The <cite> Tag in HTML 5
The <cite> tag identifies the title of a creative work. The cite element is one of the phrase elements in HTML. It can be used by itself, or along with one of the quote tags:
- <q> for a short quote, inline with other content
- <blockquote> for a long quote
<cite> for a paraphrased quote
When a source is not being quoted directly, the <cite> tag would be used without a quote tag (<blockquote> or <q> tag). For example:
According to Authoring HTML, the <cite> tag should be used for the title of a creative work, not the cited content.
<cite> with <q> tag for a short quote
When a source is being quoted directly, the <cite> tag along with the <q> tag can be used for a short quote:
Per
HTML Color Picker,
In a browser
that does not yet support the HTML <input type="range"/> for a slider bar control,
[HTML slider bar] controls will appear as text input fields.
The content inside the q element appears inline with the surrounding content. Note the use of square brackets in this example.
<cite> with <blockquote> tag for a long quote
The <cite> tag can be used with the <blockquote> tag can be used for a longer passage that is being quoted directly:
One of my favorite quotes from
William Shakespeare
In my stars I am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.
These are actual working examples of the <cite> tag example code below. Resize the browser window narrower or wider to see whether or not your browser supports the word break (<wbr/>) tag in content with a white-space: nowrap style. WebKit-based browsers such as Chrome and Safari are the first ones to support the <wbr/> tag in this context and break the citation where indicated; Firefox and Opera do not and instead move the entire citation to a separate line when it does not fit on the first line.
Use of square brackets in quotes
When any text in the quote is changed or added, the modified text should be indicated using square brackets. Some uses of square brackets include:
- Use square brackets when adding
[sic]to indicate that content which may appear to the reader to be a mistake actually appears as it occurs in the original source. - Use square brackets when clarifying meaning such as when replacing a demonstrative pronoun (that, those, such, etc.) with the actual noun, possibly from unquoted source content. In the example above, square brackets were used when the word
those
was replaced with[HTML slider bar].