The <s> Tag in HTML 5

The HTML <s> tag for strike out text is used to indicate content that is inaccurate, incorrect or no longer relevant. The s element is one of the phrase elements in HTML. Content inside an s element is often displayed in a strike-through font using a text-decoration: line-through style property.

The <s> tag should not be used to indicate a deletion from an HTML document. To provide a standing record of the original text of a blog entry or other actual deletions, the <del> tag should be used instead. The <s> tag should only be used for other purposes, such as:

• to highlight text that is to appear as if it were deleted, sometimes used as humor as in the political correctness "corrections" in He is so retarded as dumb as a rock! not so bright.
• to mark items as complete in a to do list (although it would be more appropriate to code a class="complete" attribute on each item that references a common style with the text-decoration: line-through property for the strike-through effect.)
• to indicate something that would be considered a mistake if used, as in the examples below.

<s> tag Example

This shows how the example <s> tag code below would be displayed.