HTML5
HTML5 – New Tags
HTML5 introduced many new elements to give web pages clearer structure and richer functionality. These fall into three groups: semantic/structural tags, media tags, and interactive/form tags. The table below lists the most important new elements and what each does.
New Semantic and Structural Tags
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| <header> | Introductory content or navigational links for a page or section. |
| <nav> | A section of navigation links (menus, tables of contents). |
| <section> | A thematic grouping of related content, typically with a heading. |
| <article> | Self-contained, independently distributable content (e.g., a blog post). |
| <aside> | Content tangentially related to the main content, like a sidebar. |
| <footer> | Footer for a page or section (author, copyright, links). |
| <main> | The dominant, unique main content of the document. |
| <figure> | Self-contained media such as an image, diagram, or code block. |
| <figcaption> | A caption or legend for a <figure>. |
| <mark> | Highlighted or marked text for reference. |
| <time> | A machine-readable date, time, or duration. |
| <details> | A disclosure widget that shows/hides additional content. |
| <summary> | The visible heading/toggle for a <details> element. |
New Media Tags
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| <audio> | Embeds sound content such as music or podcasts. |
| <video> | Embeds video content with native playback controls. |
| <canvas> | A drawable region for scriptable 2D graphics via JavaScript. |
| <svg> | Inline scalable vector graphics (shapes, paths, text). |
New Form and Interactive Tags
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| <datalist> | A predefined list of options for an <input> autocomplete. |
| <output> | The result of a calculation or user action. |
| <progress> | Shows the completion progress of a task. |
| <meter> | A scalar measurement within a known range (a gauge). |
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Using semantic tags instead of generic <div>s improves accessibility, SEO, and code readability because they describe the meaning of the content.