HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 Reference: <head> Tag

HTML <head> Tag - Document Head Section
Syntax	This element uses separate opening and closing tags. <head>...</head>
Usage	The <head> tag is used to contain information about the web page like the title, style sheet info, scripts etc. There are 2 main sections in a web page, the head section and the body section. The head section contains information about the web page and the body section contains the content that will be displayed. HTML <head> tag example using the <title>, <meta>, and <style> tags in the head section. <html> <head> <title>HTML Test</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <style type="text/css"> .mainsection {color:#990000; text-align:center} </style> </head> <body> <p>This text is not contained in a div element.</p> <div class="mainsection"> This text is contained in a div element and styled.<br> The class attribute is used to identify which style to apply.<br> The style is defined in the head section. </div> </body> </html> XHTML <head> tag example using the <title>, <meta>, and <style> tags in the head section. <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>HTML Test</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <style type="text/css"> .mainsection {color:#990000; text-align:center} </style> </head> <body> <p>This text is not contained in a div element.</p> <div class="mainsection"> This text is contained in a div element and styled.<br /> The class attribute is used to identify which style to apply.<br /> The style is defined in the head section. </div> </body> </html>
Content Model	The <head> element can contain the following tags between its opening and closing tags. <base> <isindex> <link> <meta> <object> <script> <style> <title> Notes: 1. Red tags have been deprecated and are allowed in DTD Transitional and Frameset documents but not Strict documents.

HTML <head> Tag - Document Head Section

Syntax

This element uses separate opening and closing tags.

<head>...</head>

Usage

The <head> tag is used to contain information about the web page like the title, style sheet info, scripts etc. There are 2 main sections in a web page, the head section and the body section. The head section contains information about the web page and the body section contains the content that will be displayed.

HTML <head> tag example using the <title>, <meta>, and <style> tags in the head section.

<html>

<head>
 <title>HTML Test</title>
 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
 <style type="text/css">
  .mainsection {color:#990000; text-align:center}
 </style>
</head>

<body>

<p>This text is not contained in a div element.</p>
<div class="mainsection">
 This text is contained in a div element and styled.<br>
 The class attribute is used to identify which style to apply.<br>
 The style is defined in the head section.
</div>

</body>
</html>

XHTML <head> tag example using the <title>, <meta>, and <style> tags in the head section.

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head>
 <title>HTML Test</title>
 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
 <style type="text/css">
  .mainsection {color:#990000; text-align:center}
 </style>
</head>

<body>

<p>This text is not contained in a div element.</p>
<div class="mainsection">
 This text is contained in a div element and styled.<br />
 The class attribute is used to identify which style to apply.<br />
 The style is defined in the head section.
</div>

</body>
</html>

Content Model

The <head> element can contain the following tags between its opening and closing tags.

Notes:
1. Red tags have been deprecated and are allowed in DTD Transitional and Frameset documents but not Strict documents.

<head> Tag Attribute Summary
Required	Tag Specific	Core	Focus	Events	Language
	profile	id¹			dir lang xml:lang¹
Notes: 1. XHTML only.

<head> Tag Attributes
Attribute	Description
profile	The profile attribute specifies a space separated list of URLs for meta data profiles.
id	The id attribute assigns a unique name to a tag. This allows style sheets or scripts to reference the tag. See id Example Note: XHTML only.
dir	The dir attribute tells the browser whether the text should be displayed from left-to-right or right-to-left. It does not reverse the direction of the characters, like the <bdo> tag does, but it can help the browser to determine if the text should be aligned on the left side or the right side. See dir Example
lang	The lang attribute specifies a language. This attribute can help the browser to correctly display text. This attribute can also be useful for braille translation software, speech synthesizers, dictionary definitions, etc. See lang Example
xml:lang	The xml:lang attribute specifies a language for XHTML documents. This attribute can help the browser to correctly display text. This attribute can also be useful for braille translation software, speech synthesizers, dictionary definitions, etc. See xml:lang Example Note: XHTML only.

HTML <head> Tag Examples
<head> tag example using the <title>, <meta>, and <style> tags in the head section.