HTML Concepts: Kinds of Elements

Published on May 31, 2023, filed under development, html. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon.)

There are six (not two, five, or eight) different kinds of elements in HTML:

Void elements: area, base, br, col, embed, hr, img, input, link, meta, source, track, and wbr
Raw text elements: script and style
Escapable raw text elements: textarea and title
The template element: template
Foreign elements: elements from the MathML and SVG namespaces
Normal elements: all other allowed HTML elements

This classification is useful because these elements differ in key aspects. Void elements have no contents (they have no end tag, even if we wanted one). The template element contains template contents. MathML and SVG relate to different specifications (and may therefore not even be counted as HTML elements).

As always (consider the Web Developer’s Pilgrimage), the HTML specification has the details: § 13.1.2 Elements. And this is part of a series: more HTML concepts.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m an engineering lead, guerrilla philosopher, and indie publisher. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager at various companies (e.g., Google); I’m an active web and tool developer (code optimization, digital defense), a contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and a book author (O’Reilly, Frontend Dogma).

I love trying things—in web development and engineering management, but also in politics and philosophy, where I hold to one idea in particular: that we can only be well if we take good care of everyone. Here on meiert.com I talk about some of my perspectives and experiences. (Interpret charitably but be critical—and share feedback and advice that makes my work better.)