A set of terms and conditions changes a cancellation period, a public price moves from one amount to another, a quote corrects a wrong line. In every one of those cases, simply wiping out the old value and replacing it with the new one deprives the reader of useful information: what did the document say before, and since when has this change been in force?
The <del> tag answers that need. It marks a passage as removed in a revised version of the content, without making it vanish from the page: it stays visible, struck through, with the trace of the change kept in the code.
Definition
<del> wraps text considered removed from a document compared to an earlier version. The browser strikes it through by default, but its value goes beyond that visual effect: unlike purely decorative styling, <del> carries a precise meaning, that of a tracked deletion inside the history of a piece of content that keeps evolving.
The cite and datetime attributes
Two optional attributes complete the tag and give it its real documentary value. The cite attribute points to a URL that justifies the change, a news page, a release note, a changelog. The datetime attribute states the date, in ISO 8601 format, on which the deletion was recorded.
<p>
The subscription price is
<del cite="/news/pricing-2026" datetime="2026-08-01">$49.00</del> per month.
</p>Neither attribute shows up on screen by default. They stay invisible to an ordinary visitor, but a script or an assistive technology can use them to build a real changelog, dated and sourced, out of the content itself rather than from a separate document that always ends up drifting out of sync.
A logical pair with ins
<del> almost always works alongside <ins>, its complementary tag: one marks what disappears, the other marks what appears in its place. That pairing reproduces the behaviour of a change tracking tool, directly inside the page's HTML, with no need for external software to make sense of the result.
<p>
Section 4: the cancellation period is
<del cite="/terms/history" datetime="2026-06-01">7 days</del>
<ins cite="/terms/history" datetime="2026-06-01">14 days</ins> from receipt.
</p>A screen reader announces <del> as a deletion, not as plain struck through text. Using this tag for a purely visual effect, without any real intent to track a revision, misleads the user about the actual nature of the content they are hearing.
del versus s, not to be confused
The most common confusion sets <del> against the <s> tag. Both render struck through by default, which suggests they are interchangeable. Their meaning differs entirely. <del> announces a tracked deletion inside content that keeps a memory of its successive versions: a revised price, an amended clause. <s> marks content that is simply no longer accurate or relevant today, with no notion of a dated revision or an earlier document, such as a product that is no longer available.
| Situation | Tag to use |
|---|---|
| A price replaced by another, with a date | <del> paired with <ins> |
| A completed goal, a task that became irrelevant | <s>, with no notion of revision |
| A legal clause corrected inside a contract | <del> with the cite and datetime attributes |
Frequently asked questions
ins always be used together with del?It is not mandatory, but it is the most useful practice in the vast majority of cases. A deletion on its own, without stating what replaces it, leaves the reader guessing at the new value. Pairing <ins> right after <del> reconstructs the full change, in both directions, which is exactly the point of tracking revisions in the first place.
datetime attribute free?No, it must follow the ISO 8601 format, for example a plain date such as 2026-08-01, or a date paired with a time. A free format, such as a date spelled out in words, is not recognised by browsers or by the assistive technologies that rely on this attribute, and loses all of its practical value.
del?No, not at all. A CSS strikethrough decoration only changes the visual appearance, without carrying any meaning for a screen reader or a search engine. <del> adds a real meaning to the document, that of a tracked deletion, of which the visual style is only a secondary consequence.