<html>
The root element of every HTML document; all other elements descend from it.
Baseline: Widely available · Document structure
When to use it
Exactly once per document, carrying lang and dir so assistive technology and search engines know the document's language and direction.
When not to
Never omit lang — screen readers will guess the pronunciation engine and often guess wrong.
Key attributes
lang- BCP 47 language tag (e.g. en, pt-BR)
dir- ltr, rtl, or auto
Example
<html lang='en' dir='ltr'>…</html>