The CSS functionality for the body tag operates seamlessly even without the presence of the body tag in the

My style.css file has the following code:

body{
    background-color:pink;
    font-size: 130%;
}

This is the code in my style_placement.html file:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <title>Style Placement</title>
    <link rel='stylesheet' href="style.css"> 

<style>

h2 {color:maroon}

</style>
</head>

<h1>Style Placement header</h1>
<p>This is heading one</p>

<h2>Subheading 1</h2>
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. Ex et similique cupiditate dignissimos delectus nulla dolore, eos dolorum quidem excepturi, facere non repellat accusamus, atque? Id voluptate eos et accusantium.</p>
<h2>Subheading 2</h2>
<p style='text-align:center'></p>

</html>

Although I am not using the body tag in my HTML file, the styling for that tag has been applied. Can someone please help me understand what is happening behind the scenes? Below is a screenshot of how the output appears in a web browser: https://i.sstatic.net/xCOjV.png

Answer №1

The requirement for start and end tags on the body element is explicitly stated as optional in the specification.

These tags can be implied from the surrounding content, with the element being created even if the tags are not present.

According to text/html specifications:

  • If the body element is empty or the first content is not ASCII whitespace or a comment, the start tag can be omitted, except if it's followed by meta, link, script, style, or template elements.
  • The end tag of a body element can be omitted if not immediately followed by a comment.

This has been a consistent rule, as seen in the HTML 4 specifications:

The HTML DTD primarily defines element types and attributes. The <!ELEMENT keyword signifies the beginning of a declaration and the > character marks its end. Specifics included:

  • The element's name.
  • Whether the tags for the element are optional. A double hyphen after the element name indicates mandatory start and end tags. A single hyphen followed by "O" means the end tag can be omitted. Two "O"s indicate the option to omit both start and end tags.
  • The element's content model, if any. Elements with no content are considered empty elements, declared using the "EMPTY" keyword.

and

<!ELEMENT BODY O O (%block;|SCRIPT)+ +(INS|DEL) -- document body -->

Answer №2

The web browser is processing what is known as "dirty" HTML. It is advised not to depend on this, as different browsers may interpret it differently.

For more information, check out this link.

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