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  1. References
  2. HTML
  3. Reference
  4. Elements
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In this article

  • Try it
  • Attributes
  • Usage notes
  • Examples
  • Technical summary
  • Specifications
  • Browser compatibility
  • See also
  1. HTML
  2. Guides
  3. Content categories
  4. Comments
  5. Date and time formats
  6. Constraint validation
  7. Viewport meta element
  8. Responsive images
  9. Microdata
  10. Microformats
  11. Quirks and standards modes
  12. HTML cheatsheet
  13. How to
  14. Define terms with HTML
  15. Use data attributes
  16. Use cross-origin images
  17. Add a hitmap on top of an image
  18. Author fast-loading HTML pages
  19. Add JavaScript
  20. Reference
  21. Elements
    1. Deprecated
    2. Deprecated

    3. Deprecated
    4. Deprecated
    5. Experimental
    6. Deprecated
    7. Deprecated
    8. Deprecated

After

html

Heading

Bunch of awesome content

Result

Using a section without a heading

Circumstances where you might see

used without a heading are typically found in web application/UI sections rather than in traditional document structures. In a document, it doesn't really make any sense to have a separate section of content without a heading to describe its contents. Such headings are useful for all readers, but particularly useful for users of assistive technologies like screen readers, and they are also good for SEO.

Consider however a secondary navigation mechanism. If the global navigation is already wrapped in a

element, you could conceivably wrap a previous/next menu in a
:

html
Previous article Next article

Or what about some kind of button bar for controlling your app? This might not necessarily want a heading, but it is still a distinct section of the document:

html

Result

Depending on the content, including a heading could also be good for SEO, so it is an option to consider.

Technical summary

Content categories Flow content, Sectioning content, palpable content.
Permitted content Flow content.
Tag omission None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory.
Permitted parents Any element that accepts flow content. Note that a
element must not be a descendant of an
element.
Implicit ARIA role region if the element has an accessible name, otherwise generic
Permitted ARIA roles alert, alertdialog, application, banner, complementary, contentinfo, dialog, document, feed, log, main, marquee, navigation, none, note, presentation, search, status, tabpanel
DOM interface HTMLElement

Specifications

Specification
HTML
# the-section-element

Browser compatibility

See also

  • Other section-related elements: ,
    ,
    ,
    , h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6,
    ,
    ,
    ,
  • Using HTML sections and outlines
  • ARIA: Region role
  • Why You Should Choose HTML5 article Over section, by Bruce Lawson

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