Edits [Robin’s HTML 4.0 Conformance Test]

Changes

The <ins> and <del> elements mark insertions and deletions, to track changes between versions of a document.

XHTML 2.0: The W3C is considering replacing <ins> and <del> in XHTML 2.0 with a common edit attribute, which can also mark changed and moved content. The edit attribute is better designed to fulfill the needs of revision tracking than <ins> and <del>, which seem like ill‐considered semantic replacements for the deprecated  and <s> elements.

Example:

Neil Armstrong, taking the first human step on the moon, said, <q>That’s one small step for <del>Man</del><ins>a man</ins>, one giant leap for mankind.</q>

Your Web browser renders it like this:

Neil Armstrong, taking the first human step on the moon, said, That’s one small step for ~~Man~~a man, one giant leap for mankind.

Example:

<blockquote title="The Galaxy Song">

Just remember that you’re standing on a planet that’s evolving,
 revolving at <del>900</del><ins>1,000</ins> miles an hour,
 It’s orbiting at <del>19</del><ins>18</ins> miles a second, so it’s reckoned,
 a sun that is the source of all our power.
 The sun and you and me, and all the stars that we can see,
 are moving <del>at a</del><ins>13</ins> million miles a day,
 In an outer spiral arm, at <del>40,000</del><ins title="540,000">half a million</ins> miles an hour,
 of the galaxy we call the Milky Way.

Our galaxy itself contains <del>100</del><ins>400</ins> billion stars,
 it’s 100,000 light-years side-to-side,
 It bulges in the middle, <del>16</del><ins>15</ins>,000 light-years thick,
 but out by us it’ just 3,000 light-years wide.
 We’re 30,000 light-years from galactic central point,
 we go round every <del>200</del><ins>one quarter</ins> million years,
 And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
 in this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding,
 in all of the directions it can whiz,
 As fast as it can go, the speed of light you know,
 <del>12 million miles a minute</del><ins title="186,000">one eight six thousand miles a second</ins>, and that’s the fastest speed there is.
 So remember, when you’re feeling very small and insecure,
 how amazingly unlikely is your birth,
 And pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space,
 ’cause there’s bugger all down here on Earth.

</blockquote>

Your Web browser renders it like this:

Just remember that you’re standing on a planet that’s evolving,
revolving at ~~900~~1,000 miles an hour,
It’s orbiting at 1918 miles a second, so it’s reckoned,
a sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me, and all the stars that we can see,
are moving ~~at a~~13 million miles a day,
In an outer spiral arm, at ~~40,000~~half a million miles an hour,
of the galaxy we call the Milky Way.

Our galaxy itself contains ~~100~~400 billion stars,
it’s 100,000 light-years side-to-side,
It bulges in the middle, 1615,000 light-years thick,
but out by us it’s just 3,000 light-years wide.
We’re 30,000 light-years from galactic central point,
we go round every ~~200~~one quarter million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
in this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding,
in all of the directions it can whiz,
As fast as it can go, the speed of light you know,
~~12 million miles a minute~~one eight six thousand miles a second, and that’s the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you’re feeling very small and insecure,
how amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space,
’cause there’s bugger all down here on Earth.

Date and time

The datetime attribute specifies the date of the revision.

Example:

As of <del datetime="2024-04-18T08:00:00">18 December 1998</del><ins datetime="2024-04-18T08:00:00">18 April 2024</ins>, no Web browser fully supports the <del datetime="2024-04-18T08:00:00">one</del><ins datetime="2024-04-18T08:00:00">many</ins> year old standard.

Your Web browser renders it like this:

As of ~~18 December 1998~~18 April 2024, no Web browser fully supports the ~~one~~many year old standard.

Related Mozilla bug reports: Metadata.

Explanatory links

<ins> and <del> can also mark revisions to blocks of mark up.

The cite attribute provides a link to more information about a revision.

Example:

This revision links to “Why ‘click here’ is bad linking practice” as a reason for the change:

<del cite="http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/www/click.html"><a href="http://www.lungusa.org/diseases/lungpneumoni.html">Click here</a> for more information about pneumonia.</del>
<ins cite="http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/www/click.html">The American Lung Association has <a href="http://www.lungusa.org/diseases/lungpneumoni.html">more information about pneumonia</a>.</ins>

Your Web browser renders it like this:

~~Click here for more information about pneumonia.~~

The American Lung Association has more information about pneumonia.

Related Mozilla bug reports: Del-Only-Inline, Metadata.

Edits (§9.4)

Changes

Example:

Your Web browser renders it like this:

Example:

Your Web browser renders it like this:

Date and time

Example:

Your Web browser renders it like this:

Explanatory links

Example:

This revision links to “Why ‘click here’ is bad linking practice” as a reason for the change:

Your Web browser renders it like this:

Your Browser