META

Meta

<META NAME=XXX CONTENT=XXX> </META>

The META command is used to give meta-related information about your document, but can also be used to give specific headers for the document. You can use either HTTP-EQUIV or NAME to name the meta-information, and CONTENT must be used in either case. When using HTTP-EQUIV, a server will use the name given as a header, with the specified CONTENT as the value.

Example:

In the above the first string gives the date that the document will expire, the second gives keywords for the document, and the third has the e-mail address of the creator of the document.

The server will then give the following when the document is requested:

Expires: Fri, 10 July 1998 15:45:02 GMT
Keywords: HTML, Java, CGI
Reply-to: pr0teus@juno.com

There are several other uses for this command, some of them follow:

<META NAME="generator" CONTENT="Program name">
This one gives the Editor that was used to create the page.

<META NAME="author" CONTENT="Me">
This tells the name of the author.

<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="keyword keyword keyword">
This one gives keywords for search engines to use. These are added to the keywords found in the document itself. Be careful, though, if you use the same word more than 7 times the tag will be ignored.

<META NAME="description" CONTENT="This page contains ........">
Search engines use this text when describing your sites.

<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" CONTENT="x; URL=http://whatever.com/">
This is called a meta refresh. When you use it the specified document is loaded after x seconds. If you use a value of zero seconds, the user can't use the "BACK" button of his browser anymore.

<META HTTP-EQUIV="expires" CONTENT="Tue, 1 Aug 2012 1:00:00 GMT">
This tells when the document will expire. If the document is requested after this date, the browser will load a new copy from the server, instead of using the copy in its cache.