The HTML <section>
element represents a standalone section — which doesn't have a more specific semantic element to represent it — contained within an HTML document. Typically, but not always, sections have a heading.
As an example, a navigation menu should be wrapped in a <nav>
element, but a list of search results and a map display and its controls don't have specific elements, and could be put inside a <section>
.
Content categories | Flow content, Sectioning content, palpable content. |
---|---|
Permitted content | Flow content. |
Tag omission | None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory. |
Permitted parents | Any element that accepts flow content. Note that a <section> element must not be a descendant of an <address> element. |
Permitted ARIA roles | alert , alertdialog , application , banner , complementary , contentinfo , dialog , document , feed , log , main , marquee , navigation , search , status , tabpanel |
DOM interface | HTMLElement |
Attributes
This element only includes the global attributes.
Usage notes
- Each
<section>
should be identified, typically by including a heading (<h1>
-<h6>
element) as a child of the<section>
element. - If it makes sense to separately syndicate the content of a
<section>
element, use an<article>
element instead. - Do not use the
<section>
element as a generic container; this is what<div>
is for, especially when the sectioning is only for styling purposes. A rule of thumb is that a section should logically appear in the outline of a document.
Example 1
Before
<div> <h1>Heading</h1> <p>Bunch of awesome content</p> </div>
After
<section> <h1>Heading</h1> <p>Bunch of awesome content</p> </section>
Example 2
Before
<div> <h2>Heading</h2> <img src="bird.jpg" alt="bird"> </div>
After
<section> <h2>Heading</h2> <img src="bird.jpg" alt="bird"> </section>
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comments |
---|---|---|
HTML Living Standard The definition of '<section>' in that specification. |
Living Standard | |
HTML 5.1 The definition of '<section>' in that specification. |
Recommendation | |
HTML5 The definition of '<section>' in that specification. |
Recommendation |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table in this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
Feature | Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Basic support | 5 | Yes | 4 | 9 | 11.1 | 4.1 |
Feature | Android webview | Chrome for Android | Edge mobile | Firefox for Android | IE mobile | Opera Android | iOS Safari |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Basic support | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 | 9 | 11 | 4.2 |
See also
Document Tags and Contributors
Tags:
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sideshowbarker,
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Sheppy,
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chrisdavidmills,
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georgebatalinski,
SteveFaulkner,
kscarfone,
justleroy,
ethertank,
tregagnon,
pepita96,
medicdude,
dhodder,
fscholz,
McGurk,
hobophobe,
jswisher
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