44

I want to associate some custom data with some HTML nodes. I was going to use the new HTML5 style 'data-*' attributes. e.g.: <tr class="foo" data-typeid="7">…, and then I was going to select this HTML node and show/hide it etc. by reading the value with $(node).attr("data-typeid").

However this web page needs to work with older browsers aswell. I'm not using the data-* attribute as a special attribute, but I'd like to know if older browsers will ignore, wipe, or make inaccessible this attribute since it's not valid HTML4.

Improve this question
1

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
54

There isn't really, they're not 100% correct/valid usage in HTML4 of course....but they don't cause problems either, so they're still a great way to solve the "I need an attribute for this" problem.

If it helps, I've used these while supporting IE6 and have had zero issues thus far, and I can't recall a single SO question reporting any either.

Improve this answer
Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

HTML5 was designed to work as far as possible with existing browser behaviour. Data attributes are one of the nice places, like the HTML5 doctype, where that seems to happen without many hiccups.
It seems that you can't use data types with jquery using the XHTML 1.0 Transitional doctype with IE 8 and below.
11

Internet Explorer and Microsoft has added several custom attributes that are not valid HTML4. Browsers don't check the element attributes against a specification, you can name an attribute roryscoolinfo="hello" if you like (though you shouldn't).

The Dojo Toolkit adds its custom dojo* attributes.

It's fine to use data- today, with a HTML5 doctype.

Improve this answer

Comments

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.