<html>
The root element of the page: `<head>` and `<body>` live inside it.
Syntax
<html lang="en">…</html>Attributes
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| lang | language code | The language of the page: `en`, `ru`, `de`… |
Examples
A page skeleton with a language:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>About us</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>Everything visible goes into body.</p>
</body>
</html>Notes
Always set lang: the browser uses it for hyphenation rules, and screen readers for pronunciation. In CSS you reach this element with the html or :root selector — the usual place for the base font size and CSS variables.
See also
- <!DOCTYPE> — The document type declaration: tells the browser the page is written in modern HTML.
- <head> — The service part of the page: encoding, tab title, linked styles and scripts.
- <body> — The visible part of the page: everything the user sees.
- lang — The language of an element's content.
Related recipes
In the tutorial
- Document structure — The skeleton of an HTML page — doctype, html, head and body, the encoding, the tab title, viewport and your first index.html file.