HTML5 Tag Reference

Posted on March 14, 2011 by

HTML5

HTML5 improves interoperability and reduces development costs by making precise rules on how to handle all HTML elements, and how to recover from errors.

Some of the new features in HTML5 are functions for embedding audio, video, graphics, client-side data storage, and interactive documents. HTML5 also contains new elements like <nav>, <header>, <footer>, and <figure>.

The HTML5 working group includes AOL, Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Mozilla, Nokia, Opera, and many hundreds of other vendors.

Note: HTML5 is not a W3C recommendation yet!

To read about the HTML5 activities at W3C, please read our W3C tutorial.

Ordered Alphabetically

New : New tags in HTML5.

Tag	Description
<!–…–>	Defines a comment
<!DOCTYPE>	Defines the document type
<a>	Defines a hyperlink
<abbr>	Defines an abbreviation
<acronym>	Not supported in HTML5.
<address>	Defines an address element
<applet>	Not supported in HTML5.
<area>	Defines an area inside an image map
<article>New	Defines an article
<aside>New	Defines content aside from the page content
<audio>New	Defines sound content
<b>	Defines bold text
<base>	Defines a base URL for all the links in a page
<basefont>	Not supported in HTML5.
<bdo>	Defines the direction of text display
<big>	Not supported in HTML5.
<blockquote>	Defines a long quotation
<body>	Defines the body element
<br>	Inserts a single line break
<button>	Defines a push button
<canvas>New	Defines graphics
<caption>	Defines a table caption
<center>	Not supported in HTML5.
<cite>	Defines a citation
<code>	Defines computer code text
<col>	Defines attributes for table columns
<colgroup>	Defines groups of table columns
<command>New	Defines a command button
<datalist>New	Defines a dropdown list
<dd>	Defines a definition description
<del>	Defines deleted text
<details>New	Defines details of an element
<dfn>	Defines a definition term
<dir>	Not supported in HTML5.
<div>	Defines a section in a document
<dl>	Defines a definition list
<dt>	Defines a definition term
<em>	Defines emphasized text
<embed>New	Defines external interactive content or plugin
<fieldset>	Defines a fieldset
<figcaption>New	Defines the caption of a figure element
<figure>New	Defines a group of media content, and their caption
<font>	Not supported in HTML5.
<footer>New	Defines a footer for a section or page
<form>	Defines a form
<frame>	Not supported in HTML5.
<frameset>	Not supported in HTML5.
<h1> to <h6>	Defines header 1 to header 6
<head>	Defines information about the document
<header>New	Defines a header for a section or page
<hgroup>New	Defines information about a section in a document
<hr>	Defines a horizontal rule
<html>	Defines an html document
<i>	Defines italic text
<iframe>	Defines an inline sub window (frame)
<img>	Defines an image
<input>	Defines an input field
<ins>	Defines inserted text
<keygen>New	Defines a generated key in a form
<kbd>	Defines keyboard text
<label>	Defines a label for a form control
<legend>	Defines a title in a fieldset
<li>	Defines a list item
<link>	Defines a resource reference
<map>	Defines an image map
<mark>New	Defines marked text
<menu>	Defines a menu list
<meta>	Defines meta information
<meter>New	Defines measurement within a predefined range
<nav>New	Defines navigation links
<noframes>	Not supported in HTML5.
<noscript>	Defines a noscript section
<object>	Defines an embedded object
<ol>	Defines an ordered list
<optgroup>	Defines an option group
<option>	Defines an option in a drop-down list
<output>New	Defines some types of output
<p>	Defines a paragraph
<param>	Defines a parameter for an object
<pre>	Defines preformatted text
<progress>New	Defines progress of a task of any kind
<q>	Defines a short quotation
<rp>New	Used in ruby annotations to define what to show browsers that to not support the ruby element.
<rt>New	Defines explanation to ruby annotations.
<ruby>New	Defines ruby annotations
<s>	Defines text that is no longer correct
<samp>	Defines sample computer code
<script>	Defines a script
<section>New	Defines a section
<select>	Defines a selectable list
<small>	Defines small text
<source>New	Defines media resources
<span>	Defines a section in a document
<strike>	Not supported in HTML5.
<strong>	Defines strong text
<style>	Defines a style definition
<sub>	Defines subscripted text
<summary>New	Defines the header of a “detail” element
<sup>	Defines superscripted text
<table>	Defines a table
<tbody>	Defines a table body
<td>	Defines a table cell
<textarea>	Defines a text area
<tfoot>	Defines a table footer
<th>	Defines a table header
<thead>	Defines a table header
<time>New	Defines a date/time
<title>	Defines the document title
<tr>	Defines a table row
<tt>	Not supported in HTML5.
<u>	Not supported in HTML5.
<ul>	Defines an unordered list
<var>	Defines a variable
<video>New	Defines a video
<wbr>New	Defines a possible line-break
<xmp>	Not supported in HTML5.

HTML5 Form Attributes

Posted on March 14, 2011 by

HTML5 New Form Attributes

This chapter covers some of the new attributes for <form> and <input>.

New form attributes:

autocomplete
novalidate

New input attributes:

autocomplete
autofocus
form
form overrides (formaction, formenctype, formmethod, formnovalidate, formtarget)
height and width
list
min, max and step
multiple
pattern (regexp)
placeholder
required

Browser Support

Attribute	IE	Firefox	Opera	Chrome	Safari
autocomplete	8.0	3.5	9.5	3.0	4.0
autofocus	No	No	10.0	3.0	4.0
form	No	No	9.5	No	No
form overrides	No	No	10.5	No	No
height and width	8.0	3.5	9.5	3.0	4.0
list	No	No	9.5	No	No
min, max and step	No	No	9.5	3.0	No
multiple	No	3.5	11.0	3.0	4.0
novalidate	No	No	11.0	No	No
pattern	No	No	9.5	3.0	No
placeholder	No	No	11.0	3.0	3.0
required	No	No	9.5	3.0	No

autocomplete Attribute

The autocomplete attribute specifies that the form or input field should have an autocomplete function.

Note: The autocomplete attribute works with <form>, and the following <input> types: text, search, url, telephone, email, password, datepickers, range, and color.

When the user starts to type in an autocomplete field, the browser should display options to fill in the field:

Example

<form action=”demo_form.asp” method=”get” autocomplete=”on”>
First name: <input type=”text” name=”fname” /><br />
Last name: <input type=”text” name=”lname” /><br />
E-mail: <input type=”email” name=”email” autocomplete=”off” /><br />
<input type=”submit” />
</form>

Note: In some browsers you may need to activate the autocomplete function for this to work.

autofocus Attribute

The autofocus attribute specifies that a field should automatically get focus when a page is loaded.

Note: The autofocus attribute works with all <input> types.

Example

User name: <input type=”text” name=”user_name” autofocus=”autofocus” />

form Attribute

The form attribute specifies one or more forms the input field belongs to.

Note: The form attribute works with all <input> types.

The form attribute must refer to the id of the form it belongs to:

Example

<form action=”demo_form.asp” method=”get” id=”user_form”>
First name:<input type=”text” name=”fname” />
<input type=”submit” />
</form>
Last name: <input type=”text” name=”lname” form=”user_form” />

Note: To refer to more than one form, use a space-separated list.

Form Override Attributes

The form override attributes allow you to override some of the attributes set for the form element.

The form override attributes are:

formaction – Overrides the form action attribute
formenctype – Overrides the form enctype attribute
formmethod – Overrides the form method attribute
formnovalidate – Overrides the form novalidate attribute
formtarget – Overrides the form target attribute

Note: The form override attributes works with the following <input> types: submit and image.

Example

Note: These attributes are helpful for creating different submit buttons.

height and width Attributes

The height and width attributes specifies the height and width of the image used for the input type image.

Note: The height and width attributes only works with <input> type: image.

Example

list Attribute

The list attribute specifies a datalist for an input field. A datalist is a list of options for an input field.

Note: The list attribute works with the following <input> types: text, search, url, telephone, email, date pickers, number, range, and color.

Example

Webpage: <input type=”url” list=”url_list” name=”link” />
<datalist id=”url_list”>
<option label=”W3Schools” value=”http://www.w3schools.com” />
<option label=”Google” value=”http://www.google.com” />
<option label=”Microsoft” value=”http://www.microsoft.com” />
</datalist>

min, max and step Attributes

The min, max and step attributes are used to specify restrictions for input types containing numbers or dates.

The max attribute specifies the maximum value allowed for the input field.

The min attribute specifies the minimum value allowed for the input field.

The step attribute specifies the legal number intervals for the input field (if step=”3″, legal numbers could be -3,0,3,6, etc).

Note: The min, max, and step attributes works with the following <input> types: date pickers, number, and range.

The example below shows a numeric field that accepts values between 0 and 10, with a step of 3 (legal numbers are 0, 3, 6 and 9):

Example

Points: <input type=”number” name=”points” min=”0″ max=”10″ step=”3″ />

multiple Attribute

The multiple attribute specifies that multiple values can be selected for an input field.

Note: The multiple attribute works with the following <input> types: email, and file.

Example

Select images: <input type=”file” name=”img” multiple=”multiple” />

novalidate Attribute

The novalidate attribute specifies that the form or input field should not be validated when submitted.

If this attribute is present the form will not validate form input.

Note: The novalidate attribute works with: <form> and the following <input> types: text, search, url, telephone, email, password, date pickers, range, and color.

Example

pattern Attribute

The pattern attribute specifies a pattern used to validate an input field.

Note: The pattern attribute works with the following <input> types: text, search, url, telephone, email, and password

The example below shows a text field that can only contain three letters (no numbers or special characters):

Example

Country code: <input type=”text” name=”country_code”
pattern=”[A-z]{3}” title=”Three letter country code” />

placeholder Attribute

The placeholder attribute provides a hint that describes the expected value of an input field.

Note: The placeholder attribute works with the following <input> types: text, search, url, telephone, email, and password

The hint is displayed in the input field when it is empty, and disappears when the field gets focus:

Example

required Attribute

The required attribute specifies that an input field must be filled out before submitting.

Note: The required attribute works with the following <input> types: text, search, url, telephone, email, password, date pickers, number, checkbox, radio, and file.

Example

Name: <input type=”text” name=”usr_name” required=”required” />

HTML5 Form Elements

Posted on March 14, 2011 by

HTML5 New Form Elements

HTML5 has several new elements and attributes for forms.

This chapter covers the new form elements:

datalist
keygen
output

Browser Support

Attribute	IE	Firefox	Opera	Chrome	Safari
datalist	No	No	9.5	No	No
keygen	No	No	10.5	3.0	No
output	No	No	9.5	No	No

datalist Element

The datalist element specifies a list of options for an input field.

The list is created with option elements inside the datalist.

To bind a datalist to an input field, let the list attribute of the input field refer to the id of the datalist:

Example

Tip: The option elements should always have a value attribute.

keygen Element

The purpose of the keygen element is to provide a secure way to authenticate users.

The keygen element is a key-pair generator. When a form is submitted, two keys are generated, one private and one public.

The private key is stored on the client, and the public key is sent to the server. The public key could be used to generate a client certificate to authenticate the user in the future.

Currently, the browser support for this element is not good enough to be a useful security standard.

Example

<form action=”demo_form.asp” method=”get”>
Username: <input type=”text” name=”usr_name” />
Encryption: <keygen name=”security” />
<input type=”submit” />
</form>

output Element

The output element is used for different types of output, like calculations or script output:

Example

HTML5 Input Types

Posted on March 14, 2011 by

HTML5 New Input Types

HTML5 has several new input types for forms. These new features allow for better input control and validation.

This chapter covers the new input types:

email
url
number
range
Date pickers (date, month, week, time, datetime, datetime-local)
search
color

Browser Support

Input type	IE	Firefox	Opera	Chrome	Safari
email	No	No	9.0	No	No
url	No	No	9.0	No	No
number	No	No	9.0	7.0	No
range	No	No	9.0	4.0	4.0
Date pickers	No	No	9.0	No	No
search	No	No	11.0	No	No
color	No	No	11.0	No	No

Note: Opera has the best support for the new input types. However, you can already start using them in all major browsers. If they are not supported, they will behave as regular text fields.

Input Type – email

The email type is used for input fields that should contain an e-mail address.

The value of the email field is automatically validated when the form is submitted.

Example

E-mail: <input type=”email” name=”user_email” />

Tip: Safari on the iPhone recognizes the email input type, and changes the on-screen keyboard to match it (adds @ and .com options).

Input Type – url

The url type is used for input fields that should contain a URL address.

The value of the url field is automatically validated when the form is submitted.

Example

Homepage: <input type=”url” name=”user_url” />

Tip: Safari on the iPhone recognizes the url input type, and changes the on-screen keyboard to match it (adds .com option).

Input Type – number

The number type is used for input fields that should contain a numeric value.

You can also set restrictions on what numbers are accepted:

Example

Points: <input type=”number” name=”points” min=”1″ max=”10″ />

Use the following attributes to specify restrictions for the number type:

Attribute	Value	Description
max	number	Specifies the maximum value allowed
min	number	Specifies the minimum value allowed
step	number	Specifies legal number intervals (if step=”3″, legal numbers could be -3,0,3,6, etc)
value	number	Specifies the default value

Tip: Safari on the iPhone recognizes the number input type, and changes the on-screen keyboard to match it (shows numbers).

Input Type – range

The range type is used for input fields that should contain a value from a range of numbers.

The range type is displayed as a slider bar.

You can also set restrictions on what numbers are accepted:

Example

Use the following attributes to specify restrictions for the range type:

Attribute	Value	Description
max	number	Specifies the maximum value allowed
min	number	Specifies the minimum value allowed
step	number	Specifies legal number intervals (if step=”3″, legal numbers could be -3,0,3,6, etc)
value	number	Specifies the default value

Input Type – Date Pickers

HTML5 has several new input types for selecting date and time:

date – Selects date, month and year
month – Selects month and year
week – Selects week and year
time – Selects time (hour and minute)
datetime – Selects time, date, month and year (UTC time)
datetime-local – Selects time, date, month and year (local time)

The following example allows you to select a date from a calendar:

Example

Date: <input type=”date” name=”user_date” />

Input Type – search

The search type is used for search fields, like a site search, or Google search.

The search field behaves like a regular text field.

Input Type – color

The color type is used for input fields that should contain a color.

This input type will allow you to select a color from a color picker:

Example

Color: <input type=”color” name=”user_color” />

HTML5 Web Storage

Posted on March 14, 2011 by

Storing Data on the Client

HTML5 offers two new objects for storing data on the client:

localStorage – stores data with no time limit
sessionStorage – stores data for one session

Earlier, this was done with cookies. Cookies are not suitable for large amounts of data, because they are passed on by EVERY request to the server, making it very slow and in-effective.

In HTML5, the data is NOT passed on by every server request, but used ONLY when asked for. It is possible to store large amounts of data without affecting the website’s performance.

The data is stored in different areas for different websites, and a website can only access data stored by itself.

HTML5 uses JavaScript to store and access the data.

The localStorage Object

The localStorage object stores the data with no time limit. The data will be available the next day, week, or year.

How to create and access a localStorage:

Example

The following example counts the number of times a user has visited a page:

Example

The sessionStorage Object

The sessionStorage object stores the data for one session. The data is deleted when the user closes the browser window.

How to create and access a sessionStorage:

Example

The following example counts the number of times a user has visited a page, in the current session:

Example

HTML5 Canvas

Posted on March 14, 2011 by

The canvas element is used to draw graphics on a web page.

What is Canvas?

The HTML5 canvas element uses JavaScript to draw graphics on a web page.

A canvas is a rectangular area, and you control every pixel of it.

The canvas element has several methods for drawing paths, boxes, circles, characters, and adding images.

Create a Canvas Element

Add a canvas element to the HTML5 page.

Specify the id, width, and height of the element:

Draw With JavaScript

The canvas element has no drawing abilities of its own. All drawing must be done inside a JavaScript:

JavaScript uses the id to find the canvas element:

var c=document.getElementById(“myCanvas”);

Then, create a context object:

var cxt=c.getContext(“2d”);

The getContext(“2d”) object is a built-in HTML5 object, with many methods to draw paths, boxes, circles, characters, images and more.

The next two lines draws a red rectangle:

cxt.fillStyle=”#FF0000″;
cxt.fillRect(0,0,150,75);

The fillStyle method makes it red, and the fillRect method specifies the shape, position, and size.

HTML5 Audio

Posted on March 14, 2011 by

HTML5 provides a standard for playing audio.

Audio on the Web

Until now, there has never been a standard for playing audio on a web page.

Today, most audio are played through a plugin (like flash). However, not all browsers have the same plugins.

HTML5 specifies a standard way to include audio, with the audio element.

The audio element can play sound files, or an audio stream.

Audio Formats

Currently, there are 3 supported formats for the audio element:

Format	IE 8	Firefox 3.5	Opera 10.5	Chrome 3.0	Safari 3.0
Ogg Vorbis	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
MP3	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Wav	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes

How It Works

To play an audio file in HTML5, this is all you need:

The control attribute is for adding play, pause, and volume controls.

Insert content between the <audio> and </audio> tags for browsers that do not support the audio element:

Example

<audio src=”song.ogg” controls=”controls”>
Your browser does not support the audio element.
</audio>

The example above uses an Ogg file, and will work in Firefox, Opera and Chrome.

To make the audio work in Safari, the audio file must be of type MP3 or Wav.

The audio element allows multiple source elements. Source elements can link to different audio files. The browser will use the first recognized format:

Example

<audio controls=”controls”>
<source src=”song.ogg” type=”audio/ogg” />
<source src=”song.mp3″ type=”audio/mpeg” />
Your browser does not support the audio element.
</audio>

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer 8 does not support the audio element. In IE 9, there will be support for audio element.

All <audio> Attributes

Attribute	Value	Description
autoplay	autoplay	Specifies that the audio will start playing as soon as it is ready.
controls	controls	Specifies that controls will be displayed, such as a play button.
loop	loop	Specifies that the audio will start playing again (looping) when it reaches the end
preload	preload	Specifies that the audio will be loaded at page load, and ready to run. Ignored if autoplay is present.
src	url	Specifies the URL of the audio to play

HTML5 Video

Posted on March 14, 2011 by

Video on the Web

Until now, there has never been a standard for showing video on a web page.

Today, most videos are shown through a plugin (like flash). However, not all browsers have the same plugins.

HTML5 specifies a standard way to include video, with the video element.

Video Formats

Currently, there are 3 supported video formats for the video element:

Format	IE	Firefox	Opera	Chrome	Safari
Ogg	No	3.5+	10.5+	5.0+	No
MPEG 4	No	No	No	5.0+	3.0+
WebM	No	No	10.6+	6.0+	No

Ogg = Ogg files with Theora video codec and Vorbis audio codec
MPEG4 = MPEG 4 files with H.264 video codec and AAC audio codec
WebM = WebM files with VP8 video codec and Vorbis audio codec

How It Works

To show a video in HTML5, this is all you need:

The control attribute is for adding play, pause, and volume controls.

It is also always a good idea to include the width and height attributes.

Insert content between the <video> and </video> tags for browsers that do not support the video element:

Example

<video src=”movie.ogg” width=”320″ height=”240″ controls=”controls”>
Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>

The example above uses an Ogg file, and will work in Firefox, Opera and Chrome.

To make the video work in Safari and future versions of Chrome, we must add a MPEG4 and WebM file.

The video element allows multiple source elements. Source elements can link to different video files. The browser will use the first recognized format:

Example

<video width=”320″ height=”240″ controls=”controls”>
<source src=”movie.ogg” type=”video/ogg” />
<source src=”movie.mp4″ type=”video/mp4″ />
<source src=”movie.webm” type=”video/webm” />
Your browser does not support the video tag.
</video>

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer 8 does not support the video element. In IE 9, there will be support for video element using MPEG4.

All <video> Attributes

Attribute	Value	Description
audio	muted	Defining the default state of the the audio. Currently, only “muted” is allowed
autoplay	autoplay	If present, then the video will start playing as soon as it is ready
controls	controls	If present, controls will be displayed, such as a play button
height	pixels	Sets the height of the video player
loop	loop	If present, the video will start over again, every time it is finished
poster	url	Specifies the URL of an image representing the video
preload	preload	If present, the video will be loaded at page load, and ready to run. Ignored if “autoplay” is present
src	url	The URL of the video to play
width	pixels	Sets the width of the video player

HTML5 New Elements

Posted on March 14, 2011 by

New Elements in HTML5

The internet has changed a lot since HTML 4.01 became a standard in 1999.

Today, some elements in HTML 4.01 are obsolete, never used, or not used the way they were intended to. These elements are deleted or re-written in HTML5.

To better handle today’s internet use, HTML5 also includes new elements for better structure, drawing, media content, and better form handling.

New Markup Elements

New elements for better structure:

Tag	Description
<article>	For external content, like text from a news-article, blog, forum, or any other content from an external source
<aside>	For content aside from the content it is placed in. The aside content should be related to the surrounding content
<command>	A button, or a radiobutton, or a checkbox
<details>	For describing details about a document, or parts of a document
<summary>	A caption, or summary, inside the details element
<figure>	For grouping a section of stand-alone content, could be a video
<figcaption>	The caption of the figure section
<footer>	For a footer of a document or section, could include the name of the author, the date of the document, contact information, or copyright information
<header>	For an introduction of a document or section, could include navigation
<hgroup>	For a section of headings, using <h1> to <h6>, where the largest is the main heading of the section, and the others are sub-headings
<mark>	For text that should be highlighted
<meter>	For a measurement, used only if the maximum and minimum values are known
<nav>	For a section of navigation
<progress>	The state of a work in progress
<ruby>	For ruby annotation (Chinese notes or characters)
<rt>	For explanation of the ruby annotation
<rp>	What to show browsers that do not support the ruby element
<section>	For a section in a document. Such as chapters, headers, footers, or any other sections of the document
<time>	For defining a time or a date, or both
<wbr>	Word break. For defining a line-break opportunity.

New Media Elements

HTML5 provides a new standard for media content:

Tag	Description
<audio>	For multimedia content, sounds, music or other audio streams
<video>	For video content, such as a movie clip or other video streams
<source>	For media resources for media elements, defined inside video or audio elements
<embed>	For embedded content, such as a plug-in

The Canvas Element

The canvas element uses JavaScript to make drawings on a web page.

Tag	Description
<canvas>	For making graphics with a script

New Form Elements

HTML5 offers more form elements, with more functionality:

Tag	Description
<datalist>	A list of options for input values
<keygen>	Generate keys to authenticate users
<output>	For different types of output, such as output written by a script

New Input Type Attribute Values

Also, the input element’s type attribute has many new values, for better input control before sending it to the server:

Type	Description
tel	The input value is of type telephone number
search	The input field is a search field
url	The input value is a URL
email	The input value is one or more email addresses
datetime	The input value is a date and/or time
date	The input value is a date
month	The input value is a month
week	The input value is a week
time	The input value is of type time
datetime-local	The input value is a local date/time
number	The input value is a number
range	The input value is a number in a given range
color	The input value is a hexadecimal color, like #FF8800

HTML5 Introduction

Posted on March 14, 2011 by

What is HTML5?

HTML5 will be the new standard for HTML, XHTML, and the HTML DOM.

The previous version of HTML came in 1999. The web has changed a lot since then.

HTML5 is still a work in progress. However, most modern browsers have some HTML5 support.

How Did HTML5 Get Started?

HTML5 is a cooperation between the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG).

WHATWG was working with web forms and applications, and W3C was working with XHTML 2.0. In 2006, they decided to cooperate and create a new version of HTML.

Some rules for HTML5 were established:

New features should be based on HTML, CSS, DOM, and JavaScript
Reduce the need for external plugins (like Flash)
Better error handling
More markup to replace scripting
HTML5 should be device independent
The development process should be visible to the public

New Features

Some of the most interesting new features in HTML5:

The canvas element for drawing
The video and audio elements for media playback
Better support for local offline storage
New content specific elements, like article, footer, header, nav, section
New form controls, like calendar, date, time, email, url, search

Browser Support

HTML5 is not yet an official standard, and no browsers have full HTML5 support.

But all major browsers (Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer) continue to add new HTML5 features to their latest versions.