HTML <hgroup> Tag

The <hgroup> tag is used to group HTML Headings. We use <hgroup> to wrap one or more heading elements from <h1> - <h6>.

The <hgroup> tag allows to group the primary heading with secondary headings forming a multi-level heading. It prevents any secondary <h1> - <h6> children from creating their separate sections.

In the abstract outline <hgroup> forms one logical heading, with an overall set of <h1> - <h6> children which go into the outline as one multi-level unit. An <hgroup> element can be shown in a rendered outline in many ways:

  • It can be shown with a colon character and space or other punctuation after the primary heading and before the first secondary heading.
  • It can be shown with the primary heading, which is followed by secondary headings in parentheses.

The <hgroup> is not supported in HTML5, but it's supported in WHATWG Living Standard specification. The future of the element isn’t yet clear, that’s why it is better to avoid using this tag.

Syntax

The <hgroup> tag comes in pairs. However, the closing tag isn’t required.

Example of the HTML <hgroup> tag:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <hgroup>
      <h1>Welcome to W3Docs</h1>
      <h2>Here you can learn HTML Bases.</h2>
    </hgroup>
  </body>
</html>

Result

hgroup tag example

Example of the HTML <hgroup> tag used with CSS properties:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title of the document</title>
    <style>
      hgroup {
        text-align: right;
        font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
        padding-right: 30px;
        border-right: 15px solid #42c73a;
      }
      h1 {
        font-size: 30px;
      }
      h2 {
        font-size: 20px;
      }
      p {
        font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
        font-size: 16px;
        line-height: 1.5;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <hgroup>
      <h1>Welcome to W3Docs</h1>
      <h2>Learn online</h2>
    </hgroup>
    <p>
      Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
    </p>
  </body>
</html>

Attributes

The <hgroup> tag supports the Global Attributes.

How to style <hgroup> tag?

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

Browser support

chrome firefox safari opera
5+ 4+ 4.1+ 11.1+

Practice Your Knowledge

What is the primary purpose of the HTML <hgroup> tag?

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