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.
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]
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>
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]
HTML5 introduced both <article>
and <section>
. Both are semantic tags, defining sections in a document, such as chapters, headers, footers[4] but the <article>
element is effectively a specialized kind of <section>
has a more specific meaning, referring to an independent, self-contained block of related content.[3][5]
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>
The following browsers have support for this element:[6]