cite element
If you don't know what an element is or how you must use it, I recommend you read the "HTML tags and attributes" tutorial that you can find in the HTML tutorials section.
Table of contents
Description
The cite element represents a citation of the title of a work. This element can be used to cite the titles of books, papers, essays, paintings, sculptures, plays, songs, movies, TV shows, videogames, etc.
In previous versions of HTML, the cite element could be used to enclose the name of a person. HTML5 consider this practice obsolete and, therefore, its implementation is not advisable.
The cite element isn't designed to quote parts of a work, but only its name. To make quotes of a part of a work there are the elements q and blockquote.
Examples
In the following example we use the cite element to wrap the names of the three novels written by Isaac Asimov. This is a typical use of the cite element.
<p>Four years later, Asimov followed up with yet another sequel, <cite>Foundation and Earth</cite> (1986), which was followed by the prequels <cite>Prelude to Foundation</cite> (1988) and <cite>Forward the Foundation</cite> (1993).</p>
Four years later, Asimov followed up with yet another sequel, Foundation and Earth (1986), which was followed by the prequels Prelude to Foundation (1988) and Forward the Foundation (1993).
Note that, according to HTML5 and unlike in previous versions of the standard, it would be a mistake to wrap the name of the author with the cite element. Additionally, it would also be a violation of the standard to include the date among the element's contents.
Attributes
Global attributes
For information about global attributes refer to this list of global attributes in HTML5.
Events
Global events
For information about global events refer to this list of global events in HTML5.