This specification defines the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), version 4.0, the publishing language
of the World Wide Web. In addition to the text, multimedia, and hyperlink features of the previous
versions of HTML, HTML 4.0 supports more multimedia options, scripting languages, style sheets, better
printing facilities, and documents that are more accessible to users with disabilities. HTML 4.0 also takes
great strides towards the internationalization of documents, with the goal of making the Web truly World
Wide.
Status of this document
This is a W3C Working Draft for review by W3C members and other interested parties. It is a draft
document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate
to use W3C Working Drafts as reference material or to cite them as other than "work in progress". This is
work in progress and does not imply endorsement by, or the consensus of, either W3C or members of the
HTML working group.
This document has been produced as part of the W3C HTML Activity, and is intended as a draft of a
proposed recommendation for HTML.
The latest version of this document can be retrieved from the list of W3C technical reports at
<http://www.w3.org/TR/> and is available as a gzip’ed tar file, a zip file, as well as a postscript (about
200 pages).
We also plan to provide translations in other languages, although the English version provides the
normative specification.
HTML 4.0 replaces HTML 3.2, specified in http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html32.
Editors
Dave Raggett <dsr@w3.org>
Arnaud Le Hors <lehors@w3.org>
Ian Jacobs <ij@w3.org>
1
Comments
Please send detailed comments on this document to www-html-editor@w3.org. We cannot garantee a
personal response but we will try when it is appropriate. Public discussion on HTML features takes place
on www-html@w3.org.
2
Table of Contents
1. About the HTML 4.0 Specification
2. Introduction to HTML 4.0
1. Design principles of HTML 4.0
2. Designing documents with HTML 4.0
3. A brief SGML tutorial
3. Definitions and Conventions
4. HTML and URLs - Locating resources on the Web
5. HTML Document Character Set -Character sets, character encodings, and entities
6. Basic HTML data types -Character data, colors, and lengths
7. Structure of HTML documents - Detailed Table of Contents
1. Global structure - The HEAD and BODY of a document
2. Language information and text direction - International considerations for text
3. Text - Paragraphs, Lines, and Phrases
4. Lists - Unordered, Ordered, and Definition Lists
5. Tables
6. Links - Hypertext and Media-Independent Links
7. Inclusions - Objects, Images, and Applets in HTML documents
8. Presentation of HTML documents - Detailed Table of Contents
1. Style Sheets - Controlling the presentation of an HTML document
2. Alignment, font styles, and horizontal rules
3. Frames - Multi-view presentation of documents
9. Interactive HTML documents - Detailed Table of Contents
1. Forms - User-input Forms: Text Fields, Buttons, Menus, and more
2. Scripts - Animated Documents and Smart Forms
10. SGML reference information for HTML - Formal definition of HTML and validation
1. SGML Declaration
2. Document Type Definition
3. Named character entities
11. References
12. Indexes
1. Index of Elements
2. Index of Attributes
13. Appendixes
1. Changes between HTML 3.2 and HTML 4.0
2. Performance, Implementation, and Design Notes
3. HTML and Organizations (W3C, IETF, ISO)
3
About the HTML 4.0 Specification
Contents
1. How to read the specification
2. How the specification is organized
3. Acknowledgments
This document has been written with two types of readers in mind: HTML authors and HTML
implementors. We hope the specification will provide authors with the tools they need to write efficient,
attractive, and accessible documents, without overexposing them to HTML’s implementation details.
Implementors, however, should find all they need to build user agents that interpret HTML correctly.
The specification has been written with two modes of presentation in mind: electronic and printed.
Although the two presentations will no doubt be similar, readers will find some differences. For example,
links will not work in the printed version (obviously), and page numbers will not appear in the electronic
version. In case of a discrepancy, the electronic version is considered the authoritative version of the
document.
How to read the specification
The specification may be approached in several ways:
Read from beginning to end. The specification begins with a general presentation of HTML and
becomes more and more technical and specific towards the end. This is reflected in the
specification’s main table of contents, which presents topical information, and the indexes, which
present lower level information in alphabetical order.
Quick access to information. In order to get information about syntax and semantics as quickly as
possible, the electronic version of the specification includes the following features:
1. Every reference to an element or attribute is linked to its definition in the specification.
2. Every page will include links to the indexes, so you will never be more than two links away
from finding the definition of an element or attribute.
3. The front pages of the three sections of the language reference manual extend the initial table of
contents with more detail about each section.
How the specification is organized
This specification includes the following sections:
Section 2: Introduction to HTML 4.0.
The introduction gives an overview of what can be done with HTML 4.0. It also provides some
design tips for developing good HTML habits.
4
Sections 3 - 11: HTML 4.0 reference manual.
The bulk of the reference manual consists of the HTML language reference, which defines all
elements and attributes of the language.