<cite>

The <cite> tag is used in HTML to indicate a reference to a source or citation.

It allows you to mark a title of a work, a publication, or another type of source that has been cited in the content.

It should not be used to frame a complete citation with information about the author, for example: in this case, it is preferable to use <q> or <blockquote>.

Structure and syntax of the <cite> tag

Basic structure and syntax

The <cite> tag is a container tag that has:

• An opening tag: <cite>;
• A closing tag: </cite>.

It should be used to indicate a source of citation, such as a book title, an article, a film, etc.

Usage example

Here is a practical example:

<p>The theory of relativity was formulated by Albert Einstein, according to <cite>Einstein, A. (1915). The general relativity. Annalen der Physik.</cite></p>

In this example, the <cite> tag is used to specify the source of a citation (a scientific work).

The content of this tag, itself, represents the reference to the cited source.

Attributes

The <cite> tag accepts classic HTML attributes, such as title, class, or id, but it does not have specific attributes.

Difference with other similar tags

• <q>: The <q> tag is used for citations, generally by enclosing the cited text in a passage without necessitating a block separation.
• <blockquote>: The <blockquote> tag is used to cite a long passage or a block citation, often with supplementary information about the source, whereas <cite> is mainly used to indicate the source of the citation.

Browser compatibility

The <cite> tag is supported by all modern browsers.