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. |
Permitted parents | None. This is the root element of a document. |
Implicit ARIA role | No corresponding role |
Permitted ARIA roles | No role permitted |
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 lang="en"> <head>...</head> <body>...</body> </html>
Accessibility concerns
Providing a lang
attribute with a valid IETF identifying language tag on the <html>
element will help screen reading technology determine the proper language to announce. The identifying language tag should describe the language used by the majority of the content of the page. Without it, screen readers will typically default to the operating system's set language, which may cause mispronunciations.
Including a valid lang
declaration on the <html>
element also ensures that important metadata contained in the page's <head>
, such as the page's <title>
, are also announced properly.
- MDN Understanding WCAG, Guideline 3.1 explanations
- Understanding Success Criterion 3.1.1 | W3C Understanding WCAG 2.0
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
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
html | Chrome Full support Yes | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support Yes | IE Full support Yes | Opera Full support Yes | Safari Full support Yes | WebView Android Full support Yes | Chrome Android Full support Yes | Firefox Android Full support Yes | Opera Android Full support Yes | Safari iOS Full support Yes | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
manifest | Chrome Full support 4 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox
Full support
3.5
| IE Full support 10 | Opera Full support 10.6 | Safari Full support 4 | WebView Android Full support 4 | Chrome Android Full support 18 | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support 11 | Safari iOS Full support 3.2 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0 |
version | Chrome Full support Yes | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support Yes | IE Full support Yes | Opera Full support Yes | Safari Full support Yes | WebView Android Full support Yes | Chrome Android Full support Yes | Firefox Android Full support Yes | Opera Android Full support Yes | Safari iOS Full support Yes | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
xmlns | Chrome Full support Yes | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support Yes | IE Full support Yes | Opera Full support Yes | Safari Full support Yes | WebView Android Full support Yes | Chrome Android Full support Yes | Firefox Android Full support Yes | Opera Android Full support Yes | Safari iOS Full support Yes | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
- Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
- See implementation notes.
- See implementation notes.