HTML &lt; html &gt; Tag

Example

A simple HTML document, with the minimum of required tags:
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
</head>

<body>
The content of the document......
</body>

</html>

Definition and Usage

The <html> tag tells the browser that this is an HTML document.

The html element is the outermost element in HTML and XHTML documents. The html element is also known as the root element.

Browser Support

The <html> tag is supported in all major browsers.

Differences Between HTML and XHTML

The xmlns attribute is required in XHTML but it is invalid in HTML.

However, the HTML validator at w3.org does not complain when the xmlns attribute is missing in an XHTML document. This is because the namespace "xmlns=http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" is default, and will be added to the <html> tag even if you do not include it.

Tips and Notes

Note: Even though the html element is the root element, it does not contain the doctype element. The doctype element must be placed before the html element.

Required Attributes

DTD indicates in which HTML 4.01/XHTML 1.0 DTD the attribute is allowed. S=Strict, T=Transitional, and F=Frameset.

Attribute	Value	Description	DTD
xmlns	http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml	Specifies the namespace to use (only for XHTML documents!)	STF

Standard Attributes

The <html> tag supports the following standard attributes:

Attribute	Value	Description	DTD
dir	rtl ltr	Specifies the text direction for the content in an element	STF
lang	language_code	Specifies a language code for the content in an element	STF
xml:lang	language_code	Specifies a language code for the content in an element, in XHTML documents	STF