The blockquote element is intended to set off a long quote inside a document. Traditionally, the blockquote element has been rendered as an indented block, with wider left and right margins (about 40 pixels each), plus some extra whitespace above and below the block. Browsers will likely continue this type of rendering, although you are encouraged to use style sheets to create such displays (with or without the blockquote element). For inline quotations, see the q element.

A URL pointing to an online source document from which the quotation is taken. This is not in any way a mechanism for copying or extracting content from another document. Presumably, this HTML 4 recommendation is to encourage future browsers and search engines to utilize a reference to online source material for the benefit of readers and surfers. The Properties choice for Netscape 6's context menu for this element displays a small window that includes an active link to the URL assigned to the attribute. Version 6 browsers provide no other functionality for this attribute.

The language being used for the element's attribute values and content. A browser can use this information to assist in proper rendering of content with respect to details such as treatment of ligatures (when supported by a particular font or required by a written language), quotation marks, and hyphenation. Other applications and search engines might use this information to aid the selection of spell-checking dictionaries and the creation of indices.