Article element
HTML5 Article is a HTML5 semantic element, similar to <section>
and <header>
. It is most commonly used to contain information that may be distributed independently from the rest of the site or application it appears in.
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Comparisons |
Features and usage
The HTML5 <article>
element represents a complete composition in a web page or web application that is independently distributable or reusable, e.g. in syndication. This could be a forum post, a magazine or newspaper article, a blog entry, a user-submitted comment, an interactive widget or gadget, or any other independent item of content.[1]
Examples
At its most basic, <article>
can be used to encapsulate a body of text and a corresponding title like so:
<article>
<h2>Insert Title Here</h2>
<p>Insert a paragraph of text here</p>
</article>
Forum entries and comments are typically implemented by nesting <article>
tags:
<article>
<header>
<h1>Entry Title</h1>
<p>Header Info</p>
</header>
<p>Content of entry...</p>
<article>
<header>
<h2>Author: John Smith</h2>
<p>Comment Info</p>
</header>
<p>Comment text...</p>
</article>
<article>
<header>
<h2>Author: Jane Johnson</h2>
<p>2nd Comment's Info</p>
</header>
<p>Comment text...</p>
</article>
</article>
Attributes
The <article>
element only includes the global HTML attributes such as contenteditable, id, and title.[2] However, pubdate, an optional boolean attribute of the <time>
element, is often used in conjunction with <article>
. If present, it indicates that the <time>
element is the date the <article>
was published. Note that pubdate applies only to the parent <article>
element, or to the document as a whole.[3]
Comparison with <section>
HTML5 introduced both <article>
and <section>
; both are semantic tags, defining sections in a document, such as chapters, headers, footers.[4] The <article>
element is effectively a specialized kind of <section>
and it has a more specific meaning, referring to an independent, self-contained block of related content.[3][5]
Nesting examples
To better organize independent content <section>
tags can be nested inside <article>
tags:
<article>
<h2>Names of Shapes</h2>
<p>There are several different types of shapes...</p>
<section>
<h4>Triangles</h4>
<p>Here is some info about triangles</p>
</section>
<section>
<h4>Circles</h4>
<p>These Pi-shaped wonders are mesmerizing and...</p>
</section>
</article>
Conversely, it may sometime be appropriate to nest an <article>
element inside a <section>
element. For example, in a web page containing several articles on varying subjects:
<section>
<h1>Articles about Paris Tourism</h1>
<article>
<h3>The Eiffel Tower</h3>
<p>Standing at over 12 inches high...</p>
</article>
<article>
<h3>The Louvre</h3>
<p>A must-see in Paris tourism...</p>
</article>
</section>
Browser support
The following browsers have support for this element:[6]
- Desktop
- Google Chrome 5.0 and higher
- Firefox 4.0 and higher
- Internet Explorer 9.0 and higher
- Safari 4.1 and higher
- Opera 11.1 and higher
- Mobile
- Android 2.2 and higher
- Firefox Mobile (Gecko) 4.0 and higher
- IE Mobile 9.0 and higher
- Safari Mobile 5.0 and higher
- Opera Mobile 11.0 and higher
References
- "HTML5 article element - W3C". W3.org. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
- "The Article Contents element". MDN Web Docs. Retrieved 2018-07-09.
- "The article element". html5doctor.com. Retrieved 2018-07-09.
- "The section tag". W3Schools. 2014-04-30. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
- "HTML5: Section or Article?". Iandevlin.com. 2013-08-19. Retrieved 2014-05-08.
- "Can I use... Support tables for HTML5, CSS3, etc". caniuse.com. Retrieved 2018-07-09.