML5 instead provides a listing of **obsolete** features to go along with the **standardized** normative content.\nThey are broken down into \"obsolete but conforming\" for which implementation instructions exist and \"non-conforming\" ones that should be replaced.\nThe first Standard ([HTML 2.0](https://bliptext.com/articles/html)) contained four deprecated elements, one of which was invalid in [HTML 3.2](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-3-2).\nAll four are invalid in [HTML 4.01 Transitional](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-4), which also deprecated a further ten elements.\nAll of these, plus two others, are invalid in [HTML 4.01 Strict](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-4).\nWhile the frame elements are still current in the sense of being present in the Transitional and Frameset DTDs, there are no plans to preserve them in future standards, as their function has been largely replaced, and they are highly problematic for user accessibility.\n(Strictly speaking, the most recent XHTML standard, [XHTML 1.1](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml-1-1) (2001), does not include frames at all; it is approximately equivalent to [XHTML 1.0 Strict](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml-1-0), but also includes the **[Ruby markup](https://bliptext.com/articles/ruby-annotation-markup)** module.)\nA common source of confusion is the loose use of deprecated to refer to both deprecated and invalid status, and to elements that are expected to be formally deprecated in the future.\n\n## Content vs. presentation and behavior\nSince HTML 4, HTML has increasingly focused on the separation of content (the visible text and images) from presentation (like color, font size, and layout).\nThis is often referred to as a [separation of concerns](https://bliptext.com/articles/separation-of-concerns).\nHTML is used to represent the structure or content of a document, its presentation remains the sole responsibility of [CSS](https://bliptext.com/articles/css) style sheets.\nA default [style sheet](https://bliptext.com/articles/style-sheet-web-development) is suggested as part of the CSS standard, giving a default rendering for HTML.\nBehavior (interactivity) is also kept separate from content, and is handled by [scripts](https://bliptext.com/articles/client-side-scripting).\nImages are contained in separate [graphics](https://bliptext.com/articles/graphics) files, separate from text, though they can also be considered part of the content of a page.\nSeparation of concerns allows the document to be presented by different user agents according to their purposes and abilities.\nFor example, a user agent can select an appropriate style sheet to present a document by displaying on a monitor, printing on paper, or to determine speech characteristics in an audio-only user agent.\nThe structural and semantic functions of the markup remain identical in each case.\nHistorically, user agents did not always support these features.\nIn the 1990s, as a stop-gap, presentational elements (like and ) were added to HTML, at the cost of creating problems for interoperability and user accessibility.\nThis is now regarded as outmoded and has been superseded by style sheet-based design; most presentational elements are now deprecated.\nExternal image files are incorporated with the or elements.\n(With [XHTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/xhtml), the [SVG](https://bliptext.com/articles/scalable-vector-graphics) language can also be used to write graphics within the document, though linking to external [SVG](https://bliptext.com/articles/scalable-vector-graphics) files is generally simpler.) Where an image is not purely decorative, HTML allows replacement content with similar semantic value to be provided for non-visual user agents.\nAn HTML document can also be extended through the use of scripts to provide additional behaviors beyond the abilities of HTML hyperlinks and forms.\nThe elements and, with related [HTML attributes](https://bliptext.com/articles/html-attributes), provide style sheets and scripts.\n\n# Document structure elements\nhtml:\nThe root element of an HTML document; all other elements are contained in this.\nThe HTML element delimits the beginning and the end of an HTML document.\nBoth the start and end tags may be omitted (HTML5).\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nhead:\nContainer for processing information and metadata for an HTML document.\nBoth the start and end tags may be omitted and inferred from child elements (HTML5).\nStandardized in HTML 5.0; still current.\nbody:\nContainer for the displayable content of an HTML document.\nBoth the start and end tags may be omitted and inferred from child elements (HTML5).\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\n\n# Document head elements\nbase:\nSpecifies a base URL for all relative and other links in the document.\nMust appear before any element that refers to an external resource.\nHTML permits only one element for each document.\nThis element has HTML attributes, but no contents.\nA development version of this element (as ) is mentioned in HTML Tags; standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nbasefont:\nSpecifies a base font size, typeface, and color for the document.\nUsed together with elements.\nDeprecated in favor of style sheets.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional; invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\nisindex:\ncould either appear in the document head or in the body, but only once in a document.\nSee Forms.\nlink:\nSpecifies links to other documents, such as previous and next links, or alternate versions.\nA common use is to link to external style sheets, using the form,.\nA less-common, but important, usage is to supply navigation hints consistently through use of microformats.\nSeveral common relationships are defined, that may be exposed to users through the browser interface rather than directly in the web page, such as:.\nA document's element may contain any number of elements.\nThis element has HTML attributes, but no contents.\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nmeta:\nCan be used to specify additional metadata about a document, such as its author, publication date, expiration date, language, page title, page description, keywords, or other information not provided through the other header elements and HTML attributes.\nBecause of their generic nature, elements specify associative key-value pairs.\nIn general, a meta element conveys hidden information about the document.\nSeveral meta tags can be used, all of which should be nested in the head element.\nThe specific purpose of each element is defined by its attributes.\nOutside of XHTML, it is often given without the slash, despite being a void element.\nIn one form, elements can specify HTTP headers which should be sent by a web server before the actual content.\nFor example, specifies that the page should be served with an HTTP header called that has a value.\nIn the general form, a element specifies and associated HTML attributes describing aspects of the HTML page.\nTo prevent possible ambiguity, an optional third attribute,, may be supplied to specify a semantic framework that defines the meaning of the key and its value.\nFor example, in the element identifies itself as containing the element, with a value of , from the DC or Dublin Core resource description framework.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nobject:\nUsed for including generic objects within the document header.\nThough rarely used within a element, it could potentially be used to extract foreign data and associate it with the current document.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nscript:\nCan act as a container for script instructions or link to an external script with the optional attribute.\nAlso usable in the document body to dynamically generate either both block or inline content.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nstyle:\nSpecifies a CSS style for the document, usually in the form,.\nCan either act as a container for style instructions or link to external style sheets – for example, in CSS, with directives of the form,\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\ntitle:\nThis tag defines a document title.\nRequired in every HTML and XHTML document.\nUser agents may use the title in different ways.\nFor example:\nThe element must not contain other elements, only text.\nOnly one element is permitted in a document.\nExisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\n\n# Document body elements\nIn visual browsers, displayable elements can be rendered as either block or inline.\nWhile all elements are part of the document sequence, block elements appear within their parent elements:\nConversely, inline elements are treated as part of the flow of document text; they cannot have margins, width, or height set, and do break across lines.\n\n## Block elements\nBlock elements, or block-level elements, have a rectangular structure.\nBy default, these elements will span the entire width of its parent element, and will thus not allow any other element to occupy the same horizontal space as it is placed on.\nThe rectangular structure of a block element is often referred to as the [box model](https://bliptext.com/articles/file-w3c-and-internet-explorer-box-models-svg), and is made up of several parts.\nEach element contains the following:\nThe above section refers only to the detailed implementation of CSS rendering and has no relevance to HTML elements themselves.\n\n### Basic text\np:\nCreates a paragraph, perhaps the most common block level element.\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nh1:\nh2:\nh3:\nh4:\nh5:\nh6:\nSection headings at different levels.\ndelimits the highest-level heading, the next level down (sub-section), for a level below that, and so on to.\nThey are sometimes referred to collectively as tags, n meaning any of the available heading levels.\nMost visual browsers show headings as large bold text by default, though this can be overridden with CSS.\nHeading elements are not intended merely for creating large or bold text – in fact, they should be used for explicitly styling text.\nRather, they describe the document's structure and organization.\nSome programs use them to generate outlines and tables of contents.\nHeadings existed in HTML Tags, and were standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\n\n### Lists\ndl:\nA description list (a.k.a. association list or definition list) consists of name–value groups, and was known as a definition list prior to HTML5.\nDescription lists are intended for groups of \"terms and definitions, metadata topics and values, questions and answers, or any other groups of name–value data\".\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\ndt:\nA name in a description list (previously definition term in a definition list).\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\ndd:\nA value in a description list (previously definition data in a definition list).\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nol:\nAn ordered (enumerated) list.\nThe attribute can be used to specify the kind of marker to use in the list, but style sheets give more control.\nThe default is Arabic numbering.\nIn an HTML attribute: ; or in a CSS declaration: – replacing with one of the following:\nCSS provides several other options not available as pure-HTML markup, including, and options for CJK, Hebrew, Georgian, and Armenian script.\nThe attribute is deprecated in HTML 3.2 and 4.01, but not in HTML 5.\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nul:\nAn unordered (bulleted) list.\nThe type of list item marker can be specified in an HTML attribute: ; or in a CSS declaration: – replacing with one of the following (the same values are used in HTML and CSS): (the default),, or.\nOnly the CSS method is supported in HTML5; the attribute is deprecated in HTML 3.2 and 4.01.\nCSS also provides, and the ability to replace these bullets with custom images.\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nli:\nA list item in ordered or unordered lists.\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\ndir:\nA directory listing.\nThe original purpose of this element was never widely supported; deprecated in favor of.\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional; invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\n\n### Other block elements\naddress:\nContact information for the document author.\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\narticle:\nUsed for articles and other similar content.\nStandardized in HTML5.\naside:\nUsed for content in a document which is separate from the main page content, for example, sidebars or advertising.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nblockquote:\nA block level quotation, for when the quotation includes block level elements, e.g. paragraphs.\nThe attribute (not to be confused with the element) may give the source, and must be a fully qualified Uniform Resource Identifier.\nThe default presentation of block quotations in visual browsers is usually to indent them from both margins.\nThis has led to the element being unnecessarily used just to indent paragraphs, regardless of semantics.\nFor quotations not containing block level elements see the quote element.\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nSee blockquote element for more information.\ncenter:\nCreates a block-level center-aligned division.\nDeprecated in favor of or another element with centering defined using style sheets.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; deprecated in HTML 4.0; not supported in HTML5.\ndel:\nMarks a deleted section of content.\nThis element can also be used as inline.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ndiv:\nA block-level logical division.\nA generic element with no semantic meaning used to distinguish a document section, usually for purposes such as presentation or behavior controlled by style sheets or DOM calls.\nProposed in the HTML 3.0 Drafts; Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nfigure:\nUsed to group images and captions, along with.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nfigcaption:\nA caption for an image.\nAlways placed inside the element.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nfooter:\nUsed for document footers.\nThese might contain author or copyright information, or links to other pages.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nheader:\nUsed for document headers.\nThese typically contain content introducing the page.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nhr:\nA thematic break (originally: horizontal rule).\nPresentational rules can be drawn with style sheets.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nins:\nMarks a section of inserted content.\nThis element can also be used as inline.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nmain:\nContains the main content of a document.\nStandardized in HTML 5.1.\nmenu:\nHTML 2.0: A menu listing.\nShould be more compact than a list.\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional; invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict; then redefined in HTML5, removed in HTML 5.2, but is included in the HTML Living Standard in 2019.\nnav:\nUsed in navigational sections of articles (areas of webpages which contain links to other webpages).\nStandardized in HTML5.\nnoscript:\nReplacement content for scripts.\nUnlike script this can only be used as a block-level element.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\npre:\nPre-formatted text.\nText within this element is typically displayed in a non-proportional font exactly as it is laid out in the file (see ASCII art).\nWhereas browsers ignore white-space for other HTML elements, in , white-space should be rendered as authored.\n(With the CSS properties:, other elements can be presented in the same way.) This element can contain any inline element except:, , , , , and .\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nsection:\nUsed for generic sections of a document.\nThis is different from in that it is only used to contain sections of a page, which the W3C defines as a group of content with a similar theme.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nscript:\nPlaces a script in the document.\nAlso usable in the head and in inline contexts.\nIt may be used as with a attribute to supply a URL from which to load the script, or used as around embedded script content.\nis not itself either a block or inline element; by itself it should not display at all, but it can contain instructions to dynamically generate either both block or inline content.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\n\n## Inline elements\nInline elements cannot be placed directly inside the element; they must be wholly nested within block-level elements.\n\n### Anchor\na:\nAn anchor element is called an anchor because web designers can use it to \"anchor\" a URL to some text on a web page.\nWhen users view the web page in a browser, they can click the text to activate the link and visit the page whose URL is in the link.\nIn HTML, an \"anchor\" can be either the (the anchor text) or the (destination) end of a hyperlink.\nAs an origin, setting the attribute, creates a hyperlink; it can point to either another part of the document or another resource (e.g. a webpage) using an external URL.\nAs a target, setting the or HTML attributes, allows the element to be linked from a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) via a fragment identifier.\nThe two forms, origin and anchor, can be used concurently.\nIn HTML5, any element can now be made into a target by using the attribute, so using is not necessary, although this way of adding anchors continues to work.\nTo illustrate: the header of a table of contents section on example.com 's homepage could be turned into a target by writing:.\nContinuing with this example, now that the section has been marked up as a target, it can be referred to from external sites with a link like: ;\nor with a link on the same page like:.\nThe attribute may be set to give brief information about the link:.\nIn most graphical browsers, when the cursor hovers over a link, the cursor changes into a hand with an extended index finger and the value is displayed in a tooltip or in some other manner.\nSome browsers render alt text the same way, although this is not what the specification calls for.\nexisted in HTML Tags, and was standardized in HTML 2.0;\n\n### Phrase elements\nPhrase elements are used for marking up phrases and adding structure or semantic meaning to text fragments.\nFor example, the and tags can be used for adding emphasis to text.\n\n#### General\nabbr:\nMarks an abbreviation, and can make the full form available:\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nacronym:\nSimilar to the element, but marks an acronym:\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current, not supported in HTML5.\nRecommended replacement is the tag.\ndefn:\nInline definition of a single term.\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was fully standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nem:\nEmphasis (conventionally displayed in italics)\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nstrong:\nimportance ; originally strong emphasis (conventionally displayed bold).\nAn aural user agent may use different voices for emphasis.\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current, redefined in HTML5.\n\n#### Computer phrase elements\nThese elements are useful primarily for documenting computer code development and user interaction through differentiation of source code ( existed in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nkbd:\nKeyboard – text to be entered by the user ( kbd example ).\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nsamp:\nSample output – from a program or script: ( samp example ).\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nvar:\nVariable ( var example ).\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\n\n### Presentation\nAs visual presentational markup only applies directly to visual browsers, its use is discouraged.\nStyle sheets should be used instead.\nSeveral of these elements are deprecated or invalid in HTML 4 / XHTML 1.0, and the remainder are invalid in the current draft of [XHTML 2.0](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined).\nThe current draft of [HTML5](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined), however, re-includes, , and , assigning new semantic meaning to each.\nIn an [HTML5](https://bliptext.com/articles/html5) document, the use of these elements is no longer discouraged, provided that it is semantically correct.\nb:\nIn HTML 4, set font to boldface where possible.\nEquivalent CSS:.\nThe element usually has the same effect in visual browsers, as well as having more semantic meaning, under HTML 4.01.\nIn HTML5, however, has its own meaning, distinct from that of.\nIt denotes \"text to which attention is being drawn for utilitarian purposes without conveying any extra importance and with no implication of an alternate voice or mood.\"\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current, redefined in HTML5.\ni:\nIn HTML 4, set font to italic where possible.\nEquivalent CSS:.\nUsing has the same visual effect in most browsers, as well as having a semantic meaning as emphasis, under HTML 4.01.\n(Purely typographic italics have many non-emphasis purposes, as HTML 5 more explicitly recognized.)\nIn HTML5, however, has its own semantic meaning, distinct from that of.\nIt denotes \"a different quality of text\" or \"an alternate voice or mood\" e.g., a thought, a ship name, a binary species name, a foreign-language phrase, etc. existed in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current, redefined in HTML5.\nu:\nIn HTML 4, underlined text.\nEquivalent CSS:.\nDeprecated in HTML 4.01.\nRestored in HTML5.\nIn HTML5, the element denotes \"a span of text with an unarticulated, though explicitly rendered, non-textual annotation, such as labelling the text as being a proper name in Chinese text (a Chinese proper name mark), or labelling the text as being misspelt.\"\nThe HTML5 specification reminds developers that other elements are almost always more appropriate than and admonishes designers not to use underlined text where it could be confused for a hyper-link.\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, was standardized in HTML 3.2 but was deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional and was invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\nReintroduced in HTML5.\nsmall:\nIn HTML 4, decreased font size ( smaller text).\nEquivalent CSS:\nIn HTML5, the element denotes \"side comments such as small print.\"\nThis has caused some confusion with the element.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\ns:\nIn HTML 4, indicated strike-through text ( Strikethrough ) and was equivalent to.\nIn HTML5, the element denotes information that is \"no longer accurate or no longer relevant\", and is not to be confused with, which indicates removal/deletion.\nwas deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional (having not appeared in any previous standard), and was invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\nReintroduced in HTML5, which instead deprecated.\nundefined:\nIncreased font size ( bigger text).\nEquivalent CSS:\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; not supported in HTML5.\nundefined:\nStrike-through text ( Strikethrough ), (Equivalent CSS: )\nwas standardized in HTML 3.2; deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional; invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\ntt:\nFixed-width font (typewriter-like), also known as teletype, thus \"tt\".\n(Equivalent CSS: )\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was Standardized in HTML 2.0; not supported in HTML5.\nPossible replacements: for marking user input, for variables (usually rendered italic, and not with a change to monospace), for source code, for output.\nfont:\nCan specify the font color with the attribute (note the American spelling), typeface with the attribute, and absolute or relative size with the attribute.\nExamples (all uses are deprecated, use CSS equivalents if possible):\nEquivalent CSS for font attributes:\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional; invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\nNot part of HTML5.\n\n### Span\nspan:\nAn inline logical division.\nA generic element with no semantic meaning used to distinguish a document section, usually for purposes such as presentation or behavior controlled by style sheets or DOM calls.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\n\n### Other inline elements\nbr:\nA forced line break.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nbdi:\nIsolates an inline section of text that may be formatted in a different direction from other text outside of it, such as user-generated content with unknown directionality.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nbdo:\nMarks an inline section of text in which the reading direction is the opposite from that of the parent element.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ncite:\nA citation or a reference for a quote or statement in the document.\nCITE existed in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nNote: The HTML 5 specifications have been confusingly forked, including with regard to this element.\nIn HTML 4 and earlier, was for \"a citation or a reference to other sources\" without any particular limitations or requirements.\nThe W3C HTML 5 spec uses a refinement of this idea, reflecting how the element has historically been used, but now requiring that it contain (but not be limited to) at least one of \"the title of the work or the name of the author (person, people or organization) or an URL reference, or a reference in abbreviated form as per the conventions used for the addition of citation metadata.\"\nBut the WHATWG spec only permits the element to be used around the title of a work.\nThe W3C specs began with the broader definition, then switched to the very narrow one after WHATWG made this change.\nHowever, W3C reverted their own change in 2012, in response to negative developer-community feedback; the element was in broadly-deployed use with the broader scope, e.g., various blog and forum platforms wrap commenters' IDs and e-mail addresses in , and people using the element for bibliographic citations were (and still are) routinely wrapping each entire citation in this element.\nAnother problem with the element is that WHATWG recommends that it be italicized by default (thus almost all browsers do so), because it (in their view) is only for publication titles.\nBy convention, however, only certain kinds of titles actually take italics, while others are expected to be put in quotation marks, and standards may actually vary by publishing context and language.\nConsequently, many website authors and admins use a site-wide stylesheet to undo this element's auto-italics.\ndata:\nLinks inline content with a machine-readable translation.\nStandardized in HTML5.\ndel:\nDeleted text.\nTypically rendered as a strikethrough: Deleted text.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nins:\nInserted text.\nOften used to mark up replacement text for material struck with or.\nTypically rendered underlined: Inserted text.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nBoth and elements may also be used as block elements: containing other block and inline elements.\nHowever, these elements must still remain wholly within their parent element to maintain a well-formed HTML document.\nFor example, deleting text from the middle of one paragraph across several other paragraphs and ending in a final paragraph would need to use three separate elements.\nTwo elements would be required as inline elements to indicate the deletion of text in the first and last paragraphs, and a third, used as a block element, to indicate the deletion in the intervening paragraphs.\nmark:\nProduces text that looks like this.\nIntended for highlighting relevant text in a quotation.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nq:\nAn inline quotation (for block level quotation see ).\nQuote elements may be nested.\nautomatically generate quotation marks in conjunction with style sheets.\nPractical concerns due to browser non-compliance may force authors to find workarounds.\nThe attribute gives the source, and must be a fully qualified URI.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nLengthy inline quotations may be displayed as indented blocks (as ) using style sheets.\nFor example, with a suitable CSS rule associated with : Lengthy quote here. \nrb:\nRepresents the base component of a ruby annotation.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nrp:\nProvides fallback parenthesis for browsers lacking ruby annotation support.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nrt:\nIndicates pronunciation for a character in a ruby annotation.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nrtc:\nSemantic annotations for a ruby annotation.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nruby:\nRepresents a ruby annotation for showing the pronunciation of East Asian characters.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nscript:\nPlaces a script in the document.\nAlso usable in the head and in block contexts.\nis not itself either a block or inline element; by itself it should not display at all, but it can contain instructions to dynamically generate either both block or inline content.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nsub:\nsup:\nMark subscripted or superscripted text.\n(Equivalent CSS: and, respectively.)\nBoth were proposed in the HTML 3.0 Drafts; Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\ntemplate:\nCode fragments to be copied by scripts.\nStandardized in HTML5.\ntime:\nRepresents a time on the 24-hour clock or a date on the Gregorian calendar, optionally with time and time zone information.\nAlso allows times and dates to be represented in a machine-readable format.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nwbr:\nAn optional word break.\nWas widely used (and supported by all major browsers) for years despite being non-standard until finally being standardized in HTML5.\n\n## Images and objects\napplet:\nEmbeds a Java applet in the page.\nDeprecated in favor of, as it could only be used with Java applets, and had accessibility limitations.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional; invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\nAs of 2011, still widely used as the implementations of the replacing are not consistent between different browsers.\narea:\nSpecifies a focusable area in a. Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\naudio:\nAdds playable HTML audio to the page.\nThe audio URL is determined using the attribute.\nSupported audio formats vary from browser to browser.\nStandardized in HTML5.\ncanvas:\nAdds a canvas whose contents can be edited with JavaScript.\nFrequently used for online games.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nembed:\nInserts a non-standard object (like applet) or external content (typically non-HTML) into the document.\nDeprecated in HTML 4 in favor of, but then was added back into the HTML5 specification\nimg:\nUsed by visual user agents to insert an image in the document.\nThe attribute specifies the image URL.\nThe required attribute provides alternative text in case the image cannot be displayed.\n(Though is intended as alternative text, Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and below render it as a tooltip if no attribute is given. Safari and Google Chrome, on the other hand, do not display the alt attribute at all.) The element was first proposed by Marc Andreessen and implemented in the NCSA Mosaic web browser.\nexisted in HTML Internet Draft 1.2, and was standardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nmap:\nSpecifies a client-side image map.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nobject:\nIncludes an object in the page of the type specified by the attribute.\nThis may be in any MIME-type the user agent understands, such as an embedded HTML page, a file to be handled by a plug-in such as Flash, a Java applet, a sound file, etc. Standardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nparam:\nOriginally introduced with, this element is now used with, and should only occur as a child of.\nIt uses HTML attributes to set a parameter for the object, e.g. width, height, font, background color, etc., depending on the type of object.\nAn object can have multiple elements.\nStandardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nsource:\nSpecifies different sources for audio or video.\nMakes use of the attribute in a way similar to the and elements.\nStandardized in HTML5.\ntrack:\nProvides text tracks, like subtitles and captions, for audio and video.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nvideo:\nAdds a playable HTML video to the page.\nThe video URL is determined using the attribute.\nSupported video formats vary from browser to browser.\nStandardized in HTML5.\n\n## Forms\nThese elements can be combined into a form or in some instances used separately as user-interface controls; in the document, they can be simple HTML or used in conjunction with Scripts.\nHTML markup specifies the elements that make up a form, and the method by which it will be submitted.\nHowever, some form of scripts ([server-side](https://bliptext.com/articles/server-side-script), client-side, or both) must be used to process the user's input once it is submitted.\n(These elements are either block or inline elements, but are collected here as their use is more restricted than other inline or block elements.)\nform:\nCreates a form.\nThe element specifies and operates the overall action of a form area, using the required attribute.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nbutton:\nA generic form button which can contain a range of other elements to create complex buttons.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ndatalist:\nA list of s for use in form elements.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nfieldset:\nA container for adding structure to forms.\nFor example, a series of related controls can be grouped within a, which can then have a added in order to identify their function.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ninput:\nelements allow a variety of standard form controls to be implemented.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\nInput Types:\ncheckbox:\nA checkbox.\nCan be checked or unchecked.\nradio:\nA radio button.\nIf multiple radio buttons are given the same name, the user will only be able to select one of them from this group.\nbutton:\nA general-purpose button.\nThe element is preferred if possible (i.e., if the client supports it) as it provides richer possibilities.\nsubmit:\nA submit button.\nimage:\nAn image button.\nThe image URL may be specified with the attribute.\nreset:\nA reset button for resetting the form to default values.\ntext:\nA one-line text input field.\nThe attribute specifies the default width of the input in character-widths.\nsets the maximum number of characters the user can enter (which may be greater than size).\nsearch:\nA variation of which produces a search bar.\npassword:\nA variation of.\nThe difference is that text typed in this field is – characters are displayed as an asterisk, a dot, or another replacement.\nThe password is still submitted to the server as plaintext, so an underlying secure communication protocol like HTTPS is needed if confidentiality is a concern.\nfile:\nA file select field (for uploading files to a server).\ntel:\nA variation of for telephone numbers.\nemail:\nA variation of for email addresses.\nurl:\nA variation of for URLs.\ndate:\nA date selector.\ntime:\nA time selector.\nnumber:\nA variation of for numbers.\nrange:\nProduces a slider for that returns a number, but the number is not visible to the user.\ncolor:\nA color picker.\nhidden:\ninputs are not visible in the rendered page, but allow a designer to maintain a copy of data that needs to be submitted to the server as part of the form.\nThis may, for example, be data that this web user entered or selected on a previous form that needs to be processed in conjunction with the current form.\nNot displayed to the user but data can still be altered client-side by editing the HTML source.\nisindex:\ncould either appear in the document head or in the body, but only once in a document.\noperated as a primitive HTML search form; but was de facto obsoleted by more advanced HTML forms introduced in the early to mid-1990s.\nRepresents a set of hyperlinks composed of a base URI, an ampersand and percent-encoded keywords separated by plus signs.\nexisted in HTML Tags; standardized in HTML 2.0; deprecated in HTML 4.0 Transitional; invalid in HTML 4.0 Strict.\nkeygen:\nA key pair generator.\nStandardized in HTML5, but removed in HTML 5.2.\nlabel:\nCreates a label for a form input, such as.\nClicking on the label fires a click on the matching input.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nlegend:\nA legend (caption) for a. Standardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\nmeter:\nA meter which needs a attribute.\nCan also have:, , , and.\nStandardized in HTML5.\noption:\nCreates an item in a list.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\noptgroup:\nIdentifies a group of elements in a list.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\noutput:\nThe value of a form element.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nprogress:\nA bar for showing the progress of an action.\nStandardized in HTML5.\nselect:\nCreates a selection list, from which the user can select a single option.\nMay be rendered as a dropdown list.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\ntextarea:\nA multiple-line text area, the size of which is specified by (where a column is a one-character width of text) and HTML attributes.\nThe content of this element is restricted to plain text, which appears in the text area as default text when the page is loaded.\nStandardized in HTML 2.0; still current.\n\n## Tables\nThe format of [HTML Tables](https://bliptext.com/articles/) was proposed in the [HTML 3.0 Drafts](https://bliptext.com/articles/) and the later RFC 1942 [HTML Tables](https://bliptext.com/articles/).\nThey were inspired by the [CALS Table Model](https://bliptext.com/articles/cals-table-model).\nSome elements in these proposals were included in HTML 3.2; the present form of HTML Tables was standardized in HTML 4.\n(Many of the elements used within tables are neither block nor inline elements.)\ntable:\nIdentifies a table.\nSeveral HTML attributes are possible in HTML Transitional, but most of these are invalid in HTML Strict and can be replaced with style sheets.\nThe attribute is informally required for accessibility purposes, though its usage is not simple.\nProposed in the HTML 3.0 Drafts; Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\ntr:\nContains a row of cells in a. Proposed in the HTML 3.0 Drafts; Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nth:\nA header cell; contents are conventionally displayed bold and centered.\nAn aural user agent may use a louder voice for these items.\nProposed in the HTML 3.0 Drafts; Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\ntd:\nA data cell.\nProposed in the HTML 3.0 Drafts; Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\ncolgroup:\nSpecifies a column group in a. Proposed in HTML Tables; Standardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ncol:\nSpecifies a column in a. Proposed in HTML Tables; Standardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ncaption:\nSpecifies a caption for a. Proposed in the HTML 3.0 Drafts; Standardized in HTML 3.2; still current.\nthead:\nSpecifies the header part of a.\nThis section may be repeated by the user agent if the table is split across pages (in printing or other paged media).\nProposed in HTML Tables; Standardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ntbody:\nSpecifies a body of data for a. Proposed in HTML Tables; Standardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\ntfoot:\nSpecifies the footer part of a.\nLike, this section may be repeated by the user agent if the table is split across pages (in printing or other paged media).\nProposed in HTML Tables; Standardized in HTML 4.0; still current.\n\n# Frames\nFrames allow a visual HTML browser window to be split into segments, each of which can show a different document.\nThis can lower bandwidth use, as repeating parts of a layout can be used in one frame, while variable content is displayed in another.\nThis may come at a certain usability cost, especially in non-visual user agents, due to separate and independent documents (or websites) being displayed adjacent to each other and being allowed to interact with the same parent window.\nBecause of this cost, frames (excluding the element) are only allowed in HTML 4.01 Frame-set.\nIframes can also hold documents on different servers.\nIn this case the interaction between windows is blocked by the browser.\nSites like [Facebook](https://bliptext.com/articles/facebook) and [Twitter](https://bliptext.com/articles/twitter) use iframes to display content ([plugins](https://bliptext.com/articles/plug-in-computing)) on third party websites.\nGoogle [AdSense](https://bliptext.com/articles/adsense) uses iframes to display banners on third party websites.\nIn HTML 4.01, a document may contain a and a a and a, but not both a and a.\nHowever, can be used in a normal document body.\nframeset:\nContains the set of elements for a document.\nThe layout of frames is given by comma separated lists in the and HTML attributes.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0 Frameset, obsolete in HTML5.\nframe:\nDefines a single frame, or region, within the.\nA separate document is linked to a frame using the attribute inside the element.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0 Frameset, obsolete in HTML5.\nnoframes:\nContains normal HTML content for user agents that do not support elements.\nStandardized in HTML 4.0 Transitional, obsolete in HTML5.\niframe:\nAn inline frame places another HTML document in a frame.\nUnlike an element, an can be the \"target\" frame for links defined by other elements, and it can be selected by the user agent as the focus for printing, viewing its source, and so on.\nThe content of the element is used as alternative text to be displayed if the browser does not support inline frames.\nA separate document is linked to a frame using the attribute inside the, an inline HTML code is embedded to a frame using the attribute inside the element.\nFirst introduced by Microsoft Internet Explorer in 1997, standardized in HTML 4.0 Transitional, allowed in HTML5.\n\n## attribute\nIn** **[HTML](https://bliptext.com/articles/html),** **** **** **is** **an** **attribute** **used** **within** **the,** **,** **or** **elements.\nIt is supposed to be a [URL](https://bliptext.com/articles/url) to a document that provides a **long description** for the image, frame, or iframe in question.\nThis attribute should contain a URL, – as is commonly mistaken – the text of the description itself.\nwas designed to be used by [screen readers](https://bliptext.com/articles/screen-reader) to display image information for computer users with [accessibility](https://bliptext.com/articles/accessibility) issues, such as the blind or [visually impaired](https://bliptext.com/articles/visual-impairment), and is widely implemented by both web browsers and [screen readers](https://bliptext.com/articles/screen-reader).\nSome developers object that it is actually seldom used for this purpose because there are relatively few authors who use the attribute and most of those authors use it incorrectly; thus, they recommend deprecating.\nThe publishing industry has responded, advocating the retention of.\n\n### Example\nContent of :\n\n### Linking to the long description in the text\nSince very few graphical browsers support making the link available natively (Opera and iCab being the exceptions), it is useful to include a link to the description page near the element whenever possible, as this can also aid sighted users.\n\n#### Example\n\n# Historic elements\nThe following elements were part of the early HTML developed by [Tim Berners-Lee](https://bliptext.com/articles/tim-berners-lee) from 1989 to 1991; they are mentioned in HTML Tags, but deprecated in HTML 2.0 and were never part of HTML standards.\nlisting:\nThis element displayed the text inside the tags in a monospace font and without interpreting the HTML.\nThe HTML 2.0 specification recommended rendering the element at up to 132 characters per line.\nDeprecated in HTML 3.2; obsolete in HTML5.\nplaintext:\ndoes not have an end tag as it terminates the markup and causes the rest of the document to be parsed as if it were plaintext.\nexisted in HTML Tags; deprecated in HTML 2.0; invalid in HTML 4.0.\nxmp:\nThis element displayed the text inside the tags in a monospace font and without interpreting the HTML.\nThe HTML 2.0 specification recommended rendering the element at 80 characters per line.\nDeprecated in HTML 3.2; obsolete in HTML5.\nnextid:\nThis element enabled NeXT web designing tool to generate automatic NAME labels for its anchors and was itself automatically generated.\nexisted in HTML Tags (described as obsolete); deprecated in HTML 2.0; invalid in HTML 3.2 and later.\n\n# Non-standard elements\nThis section lists some widely used obsolete elements, which means they are not used in [valid](https://bliptext.com/articles/validator) code.\nThey may not be supported in all user agents.\nblink:\nCauses text to blink.\nIntroduced in imitation of the ANSI escape codes.\nCan be done with CSS where supported: (This effect may have negative consequences for people with photosensitive epilepsy; its use on the public Internet should follow the appropriate guidelines.)\noriginated in Netscape Navigator and is mostly recognized by its descendants, including Firefox; deprecated or invalid in HTML 2.0 and later.\nThe replacement CSS tag, while standard, is not required to be supported.\nlayer:\nCreates an absolute positioned and framed layer.\nCan be done with frames and/or CSS instead.\nThere are attributes, including ID, LEFT, TOP, PAGEX, PAGEY, SRC, Z-INDEX, ABOVE, WIDTH, HEIGHT, BELOW, CLIP, VISIBILITY and CLIP.\noriginated in Netscape 4; deprecated or invalid in HTML 4.01 and later.\nmarquee:\nCreates scrolling text.\nCan be done with scripting instead.\n(This effect may have negative consequences for people with photosensitive epilepsy; its use on the public Internet should follow the appropriate guidelines.) There are three options, including Alternate, Scroll and slide.\nScrolldelay can also be added.\noriginated in Microsoft Internet Explorer; deprecated or invalid in HTML 4.01 and later.\nnobr:\nCauses text to not break at end of line, preventing word wrap where text exceeds the width of the enclosing object.\nAdjacent text may break before and after it.\nCan be done with CSS:\nis a proprietary element which is recognized by most browsers for compatibility reasons; deprecated or invalid in HTML 2.0 and later.\nnoembed:\nSpecifies alternative content, if the embed cannot be rendered.\nReplaced by the content of the or element.\n\n# Comments\ncomment:\nA comment in HTML (and related XML, SGML and SHTML) uses the same syntax as the SGML comment or XML comment, depending on the doctype.\nUnlike most HTML tags, comments do not nest.\nMore generally, there are some strings that are not allowed to appear in the comment text.\nThose are (the beginning of a comment),(this ends the comment so it trivially follows it can not appear inside it) and.\nAdditionally, the strings and cannot appear at the beginning of a comment and cannot appear at the end.\nAs a result, the markup is ill-formed and will yield the comment Xbegin after it, or sometimes just Xend-->, depending on browser.\nComments can appear anywhere in a document, as the HTML parser is supposed to ignore them no matter where they appear so long as they are not inside other HTML tag structures (i.e., they cannot be used next to attributes and values; this is invalid markup: ).\nComments can even appear before the doctype declaration; no other tags are permitted to do this.\nHowever, not all browsers and HTML editors are fully compliant with the HTML syntax framework and may do unpredictable things under some syntax conditions.\nDefective handling of comments only affects about 5% of all browsers and HTML editors in use, and even then only certain versions are affected by comment mishandling issues (Internet Explorer 6 accounts for most of this high percentage).\nThere are a few compatibility quirks involving comments:\n\n## HTML standards\n\n## Other sources","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}

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