Revision 1067328 of <section>

<p>{{HTMLRef}}</p>

<p>The <strong>HTML <code>&lt;section&gt;</code> element</strong> represents a generic section of a document, i.e., a thematic grouping of content, typically with a heading. Each <code>&lt;section&gt;</code> should be identified, typically by including a heading ({{HTMLElement('h1')}}-{{HTMLElement('h6')}} element) as a child of the <code>&lt;section&gt;</code> element.</p>

<div class="note">
<p><em>Usage notes :</em></p>

<ul>
 <li>If it makes sense to separately syndicate the content of a {{HTMLElement("section")}} element, use an {{HTMLElement("article")}} element instead.</li>
 <li>Do not use the {{HTMLElement("section")}} element as a generic container; this is what {{HTMLElement("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.</li>
</ul>
</div>

<table class="properties">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th scope="row"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Content_categories">Content categories</a></th>
   <td><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Content_categories#Flow_content">Flow content</a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Content_categories#Sectioning_content">Sectioning content</a>, palpable content.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <th scope="row">Permitted content</th>
   <td><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Content_categories#Flow_content">Flow content</a>.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <th scope="row">Tag omission</th>
   <td>{{no_tag_omission}}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <th scope="row">Permitted parent elements</th>
   <td>Any element that accepts <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Content_categories#Flow_content">flow content</a>. Note that a {{HTMLElement("section")}} element must not be a descendant of an {{HTMLElement("address")}} element.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <th scope="row">DOM interface</th>
   <td>{{domxref("HTMLElement")}}</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

<h2 id="Attributes">Attributes</h2>

<p>This element only includes the <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Global_attributes">global attributes</a>.</p>

<h2 id="Examples">Example 1</h2>

<h3>Before</h3>

<pre>
&lt;div&gt;
  &lt;h1&gt;Heading&lt;/h1&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Bunch of awesome content&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</pre>

<h3>After</h3>

<pre class="brush: html">
&lt;section&gt;
  &lt;h1&gt;Heading&lt;/h1&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Bunch of awesome content&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/section&gt;
</pre>

<h2 id="Example_2">Example 2</h2>

<h3 id="Before">Before</h3>

<pre class="brush: html">
&lt;div&gt;
  &lt;h2&gt;Heading&lt;/h2&gt;
  &lt;img src="bird.jpg" alt="bird"&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
</pre>

<h3 id="After">After</h3>

<pre class="brush: html">
&lt;section&gt;
  &lt;h2&gt;Heading&lt;/h2&gt;
  &lt;img src="bird.jpg" alt="bird"&gt;
&lt;/section&gt;
</pre>

<h2 id="Specifications">Specifications</h2>

<table class="standard-table">
 <thead>
  <tr>
   <th scope="col">Specification</th>
   <th scope="col">Status</th>
   <th scope="col">Comments</th>
  </tr>
 </thead>
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML WHATWG', 'sections.html#the-section-element', '&lt;section&gt;')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML WHATWG')}}</td>
   <td>&nbsp;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML5.1', 'sections.html#the-section-element', '&lt;section&gt;')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML5.1')}}</td>
   <td>&nbsp;</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML5 W3C', 'sections.html#the-section-element', '&lt;section&gt;')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML5 W3C')}}</td>
   <td>&nbsp;</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

<h2 id="Browser_compatibility">Browser compatibility</h2>

<div>{{CompatibilityTable}}</div>

<div id="compat-desktop">
<table class="compat-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th>Feature</th>
   <th>Chrome</th>
   <th>Firefox (Gecko)</th>
   <th>Internet Explorer</th>
   <th>Opera</th>
   <th>Safari</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Basic support</td>
   <td>5</td>
   <td>{{CompatGeckoDesktop("2.0")}}</td>
   <td>9.0</td>
   <td>11.10</td>
   <td>4.1</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
</div>

<div id="compat-mobile">
<table class="compat-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th>Feature</th>
   <th>Android</th>
   <th>Firefox Mobile (Gecko)</th>
   <th>IE Mobile</th>
   <th>Opera Mobile</th>
   <th>Safari Mobile</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Basic support</td>
   <td>2.2</td>
   <td>{{CompatGeckoMobile("2.0")}}</td>
   <td>9.0</td>
   <td>11.0</td>
   <td>5.0 (iOS 4.2)</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
</div>

<h2 id="See_also">See also</h2>

<ul>
 <li>Other section-related elements: {{HTMLElement("body")}}, {{HTMLElement("nav")}}, {{HTMLElement("article")}}, {{HTMLElement("aside")}}, {{HTMLElement("h1")}}, {{HTMLElement("h2")}}, {{HTMLElement("h3")}}, {{HTMLElement("h4")}}, {{HTMLElement("h5")}}, {{HTMLElement("h6")}}, {{HTMLElement("hgroup")}}, {{HTMLElement("header")}}, {{HTMLElement("footer")}}, {{HTMLElement("address")}};</li>
 <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Sections_and_Outlines_of_an_HTML5_document">Sections and outlines of an HTML5 document</a>.</li>
</ul>