XHTML Reference
This reference is a best-practice approach, based on XHTML 1.0 Strict / XHTML 1.1.
"Must know" list
In priority order: DOCTYPE, html, head, title, style, body, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, p, ol, ul, li, table, tr, th, td, a, img
Complete list
XML Declaration, DOCTYPE, a, abbr, acronym, address, area, b, base, bdo, big, blockquote, body, br, button, caption, cite, code, col, colgroup, dd, del, dfn, div, dl, dt, em, fieldset, form, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, head, hr, html, i, img, input, ins, kbd, label, legend, li, link, map, meta, noscript, object, ol, optgroup, option, p, param, pre, q, rb, rbc, rp, rt, rtc, ruby, samp, script, select, small, span, strong, style, sub, sup, table, tbody, td, textarea, tfoot, th, thead, title, tr, tt, ul, var
Grouped by function
Declarations
- XML Declaration
- Version of XML being used
- DOCTYPE Declaration
- Document type declaration
- base
- An absolute URL to resolve relative URLs
- body
- Holds content of the document
- head
- Holds additional information about the document
- html
- Root element of the document
- link
- Link to another resource
- meta
- Additional information about the document
- script
- Client-side script
- style
- CSS style information
- title
- Document title
Block Elements
- address
- Identify contact information for a document
- blockquote
- Long quotation
- del
- Deleted content
- div
- Generic way to group areas of content
- dl
- Definition list
- fieldset
- Form control group
- form
- Data entry form
- h1
- Level 1 heading
- h2
- Level 2 heading
- h3
- Level 3 heading
- h4
- Level 4 heading
- h5
- Level 5 heading
- h6
- Level 6 heading
- hr
- Content separator
- ins
- Inserted content
- noscript
- Alternate content for client-side script
- ol
- Ordered list
- p
- Paragraph
- pre
- Preformatted text
- script
- Client-side script
- table
- Table
- ul
- Unordered list
Inline Elements
- a
- A hyperlink
- abbr
- An abbreviation
- acronym
- An acronym
- b
- Instruction to render text in bold style
- bdo
- Bidirectional text override
- big
- Instruction to render text in a large font
- br
- Line break
- button
- Form button control
- cite
- Citation or reference to other source
- code
- Computer code
- del
- Deleted content
- dfn
- Contains the defining instance of the enclosed term
- em
- Indicates emphasis
- i
- Instruction to render text in italic style
- img
- Content represented visually (as an image) and textually
- ins
- Inserted content
- input
- Form control
- label
- Form control label
- map
- Client-side image map
- kbd
- Indicates input to be entered by the user
- object
- Generic embedded object
- q
- Short quotation
- ruby
- Pronunciation annotations for East Asian languages
- samp
- Designates sample output from programs, scripts, etc.
- script
- Client-side script
- select
- Option selector form control
- small
- Instruction to render text in a small font
- span
- Generic way to add structure to content
- strong
- Indicates stronger emphasis
- sub
- Subscript
- sup
- Superscript
- textarea
- Multi-line text field form control
- tt
- Teletype or monospaced text style
- var
- Indicates instance of a computer code variable or program argument
List Item Elements
- dd
- Definition description
- dt
- Definition term
- li
- Ordered/unordered list item
Table Content Elements
- caption
- Table caption
- col
- Define attributes for a table column
- colgroup
- Define attributes for a group of table columns
- tbody
- Body area for a table
- td
- Table cell containing data
- tfoot
- Footer area for a table
- th
- Table cell containing header
- thead
- Heading area for a table
- tr
- Table row
- legend
- Caption to a fieldset
- optgroup
- A grouping of selectable choices in an option selector form control
- option
- A selectable choice in an option selector form control
Map Areas
- area
- Client-side image map area
Object Parameters
- param
- Embedded object customization properties
Ruby Annotations
- rb
- Ruby base text
- rbc
- Ruby base container for complex ruby markup
- rp
- Denote the beginning and end of ruby text
- rt
- Ruby annotation text
- rtc
- Ruby text container for complex ruby markup
Notes
- This reference is based on XHTML 1.0 Strict / XHTML 1.1. With the exception of ruby elements which are part of XHTML 1.1, the two specifications are almost identical from a markup perspective.
- When using the XHTML 1.0 Strict DOCTYPE, the attribute
lang may be used instead of the attribute xml:lang. - When using the XHTML 1.0 Strict DOCTYPE, the attribute
name may be used instead of the attribute id for elements a and map.
Copyright
This XHTML Reference may be distributed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
Portions of this document are copyrighted by:
- Copyright © 2002-2008 Belus Technology, Inc.
- Copyright © 2004 W3C
- Copyright © David Chau