The BASE element allows global reference information to be set. Use
of the HREF attribute provides a base address for interpreting all
relative URL references in a document when the document is read out
of context. The TARGET attribute specifies a global frame destination
name to be used for page activation changes (in links, forms and
image maps.)
Specific Attributes
Href
2 | 3
| 3.2 | 4
| IE1 | M2
| N1 | O2.1
Required? Yes
Description:
Indicates the base URL to interpret relative URLS in the current document.
Values:
Should be an absolute URL (no relative references.)
Target
2 | 3
| 3.2 | 4
| IE3A1 | M
| N2 | O2.1
Required? No
Description:
Specifies the common Target frame for hyperlinks to load to when
activated. The value for this attribute can be overridden on a
case-by-case basis by indicating a different value in an
A, AREA,
or FORM element.
Values:
Alphanumeric string representing the destination frame name. Special
reserved TARGET names apply here as well.
DTD Note: Both the Internet Explorer 3 DTD and the
HTML 4.0 DTD allow for the TARGET attribute. They both list the
HREF attribute as #REQUIRED. This is fine, but this
seems to only hold if the browser does not support global
frame targeting. In the case of a frames-capable browser, the value would
more likely be #IMPLIED (not required.) This
would allow for a BASE element with TARGET as the only attribute (which seems
reasonable since HREF and TARGET control two mutually exclusive
browser features (name resolution and frame targeting.)
Browser Peculiarities
Some older browsers may improperly handle the BASE element if the TARGET
attribute is present because they are expecting only the HREF attribute
by itself.