The small element renders its content in a relative size one level smaller than the text preceding the element. Given the font element's way of specifying sizes in a range of 1 through 7, the small element displays its content one size smaller than the text that comes before it. This attribute is the same as specifying <FONT size=-1>.

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.