The HTML Citation element (<cite>) is used to describe a reference to a cited creative work, and must include either the title or author or the URL of that work. The reference may be in an abbreviated form according to context-appropriate conventions related to citation metadata.
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| Content categories | Flow content, phrasing content, palpable content. |
|---|---|
| Permitted content | Phrasing content. |
| Tag omission | None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory. |
| Permitted parents | Any element that accepts phrasing content. |
| Permitted ARIA roles | Any |
| 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.
Usage notes
In the context of the <cite> element, a creative work that might be cited could be, for example, one of the following:
- A book
- A research paper
- An essay
- A poem
- A musical score
- A song
- A play or film script
- A film
- A television show
- A game
- A sculpture
- A painting
- A theatrical 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 Facebook post
- A written or oral statement
- And so forth.
It's worth noting that the W3C specification says that a reference to a creative work, as included within a <cite> element, may include the name of the work’s author. However, the WHATWG specification for <cite> says the opposite: that a person’s name must never be included, under any circumstances.
To include a reference to the source of quoted material which is contained within a <blockquote> or <q> element, use the cite attribute on the element.
Typically, browsers style the contents of a <cite> element in italics by default. To avoid this, apply the CSS font-style property to the <cite> element.
Example
<p>More information can be found in <cite>[ISO-0000]</cite>.</p>
The HTML above outputs:
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 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
| Desktop | Mobile | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari | Android webview | Chrome for Android | Edge Mobile | Firefox for Android | Opera for Android | iOS Safari | Samsung Internet | |
| Basic support | Chrome Full support Yes | Edge Full support Yes | Firefox Full support 1 | IE Full support Yes | Opera Full support Yes | Safari Full support Yes | WebView Android Full support Yes | Chrome Android Full support Yes | Edge Mobile Full support Yes | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support Yes | Safari iOS Full support Yes | Samsung Internet Android Full support Yes |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
See also
- The element
<blockquote>for long quotations. - The element
<q>for inline quotations.