Quotations, Code and Dates

What Is It?

Some text needs a special label: a quotation, a book title, a keyboard key, or a date.

What the Tags Mean

• blockquote: a longer quotation.
• q: a short quotation.
• cite: the title of a work.
• code: computer code.
• kbd: keyboard input.
• time: a date or time.
• abbr: an abbreviation.
• address: contact information.

Example 1

Save each example as index.html and open it in your browser. Each code block is a complete page.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  <title>Quotations, Code and Dates</title>
 
</head>
<body>
<blockquote>
  <p>Keep practising a little every day.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Reading: <cite>My HTML Notes</cite></p>
</body>
</html>

What you see: The quotation is usually indented. The work title is usually italic.

Example 2: Another Use

Use kbd for keys and time for a readable date with a machine-readable value.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
  <title>Quotations, Code and Dates</title>
 
</head>
<body>
<p>Press <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> + <kbd>S</kbd> to save.</p>
<p>Class: <time datetime="2026-11-01">1 November 2026</time></p>
</body>
</html>

Simple Tip

The datetime value uses year-month-day even when the visible date uses words.

Try It Yourself

Write a class date using time.