HTML <dir> Tag

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The <dir> tag is used to define a list of directory titles. The items inside the list are defined using the <li> tag (as with HTML lists that are defined using <ol> and <ul> tags). The list of directory titles is marked with bullets by default.

The <dir> is a deprecated HTML tag and not supported in HTML5. Use the <ul> tag and CSS list-style property instead (see examples below).

Syntax

The <dir> tag comes in pairs. The content is written between the opening (<dir>) and closing (</dir>) tags.

Example of the HTML <dir> tag:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <dir>
      <li>HTML Tutorial</li>
      <li>CSS Tutorial</li>
      <li>PHP Tutorial</li>
    </dir>
  </body>
</html>

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Result

Example of the CSS list-style property:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <head>
      <style>
        ul{ 
          list-style: disc; 
        }
      </style>
    </head>
    <ul>
      <li>HTML Tutorial</li>
      <li>CSS Tutorial</li>
      <li>PHP Tutorial</li>
    </ul>
  </body>
</html>

Try it Yourself »

Attributes

Attribute	Value	Description
compact	compact	Specifies that the list should render smaller than normal. Not supported in HTML5.

The <dir> tag also supports the Global Attributes and the Event Attributes.

How to style <dir> tag?

Common properties to alter the visual weight/emphasis/size of text in <dir> tag:

CSS font-style property sets the style of the font. normal | italic | oblique | initial | inherit.
CSS font-family property specifies a prioritized list of one or more font family names and/or generic family names for the selected element.
CSS font-size property sets the size of the font.
CSS font-weight property defines whether the font should be bold or thick.
CSS text-transform property controls text case and capitalization.
CSS text-decoration property specifies the decoration added to text, and is a shorthand property for text-decoration-line, text-decoration-color, text-decoration-style.

Coloring text in <dir> tag:

CSS color property describes the color of the text content and text decorations.
CSS background-color property sets the background color of an element.

Text layout styles for <dir> tag:

CSS text-indent property specifies the indentation of the first line in a text block.
CSS text-overflow property specifies how overflowed content that is not displayed should be signalled to the user.
CSS white-space property specifies how white-space inside an element is handled.
CSS word-break property specifies where the lines should be broken.

Other properties worth looking at for <dir> tag:

CSS text-shadow property adds shadow to text.
CSS text-align-last property sets the alignment of the last line of the text.
CSS line-height property specifies the height of a line.
CSS letter-spacing property defines the spaces between letters/characters in a text.
CSS word-spacing property sets the spacing between words.