The HTML <section> element represents a standalone section — which doesn't have a more specific semantic element to represent it — contained within an HTML document. Typically, but not always, sections have a heading.
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As an example, a navigation menu should be wrapped in a <nav> element, but a list of search results and a map display and its controls don't have specific elements, and could be put inside a <section>.
Note: If the contents of the element would make sense syndicated as a standalone piece, the <article> element may be a better choice.
| Content categories | Flow content, Sectioning content, palpable content. |
|---|---|
| Permitted content | Flow content. |
| Tag omission | None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory. |
| Permitted parents | Any element that accepts flow content. Note that a <section> element must not be a descendant of an <address> element. |
| Implicit ARIA role | region if the element has an accessible name, otherwise no corresponding role |
| Permitted ARIA roles | alert, alertdialog, application, banner, complementary, contentinfo, dialog, document, feed, log, main, marquee, navigation, none, note, presentation, search, status, tabpanel |
| DOM interface | HTMLElement |
Attributes
This element only includes the global attributes.
Usage notes
- Each
<section>should be identified, typically by including a heading (<h1>-<h6>element) as a child of the<section>element. - If it makes sense to separately syndicate the content of a
<section>element, use an<article>element instead. - Do not use the
<section>element as a generic container; this is what<div>is for, especially when the sectioning is only for styling purposes. A rule of thumb is that a section should logically appear in the outline of a document.
Example
Before
<div> <h1>Heading</h1> <p>Bunch of awesome content</p> </div>
After
<section> <h1>Heading</h1> <p>Bunch of awesome content</p> </section>
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| HTML Living Standard The definition of '<section>' in that specification. |
Living Standard | |
| HTML 5.1 The definition of '<section>' in that specification. |
Recommendation | |
| HTML5 The definition of '<section>' in that specification. |
Recommendation |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table in this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
| Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
section | Chrome Full support 5 | Edge Full support 12 | Firefox Full support 4 | IE Full support 9 | Opera Full support 11.1 | Safari Full support 5 | WebView Android Full support Yes | Chrome Android Full support Yes | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support 11.1 | Safari iOS Full support 4.2 | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support