The HTML <body> Element represents the content of an HTML document. There can be only one <body> element in a document.
| Content categories | Sectioning root. |
|---|---|
| Permitted content | Flow content. |
| Tag omission | The start tag may be omitted if the first thing inside it is not a space character, comment, <script> element or <style> element. The end tag may be omitted if the body element has contents or has a start tag, and is not immediately followed by a comment. |
| Permitted parents | It must be the second element of an <html> element. |
| Permitted ARIA roles | None |
| DOM interface | HTMLBodyElement
|
Attributes
This element includes the global attributes.
alink- Color of text for hyperlinks when selected. This method is non-conforming, use CSS
colorproperty in conjunction with the:activepseudo-class instead. background- URI of a image to use as a background. This method is non-conforming, use CSS
backgroundproperty on the element instead. bgcolor- Background color for the document. This method is non-conforming, use CSS
background-colorproperty on the element instead. bottommargin- The margin of the bottom of the body. This method is non-conforming, use CSS
margin-bottomproperty on the element instead. leftmargin- The margin of the left of the body. This method is non-conforming, use CSS
margin-leftproperty on the element instead. link- Color of text for unvisited hypertext links. This method is non-conforming, use CSS
colorproperty in conjunction with the:linkpseudo-class instead. onafterprint- Function to call after the user has printed the document.
onbeforeprint- Function to call when the user requests printing of the document.
onbeforeunload- Function to call when the document is about to be unloaded.
onblur- Function to call when the document loses focus.
onerror- Function to call when the document fails to load properly.
onfocus- Function to call when the document receives focus.
onhashchange- Function to call when the fragment identifier part (starting with the hash (
'#') character) of the document's current address has changed. onlanguagechange- Function to call when the preferred languages changed.
onload- Function to call when the document has finished loading.
onmessage- Function to call when the document has received a message.
onoffline- Function to call when network communication has failed.
ononline- Function to call when network communication has been restored.
onpopstate- Function to call when the user has navigated session history.
onredo- Function to call when the user has moved forward in undo transaction history.
onresize- Function to call when the document has been resized.
onstorage- Function to call when the storage area has changed.
onundo- Function to call when the user has moved backward in undo transaction history.
onunload- Function to call when the document is going away.
rightmargin- The margin of the right of the body. This method is non-conforming, use CSS
margin-rightproperty on the element instead. text- Foreground color of text. This method is non-conforming, use CSS
colorproperty on the element instead. topmargin- The margin of the top of the body. This method is non-conforming, use CSS
margin-topproperty on the element instead. vlink- Color of text for visited hypertext links. This method is non-conforming, use CSS
colorproperty in conjunction with the:visitedpseudo-class instead.
Example
<html>
<head>
<title>Document title</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>This is a paragraph</p>
</body>
</html>
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| HTML Living Standard The definition of '<body>' in that specification. |
Living Standard | Changed the list of non-conforming features. |
| HTML5 The definition of '<body>' in that specification. |
Recommendation | Obsoleted the formerly deprecated attributes. Defined the behavior of the non-conforming and never standardized margintop, marginleft, marginright and marginbottom. Added the on* attributes. |
| HTML 4.01 Specification The definition of '<body>' in that specification. |
Recommendation | Deprecated the alink, background, bgcolor, link, text and vlink attributes. |
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 | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
alink | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
background | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
bgcolor | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
bottommargin | Yes | No | 351 | No | Yes | ? |
leftmargin | Yes | No | 351 | No | Yes | ? |
link | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onafterprint | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onbeforeprint | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onbeforeunload | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onblur | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onerror | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onfocus | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onhashchange | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onlanguagechange | ? | No | 32 | No | ? | ? |
onload | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onmessage | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onoffline | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ononline | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onpopstate | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onredo | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onresize | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onstorage | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onundo | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onunload | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
rightmargin | Yes | No | 351 | No | Yes | ? |
text | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
topmargin | Yes | No | 351 | No | Yes | ? |
vlink | 1 | 12 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Feature | Android webview | Chrome for Android | Edge mobile | Firefox for Android | IE mobile | Opera Android | iOS Safari |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
alink | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
background | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
bgcolor | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
bottommargin | Yes | Yes | No | 351 | No | Yes | ? |
leftmargin | Yes | Yes | No | 351 | No | Yes | ? |
link | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onafterprint | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onbeforeprint | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onbeforeunload | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onblur | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onerror | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onfocus | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onhashchange | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onlanguagechange | ? | ? | No | 32 | No | ? | ? |
onload | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onmessage | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onoffline | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ononline | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onpopstate | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onredo | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onresize | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onstorage | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onundo | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
onunload | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
rightmargin | Yes | Yes | No | 351 | No | Yes | ? |
text | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
topmargin | Yes | Yes | No | 351 | No | Yes | ? |
vlink | Yes | 1 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
1. Before Firefox 35, it was supported in Quirks Mode only.
See also
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