Del

Deleted Text End Tag: Required Support Key: 2 \| 3 \| 3.2 \| 4 \| *IE4* \| M \| N \| O	What is it? Attributes Tag Example	Parent/Content Model Tips & Tricks Browser Peculiarities
= Index DOT Html by Brian Wilson [bloo@blooberry.com] =

What is it?: The DEL element is one of two elements used (the other being INS) to allow revision control in HTML documents. The DEL element is nestable and can be used in conjunction with the INS element to indicate content and/or markup which has been deleted after the document's initial creation - it is not really eliminated from the document though. A date stamp is used to mark when the change was made and no destructive changes are ever made to the document. This is useful in areas such as the legal profession where historical change information is important.

HTML documents containing revision annotations will contain all content and markup ever applied to the document. Browsers that can interpret the DEL and INS elements could possibly display the "current" state of the document or display all content with common visual cues for inserted or deleted text. More advanced revision systems could allow for chronological snapshots of a document at any point in its history.

Common Attributes
%Core%: 2 | 3 | 3.2 | 4 | IE4 | M | N | O
%Events%: 2 | 3 | 3.2 | 4 | IE4 | M | N | O
%Language%: 2 | 3 | 3.2 | 4 | IE4 | M | N | O
Specific Attributes
Cite
2 | 3 | 3.2 | 4 | IE | M | N | O: Required? No; Description:
Indicates the URL citing the reason for the change in the document.; Values:
Either relative or absolute URLs
Datetime
2 | 3 | 3.2 | 4 | IE | M | N | O: Required? No; Description:
Indicates the date and time when the contents were deleted.; Values:
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssTZD where:
   YYYY = Four-digit year
   MM   = Two digit month (01-12)
   DD    = Two digit day of month (01-31)
   hh     = Two digit hour (00-23, no AM/PM designation is used)
   mm   = Two digit minutes (00-59)
   ss     = Two digit seconds (00-59)
   TZD = Time zone designator

Tips & Tricks

Compatibility Tip: Older browsers that do not understand the INS and DEL elements will display all revision content on-screen without regard to their revision state, even the "deleted" content. This could be messy. Recommend using this element only if you can reasonably guarantee that everyone in your audience has a browser supporting these elements.
DTD Note: The current HTML 4.0 DTD lists INS/DEL as content only of the BODY element. In light of its potential use, this seems fairly limiting. I believe these elements should be usable at least as block level elements (such as BLOCKQUOTE.)

Browser Peculiarities

Internet Explorer 4.0 displays deleted content with a strike-through line through the content (as if someone applied S or STRIKE to the same content.)
Internet Explorer 4.0 does not use the CITE or DATETIME attributes. It also does not offer by default any way to control views of a document based on the state of revisions.
INS and DEL can be nested in Internet Explorer 4.0. Because the only visual difference is strike and underline, only simple nesting will have any visual effect. Nesting DEL within DEL, for example, will look no different from a single DEL element occurrence. Nesting INS within DEL however will produce the necessary feedback.

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