Conveys hidden information about the document to the server and the client.

Members Table

The following table lists the members exposed by the meta object.

Attributes/Properties

Attribute	Property	Description
CHARSET	charset	Sets or retrieves the character set used to encode the object.
	clientHeight	Retrieves the height of the object including padding, but not including margin, border, or scroll bar.
	clientLeft	Retrieves the distance between the offsetLeft property and the true left side of the client area.
	clientTop	Retrieves the distance between the offsetTop property and the true top of the client area.
	clientWidth	Retrieves the width of the object including padding, but not including margin, border, or scroll bar.
	constructor	Returns a reference to the constructor of an object.
CONTENT	content	Sets or retrieves meta-information to associate with httpEquiv or name.
HTTP-EQUIV	httpEquiv	Sets or retrieves information used to bind the META tag's content to an HTTP response header.
	isTextEdit	Retrieves whether a TextRange object can be created using the object.
NAME	name	Sets or retrieves the value specified in the CONTENT attribute of the meta object.
	parentTextEdit	Retrieves the container object in the document hierarchy that can be used to create a TextRange containing the original object.
SCHEME	scheme	Sets or retrieves a scheme to be used in interpreting the value of a property specified for the object.
	scrollHeight	Retrieves the scrolling height of the object.
	scrollLeft	Sets or retrieves the distance between the left edge of the object and the leftmost portion of the content currently visible in the window.
	scrollTop	Sets or retrieves the distance between the top of the object and the topmost portion of the content currently visible in the window.
	scrollWidth	Retrieves the scrolling width of the object.
	sourceIndex	Retrieves the ordinal position of the object, in source order, as the object appears in the document's all collection.
	tagName	Retrieves the tag name of the object.
	url	Sets or retrieves the URL property that will be loaded after the specified time has elapsed.

Methods

Method	Description
contains	Checks whether the given element is contained within the object.
dragDrop	Initiates a drag event.
getAttribute	Retrieves the value of the specified attribute.
removeAttribute	Removes an attribute from an object.
setAttribute	Sets the value of the specified attribute.

Prototypes

Object	Description
HTMLMetaElement Constructor	Defines the properties and methods inherited by objects in the HTMLMetaElement Constructor prototype chain.

Styles

Style attribute	Style property	Description
-ms-background-position-x	backgroundPositionX	Sets or retrieves the x-coordinate of the backgroundPosition property.
-ms-background-position-y	backgroundPositionY	Sets or retrieves the y-coordinate of the backgroundPosition property.
-ms-layout-grid	layoutGrid	Sets or retrieves the composite document grid properties that specify the layout of text characters.
-ms-layout-grid-mode	layoutGridMode	Sets or retrieves whether the text layout grid uses two dimensions.
	pixelBottom	Sets or retrieves the bottom position of the object.
	pixelHeight	Sets or retrieves the height of the object.
	pixelLeft	Sets or retrieves the left position of the object.
	pixelRight	Sets or retrieves the right position of the object.
	pixelTop	Sets or retrieves the top position of the object.
	pixelWidth	Sets or retrieves the width of the object.
	posBottom	Sets or retrieves the bottom position of the object in the units specified by the bottom attribute.
	posHeight	Sets or retrieves the height of the object in the units specified by the height attribute.
	posLeft	Sets or retrieves the left position of the object in the units specified by the left attribute.
	posRight	Sets or retrieves the right position of the object in the units specified by the right attribute.
	posTop	Sets or retrieves the top position of the object in the units specified by the top attribute.
	posWidth	Sets or retrieves the width of the object in the units specified by the width attribute.

Remarks

The META element also embeds document information that some search engines use to index and categorize documents on the World Wide Web.

This element can be used only within the HEAD element.

  Internet Explorer 8 or later. The behavior of the setAttribute method depends on the current document compatibility mode. For more information, see Attribute Differences in Internet Explorer 8

This element is not rendered.

This element does not require a closing tag.

Example

This example disables theming support for the document.

<META HTTP-EQUIV="MSTHEMECOMPATIBLE" CONTENT="no">

Standards Information

This object is defined in HTML 3.2 .

See Also

Defining Document Compatibility, content, httpEquiv