<meta> Syntax
Syntax Diagram for <meta>
| Open |
Parameter |
= |
Value |
Close |
|---|
| <meta |
name |
= |
"name" |
> |
| content |
= |
"content" |
| http-equiv |
= |
refresh |
<meta> Description
The "meta-information" of a document, contained within one or more
<meta> tags, is where application-specific information resides.
Application-specific information might be a description of the document or
keywords pertaining to the document (for the benefit of a search engine, for
example, or an automatic page loader, or any of dozens of other things).
- name, content
- These two are often used together; for example, the following
meta-information would be useful to a search engine:
<![CDATA[
<meta name="description" content="Dave Arns' HTML Quick Reference">
<meta name="keywords" content="Quick Reference, HTML, tags, WWW, web">]]>
- url
- Specifies the URL of the document to be automatically loaded if
"http-equiv=refresh" is specified. If a refresh is requested,
but no URL is given, the current document will be automatically reloaded
every n seconds, where n is specified in the first part of
the content parameter. Note that the URL, if present, is in
the second half of the content tag (see example below); it is
not a separate parameter.
<meta> Examples
This markup is commonly used by search engines:
<![CDATA[
<html>
<head>
<meta name="description"
content="This is Joe Schmoe's website.">
<meta name="keywords"
content="Joe Schmoe, website, coolness">
</head>
]]>
This markup causes a different page to be automatically loaded after a
specified delay (often used when a document has moved, and a tiny document
that merely points to the real document's new location, is left in its place):
<![CDATA[
<html>
<head>
<title>We've Moved!</title>
<meta http-equiv=refresh content="5; url=http://www.doodad.com/">
</head>
<body>
<h1>We've Moved!</h1>
The URL for Joe's Doodads, Inc., has changed to
<a href="http://www.doodad.com/">
<tt>http://www.doodad.com/</tt></a>; please
update your bookmark.
</body>
</html>
]]>
If the user's browser understands "http-equiv=refresh", he will be
automatically shuttled to the new location. If not, the user has only to
click the hyperlink to go to the new location.
If you want to be sure a page is always current, you can have the page
auto-load itself (as this page does every 60 seconds):
<![CDATA[
<html>
<head>
<title>We've Moved!</title>
<meta http-equiv=refresh content=60>
</head>
]]>
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