xml:lang (HTML attribute)
| Depr. | Version |
|---|---|
| No | XHTML 1.0 |
| IE5.5+ | FF1+ | SA1.3+ | OP9.2+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial |
Syntax
Description
The
xml:lang attribute is identical in its usage and
purpose to the lang attribute, but
with one difference: it must be applied within documents that use an XHTML
doctype.
It may be that this attribute is used only once in a document—for
example, in the root element html—but it may be used to
indicate a change of language anywhere within a document:
<p>I told the guy in the best French I could muster:
"<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mais j’ai oublié
mes pantalons</span>" and hoped for the best.</p>
Example
This example specifies the language of an XHTML Strict document as English:
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
Value
This attribute takes approved International Standards Organisation (ISO) 2 letter language codes only (refer to the language codes reference for details).
Compatibility
| Internet Explorer | Firefox | Safari | Opera | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 9.2 | 9.5 |
| Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial |
As I
mentioned in the description above, browsers don’t offer great support for
the lang attribute, but its benefits extend beyond
the browser itself (for instance, in terms of search and assistive
technology). Language should be indicated for these reasons, as well as
for the purposes of forwards compatibility.
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