HTML support in Opera
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Top level elements
| Tag | Element | Opera 5 | Opera 3 | Comments |
| html |
Document root |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| head |
Document head |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| body |
Document body |
Yes |
Yes |
By default, the body element is set with 8px padding, not margin like other browsers |
| frameset |
Document frameset |
Yes |
Yes |
Element can be disabled by user |
Head elements
| Tag | Element | Opera 5 | Opera 3 | Comments |
| title |
Document title |
Yes |
No |
Appears on the menu in Opera 5 and may be displayed within the web page via CSS. Opera 3.62 users can only view the document title by viewing the history list in the Address bar. |
| meta |
Related data |
Yes |
Yes |
Only the meta-refresh is recognised by Opera |
| link |
Related document |
Yes |
Yes |
Opera only uses the link element to link to external stylesheets |
| style |
Styling data |
Yes |
Yes |
The only styling language supported is CSS |
| script |
Client scripting |
Yes |
Yes |
Opera only supports ECMAscript, the standardised form of Javascript, not VBS or any other client-side scripting language. |
| noscript |
Alternate content |
Yes |
Yes |
May be renderd at the end of the document in Opera 3.62 |
| base |
Hyperlink base URI |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| isindex |
Input |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| comment |
Markup comments |
No |
No |
The more standard <!-- --> method works |
Frame elements
| Tag | Element | Opera 5 | Opera 3 | Comments |
| frameset |
Document frameset |
Yes |
Yes |
Frame windows cannot be re-sized by the user in Opera 5, though they can in Opera 3.62 (if the border is wide enough to click on). |
| frame |
Individual frame |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| noframes |
Alternate content |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Block elements
| Tag | Element | Opera 5 | Opera 3 | Comments |
| layer |
Document layer |
No |
No |
Proprietary nonsense used by Netscape 4 only. |
| nolayer |
Alternate content |
Yes |
Yes |
This content will be viewed by all other browsers (Including Netscape 6) |
| xml |
Embedded XML |
Yes |
No |
Used to include XML markup (for parsing by the browser) within normal HTML documents. |
| h1-h6 |
Headings |
Yes |
Yes |
Heading levels 1 – 6 supported |
| ruby |
Ruby content |
No |
No |
|
| rt |
Ruby text |
No |
No |
|
| div |
Generic divider |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| center |
Alignment |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| p |
Paragraph |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| pre |
Pre formatted |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| xmp |
Example |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| listing |
Non parsed markup |
No |
No |
|
| plaintext |
Pre formatted |
No |
No |
|
| blockquote |
Long quotation |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| marquee |
Scroller |
No |
No |
Proprietary MSIE scrolling effect, unsupported by all other browsers |
| address |
Address |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| ins |
Inserted text |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| del |
Deleted text |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| isindex |
Input |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| hr |
Horizontal rule |
Yes |
Yes |
Controlled via CSS using border properties. |
| multicol |
Column text |
No |
No |
Proprietary Netscape 4 element. Standardised column support is planned for CSS3. |
| spacer |
Element spacing |
No |
No |
|
Table elements
| Tag | Element | Opera 5 | Opera 3 | Comments |
| table |
Table |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| caption |
Table caption |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| thead |
Table header |
No |
No |
|
| tbody |
Table body |
No |
No |
|
| tfoot |
Table footer |
No |
No |
|
| colgroup |
Column group |
No |
No |
|
| col |
Table column |
No |
No |
|
| tr |
Table row |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| th |
Heading cell |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| td |
Data cell |
Yes |
Yes |
|
List elements
| Tag | Element | Opera 5 | Opera 3 | Comments |
| dir |
Directory list |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| menu |
Menu list |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| dl |
Definition list |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| ol |
Ordered list |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| ul |
Unordered list |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| dt |
Term |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| dd |
Description |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| li |
List item |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Form elements
| Tag | Element | Opera 5 | Opera 3 | Comments |
| form |
Form |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| fieldset |
Control group |
Yes |
No |
|
| legend |
Control caption |
Yes |
No |
|
| label |
Field label |
Yes |
No |
|
| input |
Input field |
Yes |
Yes |
Supported types are: text, radio, checkbox, submit, image, reset and button. Elements are not themselves affected by CSS however an additional border may be applied. |
| textarea |
Multi-line text field |
Yes |
Yes |
The <textarea> element isn't strictly a form element so it may be used outside of <form>...</form> |
| select |
Select list |
Yes |
Yes |
To select multiple options the user must scroll the list using the arrow keys and Ctrl+screen-click on each option. Using the pointer or Shift+arrow will only select adjacent options. |
| optgroup |
Option group |
No |
No |
|
| option |
Select option |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| button |
Generic button |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Inline elements
| Tag | Element | Opera 5 | Opera 3 | Comments |
| object |
Embedded object |
Yes |
No |
|
| param |
Object parameter |
Yes |
No |
|
| iframe |
Inline frame |
Yes |
No |
|
| ilayer |
Inline layer |
No |
No |
Proprietary element only supported by Netscape 4. |
| applet |
Embedded Java |
Yes |
Yes |
Java can be enabled via user preferences even when the JVM is not installed causing ECMAscript (Javascript) to wrongly identify Java as True. |
| embed |
Embedded object |
Yes |
Yes |
Non-standard element from Netscape to include files for plugins. The element has been adopted by some other browsers to allow use of Netscape plugins. |
| noembed |
Alternate content |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| img |
Inline image |
Yes |
Yes |
If image width is set via CSS, Opera 3.62 (only) turns it into a block element, forcing a line break. There is no workaround for this. |
| a |
Link anchor |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| map |
Image map |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| area |
Image map link area |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| script |
Client scripting |
Yes |
Yes |
Opera only supports ECMAscript, the standardised form of Javascript, not VBS or any other client-side scripting language. |
| noscript |
Alternate content |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| bdo |
BiDi control |
Yes |
Yes |
Bi-directional override |
| br |
Line break |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| nobr |
Prevent line break |
No |
No |
|
| wbr |
Suggested like break |
No |
No |
|
| bgsound |
Background sound |
Yes |
Yes |
The audio capabilities of early Symbian devices does not allow standard sound files to be played from other applications. |
Inline phrase elements
| Tag | Element | Opera 5 | Opera 3 | Comments |
| span |
Generic spanning |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| em |
Emphasis |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| strong |
Strong emphasis |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| abbr |
Abbreviation |
Yes |
No |
|
| acronym |
Acronym |
Yes |
No |
|
| q |
Short quotation |
Yes |
No |
|
| dfn |
Definition |
Yes |
No |
|
| samp |
Sample output |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| kbd |
Keyboard input |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| code |
Example code |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| var |
Variable |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| cite |
Citation |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| ins |
Inserted text |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| del |
Deleted text |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Style elements
| Tag | Element | Opera 5 | Opera 3 | Comments |
| basefont |
Font properties |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| font |
Font change |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| b |
Bold |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| i |
Italic |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| u |
Underline |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| s |
Strike out |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| strike |
Strike out |
Yes |
Yes |
Original tag, before being shortened to <s> |
| big |
Big font |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| small |
Small font |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| sup |
Superscript |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| sub |
Subscript |
Yes |
Yes |
|
| tt |
Teletype |
Yes |
Yes |
Is not rendered in a monospace font in Opera 5. The workaround is to use CSS and set a monospace font with the tt descriptor. |
| blink |
Blinking text |
No |
No |
Proprietary Netscape 4 element not used by any other browser, including Netscape 6 |
Doctypes and Opera 5
Note that Opera 5 does not itself infer anything from a DOCTYPE declaration, which is required in all HTML documents, nor does it process external DTDs for HTML. Unlike some other modern browsers, Opera currently has no use for a Quirk-mode
since it has always rendered pages closer to the HTML and CSS specifications.