index.md

---

title: '<dir>: The Directory element'
slug: Web/HTML/Element/dir
page-type: html-element
status:
  - deprecated
browser-compat: html.elements.dir

---

{{HTMLSidebar}}{{Deprecated_Header}}

The <dir> HTML element is used as a container for a directory of files and/or folders, potentially with styles and icons applied by the {{Glossary("user agent")}}. Do not use this obsolete element; instead, you should use the {{HTMLElement("ul")}} element for lists, including lists of files.

Warning: Do not use this element. Though present in early HTML specifications, it has been deprecated in HTML 4, and has since been removed entirely. No major browsers support this element.

DOM interface

This element implements the {{domxref("HTMLDirectoryElement")}} interface.

Attributes

Like all other HTML elements, this element supports the global attributes.

• compact {{Deprecated_Inline}}

  • : This Boolean attribute hints that the list should be rendered in a compact style. The interpretation of this attribute depends on the user agent and it doesn't work in all browsers.

Specifications

Not part of any current specifications.

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

See also

• Other list-related HTML Elements: {{HTMLElement("ol")}}, {{HTMLElement("ul")}}, {{HTMLElement("li")}}, and {{HTMLElement("menu")}};

• CSS properties that may be specially useful to style the <dir> element:

  • The {{cssxref('list-style')}} property, useful to choose the way the ordinal is displayed.

  • CSS counters, useful to handle complex nested lists.

  • The {{Cssxref('line-height')}} property, useful to simulate the deprecated {{htmlattrxref("compact", "dir")}} attribute.

  • The {{cssxref('margin')}} property, useful to control the indent of the list.