HTML <meta> Tag
Example
Describe metadata within an HTML document:
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="description" content="Free Web tutorials">
<meta name="keywords" content="HTML,CSS,XML,JavaScript">
<meta name="author" content="Hege Refsnes">
</head>
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Definition and Usage
Metadata is data (information) about data.
The <meta> tag provides metadata about the HTML document. Metadata will not be displayed on the page, but will be machine parsable.
Meta elements are typically used to specify page description, keywords, author of the document, last modified, and other metadata.
The metadata can be used by browsers (how to display content or reload page), search engines (keywords), or other web services.
Browser Support
| Element | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <meta> | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Tips and Notes
Note: <meta> tags always go inside the <head> element.
Note: Metadata is always passed as name/value pairs.
Note: The content attribute MUST be defined if the name or the http-equiv attribute is defined. If none of these are defined, the content attribute CANNOT be defined.
Differences Between HTML 4.01 and HTML5
The scheme attribute is not supported in HTML5.
HTML5 has a new attribute, charset, which makes it easier to define charset:
- HTML 4.01: <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
- HTML5: <meta charset="UTF-8">
Differences Between HTML and XHTML
In HTML the <meta> tag has no end tag.
In XHTML the <meta> tag must be properly closed.
Examples
Example 1 - Define keywords for search engines:
<meta name="keywords" content="HTML, CSS, XML, XHTML, JavaScript">
Example 2 - Define a description of your web page:
<meta name="description" content="Free Web tutorials on HTML and CSS">
Example 3 - Define the author of a page:
<meta name="author" content="Hege Refsnes">
Example 4 - Refresh document every 30 seconds:
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="30">
Attributes
= New in HTML5.
| Attribute | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| charset | character_set | Specifies the character encoding for the HTML document |
| content | text | Gives the value associated with the http-equiv or name attribute |
| http-equiv | content-type default-style refresh |
Provides an HTTP header for the information/value of the content attribute |
| name | application-name author description generator keywords |
Specifies a name for the metadata |
| scheme | format/URI | Not supported in HTML5. Specifies a scheme to be used to interpret the value of the content attribute |
Global Attributes
The <meta> tag also supports the Global Attributes in HTML.
Related Pages
HTML tutorial: HTML Head
HTML DOM reference: Meta Object
Default CSS Settings
None.
