HTML xmp tag

Posted in HTML Tutorial

Updated on Oct 30, 2024

By Mari Selvan

👁️ 99 - Views

⏳ 4 mins

💬 1 Comment

Photo Credit to CodeToFun

🙋 Introduction

In the early days of web development, the <xmp> tag was used to display preformatted text without parsing HTML within it. However, with the evolution of HTML standards, this tag has been deprecated.

This guide will walk you through the history, usage, and alternatives to the <xmp> tag.

🤔 What is <xmp> Tag?

The <xmp> tag was an HTML element designed to display text in a fixed-width font, preserving whitespace and ignoring any HTML tags within its content. It was primarily used to show HTML code on web pages.

🚫 Deprecated Status:

The <xmp> tag is deprecated in HTML4 and obsolete in HTML5. This means it should not be used in modern web development as it is not supported by current standards and may not work consistently across browsers.

💡 Syntax

Despite its deprecated status, here is the basic syntax of the <xmp> tag:

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<xmp>
  Your content here, including <tags> and &entities; which will be displayed as-is.
</xmp>

🧰 Attributes

The <xmp> tag does not support any specific attributes beyond the global attributes common to all HTML elements, such as id, class, and style.

📚 Common Use Cases

Displaying HTML Code:

The primary use case for the <xmp> tag was to display HTML code snippets directly on a webpage without rendering the tags.
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```
<xmp>
  <div class="container">
    <p>This is a paragraph inside a div.</p>
  </div>
</xmp>
```

🖥️ Browser Support

Given its deprecated status, the <xmp> tag is not recommended for use in modern web development. However, it may still work in older browsers:

Google Chrome: Not supported.
Mozilla Firefox: Not supported.
Microsoft Edge: Not supported.
Safari: Not supported.
Opera: Not supported.
Internet Explorer: Not supported.

To ensure cross-browser compatibility, it is better to use modern alternatives.

🏆 Best Practices

Avoid Using <xmp>: Due to its deprecated status, refrain from using the <xmp> tag in your projects.
Use Modern Alternatives: Prefer using <pre> and <code> tags for displaying code snippets.
Validate HTML: Always validate your HTML to ensure it adheres to current standards.

🔄 Alternatives

<pre> and <code>:

The combination of <pre> and <code> tags is the recommended modern approach for displaying preformatted code snippets. The <pre> tag preserves whitespace and line breaks, while the <code> tag indicates the content is code.
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```
<pre>
  <code>
    <div class="container">
      <p>This is a paragraph inside a div.</p>
    </div>
  </code>
</pre>
```

<textarea>:

For editable text areas that display raw HTML code, the <textarea> tag can be used.

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<textarea rows="10" cols="50">
  <div class="container">
    <p>This is a paragraph inside a div.</p>
  </div>
</textarea>

🎉 Conclusion

While the <xmp> tag played a role in the early days of HTML, it is now deprecated and should be avoided in favor of modern, standards-compliant tags like <pre> and <code>.

Adopting these alternatives ensures your content is accessible, maintainable, and compatible with contemporary web browsers.