The HTML <html> element represents the root (top-level element) of an HTML document, so it is also referred to as the root element. All other elements must be descendants of this element.
| Content categories | None. |
|---|---|
| Permitted content | One <head> element, followed by one <body> element. |
| Tag omission | The start tag may be omitted if the first thing inside the <html> element is not a comment.The end tag may be omitted if the <html> element is not immediately followed by a comment, and it contains a <body> element either that is not empty or whose start tag is present. |
| Permitted parents | As the root element of a document, or wherever a subdocument fragment is allowed in a compound document. |
| Permitted ARIA roles | None |
| DOM interface | HTMLHtmlElement |
Attributes
This element includes the global attributes.
manifest- Specifies the URI of a resource manifest indicating resources that should be cached locally. See Using the application cache for details.
version- Specifies the version of the HTML Document Type Definition that governs the current document. This attribute is not needed, because it is redundant with the version information in the document type declaration.
xmlns- Specifies the XML Namespace of the document. Default value is
"http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml". This is required in documents parsed with XML parsers, and optional in text/html documents.
Example
<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head>...</head> <body>...</body> </html>
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| HTML Living Standard The definition of '<html>' in that specification. |
Living Standard | |
| HTML5 The definition of '<html>' in that specification. |
Recommendation | Added support for the manifest attribute (deprecated later).Obsoleted the version attribute |
| HTML 4.01 Specification The definition of '<html>' in that specification. |
Recommendation | Deprecated the version attribute |
Browser compatibility
| Feature | Chrome | Edge | Firefox (Gecko) | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari (WebKit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | 1.0 | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) |
manifest |
(Yes) | (Yes) | 3.0 (1.9) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) |
| Feature | Android | Edge | Firefox Mobile (Gecko) | IE Phone | Opera Mobile | Safari Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) |
manifest |
(Yes) | (Yes) | 1.0 (1.9) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) |
See also
Document Tags and Contributors
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Last updated by:
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