About HEAD elements in HTML...
= Index DOT Html by Brian Wilson [bloo@blooberry.com] =

Justification for HEAD elements

The Head section is really a catch-all area for information that is related to the document but is not actually viewable content. This section contains information ABOUT the document which is used to help display or process the document's contents. Historically, the head element was usually a small section. This has changed considerably in the last year as the level and capability of HTML document interaction has greatly increased (with the advent of style sheets, web scripting, and intelligent search engine cataloging.)

HEAD Element Usage

Document Base

[<base>]

This establishes a common basis to use when referencing file path names or named frames. For frames, all TARGETs will default to this value unless overridden locally. For file paths, the Base can be used as an absolute reference that is used to resolve relative or fragmented path names (Absolute file paths do not use it.)

Searchable Index

[<isindex>]

This is a legacy feature from the period before HTML 2.0 and forms capability. It allows a simple text string to be submitted to a processing engine for evaluation. It has none of the variety and finesse that is capable through current HTML forms.

Link Relationship

[<link>]

This tag establishes relationships between the current document and some other object. A document may have any number of LINK elements which can indicate authorship, related indices and glossaries, older or more recent versions, document hierarchy, associated resources such as style sheets, etc.

Document Meta-information

[<meta>]

These elements can contain a wide variety of information that may or may not be relevant to a browser. This element is an extensible mechanism to allow associated name/value pairs. This allows an author to include specialized information that does not fit in any other HEAD element situation.

NextID

[<nextid>]

Listed strictly for completeness with the HTML 2.0 specification, this element has disappeared from the HTML 3.2 draft and is not used by browsers.

Web Page Scripting

[<script>]

This tag allows a scripting language to interface with an HTML document. It is generally safer to place a SCRIPT statement in the HEAD area (although it is allowed both in the HEAD and BODY elements), because script statements are evaluated when the document is loaded. See the Related Links section on Scripting for other sites on this subject.

Style Sheets

[<style>]

This element allows style information to be listed as a block (Document Level Style Sheets) instead of listing the information in an external document or on a case-by-case basis. Style information is listed in an HTML comment as a series of Selector/Style Declaration pairs. The browser uses these statements to help in rendering the document. See the Style Sheet Guide elsewhere in this site for more information on Style Sheets.

Document Title

[<title>]

This contains the title of the document. It is the only HEAD element of a document that is REQUIRED under the specifications. This title serves to identify the document when browsing or for other purposes. It is often displayed as the caption for a display window when viewing a document.

Official References

ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc1866.txt

RFC 1866: The HTML 2.0 specification (plain text)

http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/MarkUp/html-spec

The web version of the HTML 2.0 (RFC 1866) specification

http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/MarkUp/Wilbur/

The HTML 3.2 (Wilbur) proposal
[Includes all HTML 2 HEAD elements and place holders for STYLE and SCRIPT]

http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/MarkUp/Cougar/HTML.dtd

The experimental HTML (Cougar) draft
[SCRIPT: Enumerates SCRIPT usage as well as other common HEAD elements]

http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/TR/WD-css1.html

Cascading Style Sheets, Level 1 specification draft
[STYLE: Usage of the STYLE tag]

http://home.netscape.com/assist/net_sites/html_extensions.html

Netscape Extensions to HTML 2.0
[ISINDEX: Details new attributes to the ISINDEX tag]

http://home.netscape.com/assist/net_sites/pushpull.html

Netscape Dynamic Documents
[META: Details the use of Client-Pull with the Meta tag]

http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/author/newhtml/htmlr020.htm

Internet Explorer 3.0 Tag reference
[Details HTML 2.0, and 3.2 tags. Also describes SCRIPT and STYLE usage]

Tutorials

http://WWW.Stars.com/Authoring/HTML/Head/

WWWDVL section on head elements

http://www.digital-cafe.com/~webmaster/set01.html

Meta: Northern Webs' Search Engine Tutorial

http://WWW.Stars.com/Search/Meta/Tag.html

Meta: The Web Developer's Virtual Library- "META Tagging for Search Engines"

http://WWW.Stars.com/Authoring/HTML/Head/meta.html

Meta: The Web Developer's Virtual Library META tag page

http://vancouver-webpages.com/VWbot/mk-metas.html

Meta: Form-based creation of META tags for your pages

http://www.blooberry.com/html/style/styleindex.htm

Style: The Index DOT Html Style Sheet Guide