What are HTML Global Attributes?

HTML global attributes are universal keywords you can add to any HTML5 element to enhance behavior, accessibility, and styling. Unlike element-specific attributes, these work across all HTML5 tags, giving you consistent control over your markup.

Key Uses of HTML Global Attributes

  • Universal enhancement: Apply additional functionality or identifiers to any element, improving structure and maintainability.
  • Consistent styling hooks: Enable precise targeting for CSS rules and inline adjustments without extra markup.
  • Improved accessibility: Enhance screen reader support and keyboard navigation across all elements.
  • Data integration: Pass custom information to scripts for dynamic behavior and rich client-side interactions.
  • Content control: Toggle visibility or editability on the fly, streamlining user interface updates.
  • Custom element support: Extend these benefits to bespoke or web-component tags while maintaining cross-browser rendering.

Alphabetical Reference of Global Attributes in HTML

Following is the complete, alphabetical list of 33 global attributes in HTML, ready for quick reference and efficient implementation.

30+ HTML Global Attributes
Attribute Description
accesskey This global HTML accesskey attribute creates a shortcut key to focus on an element.
aria-* The global HTML aria-* attributes allow us to customize the properties and states of a tag.
autocapitalize This global HTML autocapitalize attribute sets the input automatically capitalize when entered by the user.
autofocus The global HTML autofocus declares the auto focus an element upon loading the page.
class This global HTML class attribute defines one or more classes for an element.
contenteditable The global HTML contenteditable attribute if this attribute is set to "true" for an element, and the content of the element is editable by the user.
contextmenu This global HTML contextmenu attribute defines the ID of a menu element which will serve as the element’s context menu.
data-* The global HTML data-* attribute stores the private data of a page or application.
dir This global HTML dir attribute declares the direction of the text in an element.
draggable The global HTML draggable attribute, if set to "true" for an element, the element is draggable on the screen.
enterkeyhint This global HTML enterkeyhint defines a label or icon when some key is pressed on the virtual keyboard.
exportparts The global HTML exportparts attribute transitively exports shadow parts from a nested shadow tree into a containing light tree.
hidden This global HTML hidden attribute makes an element irrelevant and hides it.
id The global HTML id attribute sets the ID for an HTML element.
inputmode This global HTML inputmode attribute tells the browser about the type of virtual keyboard configuration to use while editing the current element or its content. This is useful with the <input> tag however we can utilize it with every element with a contenteditable attribute.
is The global HTML is attribute enables the specification of a standard HTML element as a custom registered HTML tag.
itemid This global HTML itemid acts as a unique global identifier for an element.
itemprop The global HTML itemprop attribute adds properties to an element.
itemref This global HTML itemref allows us to associate the descendent properties to an element.
itemscope The global HTML itemscope attribute works with itemtype and specifies that the HTML contained inside a block relates to a particular item that it creates.
itemtype This global HTML itemprop attribute is used to specify the URL vocabulary of the itemprops in the data structure and the scope to become active is set by the itemscope attribute.
lang The global HTML lang attribute defines the language of the document.
nonce This global HTML nonce attribute sets a cryptographic nonce that is utilized by Content Security Policy(CSP), to check if the current fetch is allowed to proceed further.
part The global HTML part attribute creates a space-separated list of names of an element which allows CSS language to select and style specific elements in a shadow tree by employing the ::part pseudo-class.
role This global HTML role attribute sets a role for an element while interacting with assistive technologies.
slot The global slot HTML attribute assigns a slot in a shadow DOM shadow tree to an element.
spellcheck This global HTML spellcheck attribute checks the spellings of text inside an element.
style The global HTML style attribute assigns a class to an element.
tabindex This global HTML tabindex attribute sets the tabbing order of an element.
title The global HTML title attribute provides some extra information to the element that pops up upon hovering on the element.
translate This global HTML translate attribute tells the browser whether to translate the content of the element or not.
xml:lang The global HTML xml:lang attribute specifies the language of the text enclosed by an element. It is inherited from the XML language.
xml:base This global HTML xml:base attribute enables redefining the base address used by relative addresses in the child elements. It is also inherited from the XML language.

HTML Event Handler Global Attributes

Event handler attributes in HTML are universal and work with any HTML5 element to trigger scripts on user or browser actions. These 72 event attributes let you run JavaScript when events like clicks, input changes, or page loads occur.

Alphabetical Event Handler Reference

Below is a complete alphabetical list of all 72 global event handler attributes in HTML.

  1. onabort
  2. onabort
  3. onafterprint
  4. onbeforeprint
  5. onbeforeunload
  6. onblur
  7. oncanplay
  8. oncanplaythrough
  9. onchange
  10. onclick
  11. oncontextmenu
  12. oncopy
  13. oncuechange
  14. oncut
  15. ondblclick
  16. ondrag
  17. ondragend
  18. ondragenter
  19. ondragleave
  20. ondragover
  21. ondragstart
  22. ondrop
  23. ondurationchange
  24. onemptied
  25. onended
  26. onerror
  27. onfocus
  28. onhashchange
  29. oninput
  30. oninvalid
  31. onkeydown
  32. onkeypress
  33. onkeyup
  34. onload
  35. onloadeddata
  36. onloadedmetadata
  37. onloadstart
  38. onmousedown
  39. onmousemove
  40. onmouseout
  41. onmouseover
  42. onmouseup
  43. onmousewheel
  44. onoffline
  45. ononline
  46. onpagehide
  47. onpageshow
  48. onpaste
  49. onpause
  50. onplay
  51. onplaying
  52. onpopstate
  53. onprogress
  54. onratechange
  55. onreset
  56. onresize
  57. onscroll
  58. onsearch
  59. onseeked
  60. onseeking
  61. onselect
  62. onshow
  63. onstalled
  64. onstorage
  65. onsubmit
  66. onsuspend
  67. ontimeupdate
  68. ontoggle
  69. onunload
  70. onvolumechange
  71. onwaiting
  72. onwheel

HTML Attributes Reference

For a complete overview of all 270+ HTML attributes, visit the HTML5 attribute reference.