HTML <head> Tag
The HTML <head> tag represents the head section of the HTML document.
The <head> element can contain other HTML tags that contain metadata. Metadata provides information about the document such as title, description, keywords etc. A typical HTML document might contain a <title> tag, one or more <meta> tags, a <script> tag, and a <style> tag - all enclosed within the <head> element.
Most metadata are not displayed in the browser (although the title usually appears in the browser's title bar) but it can be useful for the functionality of the page.
Syntax
The <head> tag is written as <head></head> with the metadata content enclosed between the start and end tags. The <head> tag is placed between the opening and closing <html> tags.
Most HTML documents must have a <title> tag within the <head> tag (the only exceptions are: if the document is an <iframe> srcdoc document or if title information is available from a higher-level protocol, for example in the case of an HTML formatted email).
Like this:
Attributes
Attributes can be added to an HTML element to provide more information about how the element should appear or behave.
There are 3 kinds of attributes that you can add to your HTML tags: Element-specific, global, and event handler content attributes.
The <head> element accepts the following attributes.
Element-Specific Attributes
This table shows the attributes that are specific to the <head> tag/element.
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
| None |
Global Attributes
The following attributes are standard across all HTML5 elements. Therefore, you can use these attributes with the <head> tag , as well as with all other HTML tags.
- accesskey
- class
- contenteditable
- contextmenu
- dir
- draggable
- dropzone
- hidden
- id
- inert
- itemid
- itemprop
- itemref
- itemscope
- itemtype
- lang
- spellcheck
- style
- tabindex
- title
- translate
For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 global attributes.
Event Handler Content Attributes
Event handler content attributes enable you to invoke a script from within your HTML. The script is invoked when a certain "event" occurs. Each event handler content attribute deals with a different event.
Below are the standard HTML5 event handler content attributes.
Again, you can use any of these with the <head> element, as well as any other HTML5 element.
- onabort
- oncancel
- onblur
- oncanplay
- oncanplaythrough
- onchange
- onclick
- oncontextmenu
- ondblclick
- ondrag
- ondragend
- ondragenter
- ondragexit
- ondragleave
- ondragover
- ondragstart
- ondrop
- ondurationchange
- onemptied
- onended
- onerror
- onfocus
- onformchange
- onforminput
- oninput
- oninvalid
- onkeydown
- onkeypress
- onkeyup
- onload
- onloadeddata
- onloadedmetadata
- onloadstart
- onmousedown
- onmousemove
- onmouseout
- onmouseover
- onmouseup
- onmousewheel
- onpause
- onplay
- onplaying
- onprogress
- onratechange
- onreadystatechange
- onscroll
- onseeked
- onseeking
- onselect
- onshow
- onstalled
- onsubmit
- onsuspend
- ontimeupdate
- onvolumechange
- onwaiting
For a full explanation of these attributes, see HTML 5 event handler content attributes.
Differences Between HTML 4 & HTML 5
The profile attribute is not supported in HTML5.
To see more detail on the two versions see HTML5 <head> Tag and HTML4 <head> Tag. Also check out the links to the official specifications below.
Template
Here's a template for the <head> tag with all available attributes for the tag (based on HTML5). These are grouped into attribute types, each type separated by a space. In many cases, you will probably only need one or two (if any) attributes. Simply remove the attributes you don't need.
Note that the <head> element does not actually have any local attributes (i.e. attributes that are specific to the element), but the following global attributes and event handlers are available to the element (and all other HTML elements).
For more information on attributes for this tag, see HTML5 <head> Tag and HTML4 <head> Tag.
Tag Details
For more details about the <head> tag, see HTML5 <head> Tag and HTML4 <head> Tag.
Specifications
Here are the official specifications for the <head> element.
- HTML5 Specification (W3C)
- HTML Living Standard (WHATWG)
- Current W3C Draft (the next version that is currently being worked on)
- HTML 4 (W3C)
What's the Difference?
W3C creates "snapshot" specifications that don't change once defined. So the HTML5 specification won't change once it becomes an official recommendation. WHATWG on the other hand, develops a "living standard" that is updated on a regular basis. In general, you will probably find that the HTML living standard will be more closely aligned to the current W3C draft than to the HTML5 specification.