BLOCKQUOTE - Block Quotation

The BLOCKQUOTE element defines a block quotation. Unlike inline quotations, block quotations may contain block-level elements such as P and TABLE, but BLOCKQUOTE may not be contained within a paragraph or inline element.

The optional CITE attribute of BLOCKQUOTE provides the URI of the source of the quotation. This attribute, not widely supported among browsers, allows readers to verify the authenticity of the quotation and also find related information.

The content of the BLOCKQUOTE element should be contained within other block-level elements, typically P. The following example features a quotation that includes multiple paragraphs and its own block quotation:

<BLOCKQUOTE CITE="http://www.bibliomania.com/Fiction/joyce/ulysses/telemac.html">
<P>He pointed his finger in friendly jest and went over to the parapet, laughing to himself. Stephen Dedalus stepped up, followed him wearily half way and sat down on the edge of the gunrest, watching him still as he propped his mirror on the parapet, dipped the brush in the bowl and lathered cheeks and neck.</P>
<P>Buck Mulligan's gay voice went on.</P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><P>My name is absurd too: Malachi Mulligan, two dactyls. But it has a Hellenic ring, hasn't it? Tripping and sunny like the buck himself. We must go to Athens. Will you come if I can get the aunt to fork out twenty quid?</P></BLOCKQUOTE>
</BLOCKQUOTE>

Authors should not use BLOCKQUOTE for unquoted material just to achieve a block indentation in common visual browsers. With the rise of style sheets, such misuse of BLOCKQUOTE will become less reliable while also reducing the author's ability to fully exploit the power of style sheets. Cascading Style Sheets provide the margin-left property to indent a block.

More Information

• BLOCKQUOTE in W3C HTML 4.0 Recommendation
• BLOCKQUOTE in W3C HTML 3.2 Recommendation
• BLOCKQUOTE in HTML 2.0 Standard
• BLOCKQUOTE in WDG HTML 3.2 Reference
• BLOCKQUOTE in Learning HTML 3.2 by Examples

Copyright © 1998 by Liam Quinn. This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, v1.0 or later (the latest version is presently available at http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/).