HTML - contenteditable Attribute

HTML contenteditable attribute is a global attribute that specifies whether the content of an element is editable or not.

If contenteditable attribute is not define on any element then it will inherit it from the parent element. Therefore the element is editable if its parent is editable. If the attribute is given without a value, like <label contenteditable> content </label>, its value is treated as an empty string.

Syntax

<element contenteditable = " true | false " >

This attribute accepts binary value either true or false

Applies On

As it's a global attribute so all the elements accept this attribute there are always exception also. For example <p>, <article>, <footer>, <div>, <span>, etc.

Example of HTML contenteditable Attribute

Bellow examples will illustrate the HTML contenteditable attribute, where and how we should use this attribute!

Editable paragraph Element

In the following example we create a paragraph element and set contenteditable="true" on that element, if you click that eliment then you see the text is editable.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
   <title>HTML contenteditable Attribute</title>
</head>
<body>
   <h1>Tutorialspoint</h1>
   <h3>HTML contenteditable Attribute</h3>
   <p contenteditable="true">
      Tutorialspoint: 
      A computer science portal for tutorials,
      article and, CS courses!
   </p>
</body>
</html>

Blockquote & Cite Content Editable

In the following example, let’s see the usage of the content editable attribute in this HTML document as follows.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
    <style>
        blockquote {
            background: #eee;
            border-radius: 5px;
            margin: 16px 0;
            padding: 10px;
        }

        cite {
            margin: 10px 30px;
            font-weight: bold;
            float: right;
        }
    </style>
</head>

<body>
    <blockquote contenteditable="true">
        <p>Write down todays Quote</p>
    </blockquote>
    <cite contenteditable="true">
      Your Name
   </cite>
</body>

</html>

Contenteditable with Empty Value

In the following example, we are creating an HTML document and using the contenteditable attribute and its values, false and empty, as follows

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
    <style>
        blockquote {
            background: #eee;
            border-radius: 5px;
            margin: 16px 0;
            padding: 10px;
        }

        cite {
            margin: 10px 30px;
            font-weight: bold;
            float: right;
        }
    </style>
</head>

<body>
    <blockquote contenteditable>
        <p>Write down todays Quote</p>
    </blockquote>
    <cite contenteditable="false">
      Tutorialspoint
   </cite>
</body>

</html>

Supported Browsers

Attribute
contenteditable	Yes 4.0	Yes 6.0	Yes 3.5	Yes 3.1	Yes 10.1

html_attributes_reference.htm