Abstract
This is a strict subset of the
HTML5 specification
that omits user-agent (UA) implementation details. It is
targeted toward Web authors and others who are not UA
implementors and who want a view of the HTML specification
that focuses more precisely on details relevant to using the
HTML language to create Web documents and Web applications.
Because this document does not provide implementation
conformance criteria, UA implementors should not rely on it,
but should instead refer to the full specification.
This specification defines the 5th major revision of the core
language of the World Wide Web: the Hypertext Markup Language
(HTML). In this version, new features are introduced to help Web
application authors, new elements are introduced based on research
into prevailing authoring practices, and special attention has been
given to defining clear conformance criteria for user agents in an
effort to improve interoperability.
Status of This document
This section describes the status of this document at the
time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this
document. A list of current W3C publications and the most recently
formally published revision of this technical report can be found in
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at http://www.w3.org/TR/.
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svn checkout http://svn.whatwg.org/webapps/
The W3C HTML Working
Group is the W3C working group responsible for this
specification's progress along the W3C Recommendation
track.
This specification is the 05 April 2011 Working Draft.
Work on this specification is also done at the WHATWG. The W3C HTML working group
actively pursues convergence with the WHATWG, as required by the W3C HTML working
group charter.
This document was produced by a group operating under the 5
February 2004 W3C Patent Policy. W3C maintains a public list of
any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables
of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a
patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the
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Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section
6 of the W3C Patent Policy.
Table of Contents
- 1 Introduction
- 1.1 Background
- 1.2 Audience
- 1.3 Scope
- 1.4 History
- 1.5 Design notes
- 1.5.1 Serializability of script execution
- 1.5.2 Compliance with other specifications
- 1.6 HTML vs XHTML
- 1.7 Structure of this specification
- 1.7.1 How to read this specification
- 1.7.2 Typographic conventions
- 1.8 A quick introduction to HTML
- 1.9 Conformance requirements for authors
- 1.9.1 Presentational markup
- 1.9.2 Syntax errors
- 1.9.3 Restrictions on content models and on attribute values
- 1.10 Recommended reading
- 2 Common infrastructure
- 2.1 Terminology
- 2.1.1 Resources
- 2.1.2 XML
- 2.1.3 DOM trees
- 2.1.4 Scripting
- 2.1.5 Plugins
- 2.1.6 Character encodings
- 2.2 Conformance requirements
- 2.2.1 Extensibility
- 2.3 Case-sensitivity and string comparison
- 2.4 Common microsyntaxes
- 2.4.1 Boolean attributes
- 2.4.2 Keywords and enumerated attributes
- 2.4.3 Numbers
- 2.4.3.1 Non-negative integers
- 2.4.3.2 Signed integers
- 2.4.3.3 Real numbers
- 2.4.3.4 Lists of integers
- 2.4.4 Dates and times
- 2.4.4.1 Months
- 2.4.4.2 Dates
- 2.4.4.3 Times
- 2.4.4.4 Local dates and times
- 2.4.4.5 Global dates and times
- 2.4.4.6 Weeks
- 2.4.4.7 Vaguer moments in time
- 2.4.5 Colors
- 2.4.6 Space-separated tokens
- 2.4.7 Comma-separated tokens
- 2.4.8 References
- 2.4.9 Media queries
- 2.5 URLs
- 2.5.1 Terminology
- 2.5.2 Interfaces for URL manipulation
- 2.6 Common DOM interfaces
- 2.6.1 Reflecting content attributes in IDL attributes
- 2.6.2 Collections
- 2.6.2.1 HTMLCollection
- 2.6.2.2 HTMLAllCollection
- 2.6.2.3 HTMLFormControlsCollection
- 2.6.2.4 HTMLOptionsCollection
- 2.6.3 DOMTokenList
- 2.6.4 DOMSettableTokenList
- 2.6.5 DOMStringMap
- 2.6.6 DOM feature strings
- 2.6.7 Exceptions
- 2.7 Namespaces
- 3 Semantics, structure, and APIs of HTML documents
- 3.1 Documents
- 3.1.1 Documents in the DOM
- 3.1.2 Security
- 3.1.3 Resource metadata management
- 3.1.4 DOM tree accessors
- 3.1.5 Creating documents
- 3.2 Elements
- 3.2.1 Semantics
- 3.2.2 Elements in the DOM
- 3.2.3 Global attributes
- 3.2.3.1 The
id
attribute
- 3.2.3.2 The
title
attribute
- 3.2.3.3 The
lang
and xml:lang
attributes
- 3.2.3.4 The
xml:base
attribute (XML only)
- 3.2.3.5 The
dir
attribute
- 3.2.3.6 The
class
attribute
- 3.2.3.7 The
style
attribute
- 3.2.3.8 Embedding custom non-visible data with the
data-*
attributes
- 3.2.4 Element definitions
- 3.2.4.1 Attributes
- 3.2.5 Content models
- 3.2.5.1 Kinds of content
- 3.2.5.1.1 Metadata content
- 3.2.5.1.2 Flow content
- 3.2.5.1.3 Sectioning content
- 3.2.5.1.4 Heading content
- 3.2.5.1.5 Phrasing content
- 3.2.5.1.6 Embedded content
- 3.2.5.1.7 Interactive content
- 3.2.5.2 Transparent content models
- 3.2.5.3 Paragraphs
- 3.2.6 Requirements relating to bidirectional-algorithm formatting
characters
- 3.2.7 Annotations for assistive technology products (ARIA)
- 3.3 APIs in HTML documents
- 3.4 Dynamic markup insertion
- 3.4.1 Opening the input stream
- 3.4.2 Closing the input stream
- 3.4.3
document.write()
- 3.4.4
document.writeln()
- 3.4.5
innerHTML
- 3.4.6
outerHTML
- 3.4.7
insertAdjacentHTML()
- 4 The elements of HTML
- 4.1 The root element
- 4.1.1 The
html
element
- 4.2 Document metadata
- 4.2.1 The
head
element
- 4.2.2 The
title
element
- 4.2.3 The
base
element
- 4.2.4 The
link
element
- 4.2.5 The
meta
element
- 4.2.5.1 Standard metadata names
- 4.2.5.2 Other metadata names
- 4.2.5.3 Pragma directives
- 4.2.5.4 Other pragma directives
- 4.2.5.5 Specifying the document's character encoding
- 4.2.6 The
style
element
- 4.2.7 Styling
- 4.3 Scripting
- 4.3.1 The
script
element
- 4.3.1.1 Scripting languages
- 4.3.1.2 Restrictions for contents of
script
elements
- 4.3.1.3 Inline documentation for external scripts
- 4.3.2 The
noscript
element
- 4.4 Sections
- 4.4.1 The
body
element
- 4.4.2 The
section
element
- 4.4.3 The
nav
element
- 4.4.4 The
article
element
- 4.4.5 The
aside
element
- 4.4.6 The
h1
, h2
,
h3
, h4
,
h5
, and h6
elements
- 4.4.7 The
hgroup
element
- 4.4.10 The
address
element
- 4.4.11 Headings and sections
- 4.4.11.1 Creating an outline
- 4.5 Grouping content
- 4.5.1 The
p
element
- 4.5.2 The
hr
element
- 4.5.3 The
pre
element
- 4.5.4 The
blockquote
element
- 4.5.5 The
ol
element
- 4.5.6 The
ul
element
- 4.5.7 The
li
element
- 4.5.8 The
dl
element
- 4.5.9 The
dt
element
- 4.5.10 The
dd
element
- 4.5.11 The
figure
element
- 4.5.12 The
figcaption
element
- 4.5.13 The
div
element
- 4.6 Text-level semantics
- 4.6.1 The
a
element
- 4.6.2 The
em
element
- 4.6.3 The
strong
element
- 4.6.4 The
small
element
- 4.6.5 The
s
element
- 4.6.6 The
cite
element
- 4.6.7 The
q
element
- 4.6.8 The
dfn
element
- 4.6.9 The
abbr
element
- 4.6.10 The
time
element
- 4.6.11 The
code
element
- 4.6.12 The
var
element
- 4.6.13 The
samp
element
- 4.6.14 The
kbd
element
- 4.6.15 The
sub
and sup
elements
- 4.6.16 The
i
element
- 4.6.17 The
b
element
- 4.6.18 The
mark
element
- 4.6.19 The
ruby
element
- 4.6.20 The
rt
element
- 4.6.21 The
rp
element
- 4.6.22 The
bdi
element
- 4.6.23 The
bdo
element
- 4.6.24 The
span
element
- 4.6.25 The
br
element
- 4.6.26 The
wbr
element
- 4.6.27 Usage summary
- 4.7 Edits
- 4.7.1 The
ins
element
- 4.7.2 The
del
element
- 4.7.3 Attributes common to
ins
and del
elements
- 4.7.4 Edits and paragraphs
- 4.7.5 Edits and lists
- 4.8 Embedded content
- 4.8.1 The
img
element
- 4.8.1.1 Requirements for providing text to act as an alternative for images
- 4.8.1.1.1 General guidelines
- 4.8.1.1.2 A link or button containing nothing but the image
- 4.8.1.1.3 A phrase or paragraph with an alternative graphical representation: charts, diagrams, graphs, maps, illustrations
- 4.8.1.1.4 A short phrase or label with an alternative graphical representation: icons, logos
- 4.8.1.1.5 Text that has been rendered to a graphic for typographical effect
- 4.8.1.1.6 A graphical representation of some of the surrounding text
- 4.8.1.1.7 A purely decorative image that doesn't add any information
- 4.8.1.1.8 A group of images that form a single larger picture with no links
- 4.8.1.1.9 A group of images that form a single larger picture with links
- 4.8.1.1.10 A key part of the content
- 4.8.1.1.11 An image not intended for the user
- 4.8.1.1.12 An image in an e-mail or private document intended for a specific person who is known to be able to view images
- 4.8.2 The
iframe
element
- 4.8.3 The
embed
element
- 4.8.4 The
object
element
- 4.8.5 The
param
element
- 4.8.6 The
video
element
- 4.8.7 The
audio
element
- 4.8.8 The
source
element
- 4.8.9 The
track
element
- 4.8.10 Media elements
- 4.8.10.1 Error codes
- 4.8.10.2 Location of the media resource
- 4.8.10.3 MIME types
- 4.8.10.4 Network states
- 4.8.10.5 Loading the media resource
- 4.8.10.6 Offsets into the media resource
- 4.8.10.7 The ready states
- 4.8.10.8 Playing the media resource
- 4.8.10.9 Seeking
- 4.8.10.10 Timed text tracks
- 4.8.10.10.1 Text track model
- 4.8.10.10.2 Sourcing in-band text tracks
- 4.8.10.10.3 Text track API
- 4.8.10.11 User interface
- 4.8.10.12 Time ranges
- 4.8.10.13 Event summary
- 4.8.10.14 Best practices for authors using media elements
- 4.8.11 The
canvas
element
- 4.8.12 The
map
element
- 4.8.13 The
area
element
- 4.8.14 Image maps
- 4.8.15 MathML
- 4.8.16 SVG
- 4.8.17 Dimension attributes
- 4.9 Tabular data
- 4.9.1 The
table
element
- 4.9.2 The
caption
element
- 4.9.3 The
colgroup
element
- 4.9.4 The
col
element
- 4.9.5 The
tbody
element
- 4.9.6 The
thead
element
- 4.9.8 The
tr
element
- 4.9.9 The
td
element
- 4.9.10 The
th
element
- 4.9.11 Attributes common to
td
and th
elements
- 4.9.12 Examples
- 4.10 Forms
- 4.10.1 Introduction
- 4.10.1.1 Writing a form's user interface
- 4.10.1.2 Implementing the server-side processing for a form
- 4.10.1.3 Configuring a form to communicate with a server
- 4.10.1.4 Client-side form validation
- 4.10.2 Categories
- 4.10.3 The
form
element
- 4.10.4 The
fieldset
element
- 4.10.5 The
legend
element
- 4.10.6 The
label
element
- 4.10.7 The
input
element
- 4.10.7.1 States of the
type
attribute
- 4.10.7.1.1 Hidden state
- 4.10.7.1.2 Text state and Search state
- 4.10.7.1.3 Telephone state
- 4.10.7.1.4 URL state
- 4.10.7.1.5 E-mail state
- 4.10.7.1.6 Password state
- 4.10.7.1.7 Date and Time state
- 4.10.7.1.8 Date state
- 4.10.7.1.9 Month state
- 4.10.7.1.10 Week state
- 4.10.7.1.11 Time state
- 4.10.7.1.12 Local Date and Time state
- 4.10.7.1.13 Number state
- 4.10.7.1.14 Range state
- 4.10.7.1.15 Color state
- 4.10.7.1.16 Checkbox state
- 4.10.7.1.17 Radio Button state
- 4.10.7.1.18 File Upload state
- 4.10.7.1.19 Submit Button state
- 4.10.7.1.20 Image Button state
- 4.10.7.1.21 Reset Button state
- 4.10.7.1.22 Button state
- 4.10.7.2 Common
input
element attributes
- 4.10.7.2.1 The
autocomplete
attribute
- 4.10.7.2.2 The
dirname
attribute
- 4.10.7.2.3 The
list
attribute
- 4.10.7.2.4 The
readonly
attribute
- 4.10.7.2.5 The
size
attribute
- 4.10.7.2.6 The
required
attribute
- 4.10.7.2.7 The
multiple
attribute
- 4.10.7.2.8 The
maxlength
attribute
- 4.10.7.2.9 The
pattern
attribute
- 4.10.7.2.10 The
min
and max
attributes
- 4.10.7.2.11 The
step
attribute
- 4.10.7.2.12 The
placeholder
attribute
- 4.10.7.3 Common
input
element APIs
- 4.10.8 The
button
element
- 4.10.9 The
select
element
- 4.10.10 The
datalist
element
- 4.10.11 The
optgroup
element
- 4.10.12 The
option
element
- 4.10.13 The
textarea
element
- 4.10.14 The
keygen
element
- 4.10.15 The
output
element
- 4.10.16 The
progress
element
- 4.10.17 The
meter
element
- 4.10.18 Association of controls and forms
- 4.10.19 Attributes common to form controls
- 4.10.19.1 Naming form controls
- 4.10.19.2 Enabling and disabling form controls
- 4.10.19.3 Autofocusing a form control
- 4.10.19.4 Limiting user input length
- 4.10.19.5 Form submission
- 4.10.19.6 Submitting element directionality
- 4.10.20 APIs for the text field selections
- 4.10.21 Constraints
- 4.10.21.1 Definitions
- 4.10.21.2 The constraint validation API
- 4.10.21.3 Security
- 4.10.22 Form submission
- 4.11 Interactive elements
- 4.11.1 The
details
element
- 4.11.2 The
summary
element
- 4.11.3 The
command
element
-
- 4.11.4.1 Introduction
- 4.11.5 Commands
- 4.12 Links
- 4.12.1 Introduction
- 4.12.2 Links created by
a
and area
elements
- 4.12.3 Link types
- 4.12.3.1 Link type "
alternate
"
- 4.12.3.2 Link type "
author
"
- 4.12.3.3 Link type "
bookmark
"
- 4.12.3.4 Link type "
external
"
- 4.12.3.5 Link type "
help
"
- 4.12.3.6 Link type "
icon
"
- 4.12.3.7 Link type "
license
"
- 4.12.3.8 Link type "
nofollow
"
- 4.12.3.9 Link type "
noreferrer
"
- 4.12.3.10 Link type "
pingback
"
- 4.12.3.11 Link type "
prefetch
"
- 4.12.3.12 Link type "
search
"
- 4.12.3.14 Link type "
stylesheet
"
- 4.12.3.15 Link type "
tag
"
- 4.12.3.16 Sequential link types
- 4.12.3.16.1 Link type "
next
"
- 4.12.3.16.2 Link type "
prev
"
- 4.12.3.17 Other link types
- 4.13 Common idioms without dedicated elements
- 4.13.1 The main part of the content
- 4.13.2 Bread crumb navigation
- 4.13.3 Tag clouds
- 4.13.4 Conversations
- 4.13.5 Footnotes
- 5 Loading Web pages
- 5.1 Browsing contexts
- 5.1.1 Nested browsing contexts
- 5.1.1.1 Navigating nested browsing contexts in the DOM
- 5.1.2 Auxiliary browsing contexts
- 5.1.2.1 Navigating auxiliary browsing contexts in the DOM
- 5.1.3 Secondary browsing contexts
- 5.1.4 Browsing context names
- 5.2 The
Window
object
- 5.2.1 APIs for creating and navigating browsing contexts by name
- 5.2.2 Accessing other browsing contexts
- 5.2.3 Named access on the
Window
object
- 5.2.4 Browser interface elements
- 5.3 Origin
- 5.3.1 Relaxing the same-origin restriction
- 5.4 Session history and navigation
- 5.4.1 The session history of browsing contexts
- 5.4.2 The
History
interface
- 5.4.3 The
Location
interface
- 5.5 Browsing the Web
- 5.5.1 History traversal
- 5.5.2 Unloading documents
- 5.6 Offline Web applications
- 5.6.1 Introduction
- 5.6.1.1 Event summary
- 5.6.2 The cache manifest syntax
- 5.6.2.1 Some sample manifests
- 5.6.2.2 Writing cache manifests
- 5.6.3 Application cache API
- 5.6.4 Browser state
- 6 Web application APIs
- 6.1 Scripting
- 6.1.1 Introduction
- 6.1.2 Events
- 6.2 Base64 utility methods
- 6.3 Timers
- 6.4 User prompts
- 6.4.1 Simple dialogs
- 6.4.2 Printing
- 6.4.3 Dialogs implemented using separate documents
- 6.5 System state and capabilities: the
Navigator
object
- 6.5.1 Client identification
- 6.5.2 Custom scheme and content handlers
- 6.5.3 Manually releasing the storage mutex
- 7 User interaction
- 7.1 The
hidden
attribute
- 7.2 Activation
- 7.3 Focus
- 7.3.1 Sequential focus navigation and the
tabindex
attribute
- 7.3.2 Document-level focus APIs
- 7.3.3 Element-level focus APIs
- 7.4 Assigning keyboard shortcuts
- 7.4.1 Introduction
- 7.4.2 The
accesskey
attribute
- 7.5 The
contenteditable
attribute
- 7.5.1 Making entire documents editable
- 7.6 Spelling and grammar checking
- 7.7 Drag and drop
- 7.7.1 Introduction
- 7.7.2 The drag data store
- 7.7.3 The
DataTransfer
interface
- 7.7.3.1 The
DataTransferItems
interface
- 7.7.3.2 The
DataTransferItem
interface
- 7.7.4 The
DragEvent
interface
- 7.7.5 Events summary
- 7.7.6 The
draggable
attribute
- 7.7.7 The
dropzone
attribute
- 7.8 Editing APIs
- 8 The HTML syntax
- 8.1 Writing HTML documents
- 8.1.1 The DOCTYPE
- 8.1.2 Elements
- 8.1.2.1 Start tags
- 8.1.2.2 End tags
- 8.1.2.3 Attributes
- 8.1.2.4 Optional tags
- 8.1.2.5 Restrictions on content models
- 8.1.2.6 Restrictions on the contents of raw text and RCDATA elements
- 8.1.3 Text
- 8.1.3.1 Newlines
- 8.1.4 Character references
- 8.1.5 CDATA sections
- 8.1.6 Comments
- 8.2 Named character references
- 9 The XHTML syntax
- 10 Obsolete features
- 10.1 Obsolete but conforming features
- 10.2 Non-conforming features
- 11 IANA considerations
- 11.1
text/html
- 11.2
text/html-sandboxed
- 11.3
application/xhtml+xml
- 11.4
text/cache-manifest
- Index
- Elements
- Element content categories
- Attributes
- Interfaces
- Events
- References
- Acknowledgements