Name
<META> — NN all IE all HTML all
Synopsis
<META>
End Tag: Forbidden
A META
element conveys hidden information about the document, both to the
server that dishes up the document and to the client that downloads
the document. The element is also used to embed document information
that some search engines use for indexing and categorizing documents
on the World Wide Web.
More than one META element may be included in a
document, and all META elements belong nested
inside the HEAD element. The specific purpose of
each META element is defined by its attributes.
Typically, a META element reduces to a name/value
pair that is of use to either the server or the client. For example,
most browsers recognize attribute settings that force the page to
reload (or redirect to another page) after a timed delay. This would
be useful in a page whose content is updated minute-by-minute,
because the browser keeps reloading the latest page as often as
indicated in the META element.
Several other elements and attributes in HTML 4.0 contain the same
kind of meta-data that might otherwise be located in
META elements. Use the avenue that is best suited
to your intended server and browser environments. In many cases,
real-world implementations must catch up with the HTML 4.0
specification before you will be faced with those decisions.
See also the ADDRESS, DEL,
INS, LINK, and
TITLE elements, as well as the
PROFILE attribute of the HEAD
element.
Example
<HEAD PROFILE="http://www.giantco.com/profiles/common"> ...
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