If you use the nobr element to define content that should have no word-wrapping or line breaks, you can use the wbr element to advise the browser that it can break up the content if the width of the browser window requires it. The locations of these provisional breaks are marked in the source code with the wbr element. In a sense, the nobr and wbr elements give the author control over word-wrapping of running content. Neither element is included in the HTML specification, but they have long been a part of both browsers' HTML vocabulary.

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.