HTML <body> tag

Updated: 09/12/2023 by Computer Hope

When writing in HTML (hypertext markup language), the <body> tag is used to contain a web page's content, including hyperlinks, images, tables, text, etc. It is required in every HTML document, and there may only be one <body> tag per page. The following sections contain information about this tag, including related attributes and browser compatibility.

Example of the <body> code

Below is an example of HTML with the body tag and its contents highlighted in bold text.

<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>Example page</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>This is a heading</h1>
<p>This is an example of a basic HTML page.</p>
</body>
</html>

Deprecated attributes

All HTML tags support standard attributes that define the settings of an HTML element. In addition to the standard settings, the <body> tag had the following unique attributes that are now deprecated.

Attribute	Description
alink	Designates the color a link turns when it is selected.
background	Designates the background image on a page.
bgcolor	Designates the background color on a page.
link	Designates the color of a link not yet been clicked.
text	Designates the color of text on a page.
vlink	Designates the color of visited links.

Compatibility

Edge	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Safari	Opera	Chrome
All versions	All versions	All versions	All version	All versions	All versions

Browser, Compatibility, Container tag, CSS, Hyperlink, Image, Table, Text, Web design terms