Blockquote is for a longer quotation that stands apart from surrounding prose. It can contain paragraphs and other suitable elements.
What You Need to Know
When attribution is useful, place it in nearby text or a figure caption. Do not expect blockquote to create a source citation automatically.
Cite is used for the title of a creative work, not the author of a quote.
Example: See It in Action
Add this example to the appropriate part of a practice HTML page. Read each line before you open the page in your browser.
This is a short HTML fragment. To try it as a webpage, put it inside the body element of a complete HTML document.
<blockquote>
<p>Every great project begins with a small idea.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Longer quotations stand apart from surrounding text.</p>Let’s Understand the Example
- Blockquote marks a longer quotation separated from surrounding text.
- A p groups a paragraph of related text. Start another paragraph for a new thought.
Look for the text “Every great project begins with a small idea.” in the page. If the visible result surprises you, inspect the rendered elements to see what the browser actually built.
What Should You See?
The page should include “Every great project begins with a small idea.”. If it looks different from what you expected, open developer tools and compare the source with the elements the browser created.
Try removing one piece of markup in a scratch copy, refresh the page, and compare the behavior. This is often the fastest way to understand what that piece contributes.
Try It Yourself
- Add a clear attribution after the quoted passage.
- Save your changes, open or refresh the page, and compare the result with the original example.
- Tell a friend what your change did. If you are not sure, undo it, refresh the page, and compare.
Common Beginner Mistakes
- Using blockquote only as a way to indent any ordinary paragraph.
- Avoid picking tags just for their default bold, italic or spaced appearance. Use CSS for presentation.
Key Takeaways
- Blockquote is for a longer quotation that stands apart from surrounding prose.
- Blockquote marks a longer quotation separated from surrounding text.
- Cite is used for the title of a creative work, not the author of a quote.