This article is in need of a technical review.
Summary
The HTML root element (<html>) represents the root of an HTML document. 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 parent elementsAs the root element of a document, or wherever a subdocument fragment is allowed in a compound document.
- DOM interface
HTMLhtmlElement
Attributes
This element includes the global attributes.
manifestHTML5- Specifies the URI of a resource manifest indicating resources that should be cached locally. See Using the application cache for details.
versionDeprecated since HTML4.01 Obsolete since HTML5- 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 XHTML, and optional in HTML5.
Example
The DOCTYPE used in the following example indicates HTML5.
<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head>...</head> <body>...</body> </html>
Notes
Since the <html> element is the first in a document other than comments, it is called the root element. Although this tag can be implied, or not required, with HTML, it is required to be opened and closed in XHTML.
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| WHATWG HTML Living Standard The definition of '<html>' in that specification. |
Living Standard | |
| HTML5 The definition of '<html>' in that specification. |
Recommendation | |
| HTML 4.01 Specification The definition of '<html>' in that specification. |
Recommendation |
Browser compatibility
| Feature | Chrome | Firefox (Gecko) | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari (WebKit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | 1.0 | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) |
| Feature | Android | Firefox Mobile (Gecko) | IE Phone | Opera Mobile | Safari Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) |