The XHTML WYSIWYG Editor For Desktop & Web Applications

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

Structure & Header Elements

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

Form Fieldset Legends

legend
Caption to a fieldset

Form Menu Options

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.

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