HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
back after the ceremony and bought five more capes, plus matching
gauntlets!</p>
</blockquote>
Web browsers will display the
blockquote
element as an indented block of text, as you can see in Figure
4-4. In the past, some web designers misused this element to create wider margins around their text,
whether it was a quotation or not. Once again, that's presentational markup that confuses the content's
meaning. You should only use a
blockquote
for actual quotations and use CSS to control margins.
Figure 4-4.
The default rendering of a block quotation as an indented portion of text
HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 specified that a
blockquote
element could only contain block-level children;
plain text or inline (phrasing) elements couldn't appear as direct children of a
blockquote
. HTML5 has
done away with this restriction, but it's always best to use appropriate elements for the quoted content—
paragraphs, lists, headings, and so on. The
blockquote
element also constitutes a sectioning root in
HTML, so headings within a block quotation won't interfere with the outline of the surrounding section.
Required Attributes
The
blockquote
element doesn't have any required attributes.
Optional Attributes
cite
: The URL of the quotation's original source.
address
Contrary to this element's name,
address
isn't intended for just any postal address; its purpose is to
provide contact information for the person or organization responsible for its parent
article
element (if it
occurs within an
article
), or otherwise for the entire document. An
address
often belongs in a
footer
element or possibly in a
header
, but neither is a requirement.
This element harkens back to the early days when primarily academics and programmers used the Web. A
researcher at a university might publish her findings on the Web and include her name, position, website,
and e-mail address to stake her claim. In that sense, think of the
address
element more like a byline or
