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 parent elements | It must be the second element of an <html> element. |
| 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.
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| WHATWG 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
| Feature | Chrome | Firefox (Gecko) | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari (WebKit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | 1.0 | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) |
onlanguagechange |
? | 32 (32) | ? | ? | ? |
bottommargin, leftmargin, rightmargin, topmargin |
(Yes) | 35 (35) [1] | ? | ? | ? |
| Feature | Android | Firefox Mobile (Gecko) | IE Phone | Opera Mobile | Safari Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) | (Yes) |
onlanguagechange |
? | 32.0 (32) | ? | ? | ? |
bottommargin, leftmargin, rightmargin, topmargin |
(Yes) | 35.0 (35) [1] | ? | ? | ? |
[1] Was supported before this in Quirk Mode only.