The <del> Element
As defined in the HTML Living Standard, the <del> element represents a range of text that has been deleted from a document. This is useful for tracking changes or showing corrections in text.
The project deadline was Friday, April 10th and is now Monday, April 13th.
<p>
The meeting is at <del datetime="2026-05-01T10:00">10:00 AM</del> 11:00 AM.
</p>
View HTML Living Standard: The del element
Attributes for Editing
cite: A URL that explains the change (e.g., a link to a bug report or meeting notes).datetime: A valid date string with an optional time, indicating when the deletion occurred. This is crucial for machine-readable audit trails.
WCAG Requirement: Info and Relationships
Success Criterion 1.3.1 (Level A): Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through presentation can be programmatically determined.
Warning: Most screen readers do not announce the presence of <del> or <ins> by default. Sighted users see the strike-through, but users of assistive technology may hear the old and new text read together as a single, confusing sentence.
Solution: To ensure accessibility, provide a text-based indication of the change (e.g., "Deleted: [text]") or use ARIA roles to notify the user of the edit.
Understand SC 1.3.1: Info and RelationshipsVisual Presentation
Browsers render deleted text with a strike-through effect (text-decoration: line-through) by default. Following SMACSS Module Rules, you may want to enhance this with background colors or tooltips that leverage the datetime or cite attributes.
del {
text-decoration: line-through;
background-color: #fdd; /* Light red for clearer visual impact */
}