Summary
The HTML Citation Element (<cite>) represents a reference to a creative work. It must include the title of a work or a URL reference, which may be in an abbreviated form according to the conventions used for the addition of citation metadata.
Usage Notes:
- A creative work may include a book, a paper, an essay, a poem, a score, a song, a script, a film, a TV show, a game, a sculpture, a painting, a theater production, a play, an opera, a musical, an exhibition, a legal case report, a computer program, a web site, a web page, a blog post or comment, a forum post or comment, a tweet, a written or oral statement, etc.
- The W3C spec states that a reference to a creative work may include the author's name, while WHATWG has declared that it may not include a person's name under any circumstances.
- Use the
citeattribute on a<blockquote>or<q>element to reference an online resource for a source.
| Content categories | Flow content, phrasing content, palpable content. |
|---|---|
| Permitted content | Phrasing content. |
| Tag omission | None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory. |
| Permitted parent elements | Any element that accepts phrasing content. |
| DOM interface | HTMLElement Up to Gecko 1.9.2 (Firefox 4) inclusive, Firefox implements the HTMLSpanElement interface for this element. |
Attributes
This element only includes the global attributes.
Example
More information can be found in <cite>[ISO-0000]</cite>.
The HTML above outputs:
More information can be found in [ISO-0000].
Notes
To avoid the default italic style from being used for the <cite> element use the CSS font-style property.
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| WHATWG HTML Living Standard The definition of '<cite>' in that specification. |
Living Standard | |
| HTML5 The definition of '<cite>' in that specification. |
Recommendation | |
| HTML 4.01 Specification The definition of '<cite>' in that specification. |
Recommendation |
Browser compatibility
| Feature | Chrome | Firefox (Gecko) | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | (Yes) | 1.0 (1.7 or earlier) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) |
| Feature | Android | Firefox Mobile (Gecko) | IE Mobile | Opera Mobile | Safari Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | (Yes) | 1.0 (1.0) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) |
See also
- The element
<blockquote>for long quotations. - The element
<q>for inline quotations.
Document Tags and Contributors
Tags:
Contributors to this page:
Sheppy,
Sebastianz,
JohnnyWalker,
Jeremie,
openjck,
macielsds,
hoosteeno,
Brettz9,
AnthonyMaton,
charmander,
redly,
trevorh,
kscarfone,
justleroy,
tregagnon,
medicdude,
ethertank,
teoli,
cers,
McGurk,
hobophobe,
jswisher,
Ms2ger,
Kohei,
Mgjbot,
PablO
Last updated by:
Sheppy,