HTML: The Living Standard
Edition for Web Developers — Last Updated 16 January 2024
Edition for Web Developers — Last Updated 16 January 2024
The ins and del elements represent edits to the document.
ins elementSupport in all current engines.
cite — Link to the source of the quotation or more information about the edit
datetime — Date and (optionally) time of the change
HTMLModElement.The ins element represents an addition to the document.
The following represents the addition of a single paragraph:
< aside >
< ins >
< p > I like fruit. </ p >
</ ins >
</ aside > As does the following, because everything in the aside element here counts as
phrasing content and therefore there is just one paragraph:
< aside >
< ins >
Apples are < em > tasty</ em > .
</ ins >
< ins >
So are pears.
</ ins >
</ aside > ins elements should not cross implied paragraph
boundaries.
The following example represents the addition of two paragraphs, the second of which was
inserted in two parts. The first ins element in this example thus crosses a
paragraph boundary, which is considered poor form.
< aside >
<!-- don't do this -->
< ins datetime = "2005-03-16 00:00Z" >
< p > I like fruit. </ p >
Apples are < em > tasty</ em > .
</ ins >
< ins datetime = "2007-12-19 00:00Z" >
So are pears.
</ ins >
</ aside > Here is a better way of marking this up. It uses more elements, but none of the elements cross implied paragraph boundaries.
< aside >
< ins datetime = "2005-03-16 00:00Z" >
< p > I like fruit. </ p >
</ ins >
< ins datetime = "2005-03-16 00:00Z" >
Apples are < em > tasty</ em > .
</ ins >
< ins datetime = "2007-12-19 00:00Z" >
So are pears.
</ ins >
</ aside > del elementSupport in all current engines.
cite — Link to the source of the quotation or more information about the edit
datetime — Date and (optionally) time of the change
HTMLModElement.The del element represents a removal from the document.
del elements should not cross implied paragraph
boundaries.
The following shows a "to do" list where items that have been done are crossed-off with the date and time of their completion.
< h1 > To Do</ h1 >
< ul >
< li > Empty the dishwasher</ li >
< li >< del datetime = "2009-10-11T01:25-07:00" > Watch Walter Lewin's lectures</ del ></ li >
< li >< del datetime = "2009-10-10T23:38-07:00" > Download more tracks</ del ></ li >
< li > Buy a printer</ li >
</ ul > ins and del elementsThe cite attribute
may be used to specify the URL of a document that
explains the change. When that document is long, for instance the minutes of a meeting, authors
are encouraged to include a fragment pointing to the
specific part of that document that discusses the change.
If the cite attribute is present, it must be a valid
URL potentially surrounded by spaces that explains the change. User agents may
allow users to follow such citation links, but they are primarily intended for private use (e.g.,
by server-side scripts collecting statistics about a site's edits), not for readers.
The datetime
attribute may be used to specify the time and date of the change.
If present, the datetime attribute's value must be a
valid date string with optional time.
This value is primarily intended for private use.
Since the ins and del elements do not affect paragraphing, it is possible, in some cases where paragraphs are implied (without explicit p elements), for an
ins or del element to span both an entire paragraph or other
non-phrasing content elements and part of another paragraph. For example:
< section >
< ins >
< p >
This is a paragraph that was inserted.
</ p >
This is another paragraph whose first sentence was inserted
at the same time as the paragraph above.
</ ins >
This is a second sentence, which was there all along.
</ section > By only wrapping some paragraphs in p elements, one can even get the end of one
paragraph, a whole second paragraph, and the start of a third paragraph to be covered by the same
ins or del element (though this is very confusing, and not considered
good practice):
< section >
This is the first paragraph. < ins > This sentence was
inserted.
< p > This second paragraph was inserted.</ p >
This sentence was inserted too.</ ins > This is the
third paragraph in this example.
<!-- (don't do this) -->
</ section > However, due to the way implied paragraphs are defined, it is
not possible to mark up the end of one paragraph and the start of the very next one using the same
ins or del element. You instead have to use one (or two) p
element(s) and two ins or del elements, as for example:
< section >
< p > This is the first paragraph. < del > This sentence was
deleted.</ del ></ p >
< p >< del > This sentence was deleted too.</ del > That
sentence needed a separate < del> element.</ p >
</ section > Partly because of the confusion described above, authors are strongly encouraged to always mark
up all paragraphs with the p element, instead of having ins or
del elements that cross implied paragraphs
boundaries.
The content models of the ol and ul elements do not allow
ins and del elements as children. Lists always represent all their
items, including items that would otherwise have been marked as deleted.
To indicate that an item is inserted or deleted, an ins or del
element can be wrapped around the contents of the li element. To indicate that an
item has been replaced by another, a single li element can have one or more
del elements followed by one or more ins elements.
In the following example, a list that started empty had items added and removed from it over time. The bits in the example that have been emphasized show the parts that are the "current" state of the list. The list item numbers don't take into account the edits, though.
< h1 > Stop-ship bugs</ h1 >
< ol >
< li >< ins datetime = "2008-02-12T15:20Z" > Bug 225:
Rain detector doesn't work in snow</ ins ></ li >
< li >< del datetime = "2008-03-01T20:22Z" >< ins datetime = "2008-02-14T12:02Z" > Bug 228:
Water buffer overflows in April</ ins ></ del ></ li >
< li >< ins datetime = "2008-02-16T13:50Z" > Bug 230:
Water heater doesn't use renewable fuels</ ins ></ li >
< li >< del datetime = "2008-02-20T21:15Z" >< ins datetime = "2008-02-16T14:25Z" > Bug 232:
Carbon dioxide emissions detected after startup</ ins ></ del ></ li >
</ ol > In the following example, a list that started with just fruit was replaced by a list with just colors.
< h1 > List of < del > fruits</ del >< ins > colors</ ins ></ h1 >
< ul >
< li >< del > Lime</ del >< ins > Green</ ins ></ li >
< li >< del > Apple</ del ></ li >
< li > Orange</ li >
< li >< del > Pear</ del ></ li >
< li >< ins > Teal</ ins ></ li >
< li >< del > Lemon</ del >< ins > Yellow</ ins ></ li >
< li > Olive</ li >
< li >< ins > Purple</ ins ></ li >
</ ul > The elements that form part of the table model have complicated content model requirements that
do not allow for the ins and del elements, so indicating edits to a
table can be difficult.
To indicate that an entire row or an entire column has been added or removed, the entire
contents of each cell in that row or column can be wrapped in ins or del
elements (respectively).
Here, a table's row has been added:
< table >
< thead >
< tr > < th > Game name < th > Game publisher < th > Verdict
< tbody >
< tr > < td > Diablo 2 < td > Blizzard < td > 8/10
< tr > < td > Portal < td > Valve < td > 10/10
< tr > < td > < ins > Portal 2</ ins > < td > < ins > Valve</ ins > < td > < ins > 10/10</ ins >
</ table > Here, a column has been removed (the time at which it was removed is given also, as is a link to the page explaining why):
< table >
< thead >
< tr > < th > Game name < th > Game publisher < th > < del cite = "/edits/r192" datetime = "2011-05-02 14:23Z" > Verdict</ del >
< tbody >
< tr > < td > Diablo 2 < td > Blizzard < td > < del cite = "/edits/r192" datetime = "2011-05-02 14:23Z" > 8/10</ del >
< tr > < td > Portal < td > Valve < td > < del cite = "/edits/r192" datetime = "2011-05-02 14:23Z" > 10/10</ del >
< tr > < td > Portal 2 < td > Valve < td > < del cite = "/edits/r192" datetime = "2011-05-02 14:23Z" > 10/10</ del >
</ table > Generally speaking, there is no good way to indicate more complicated edits (e.g. that a cell was removed, moving all subsequent cells up or to the left).