Search code examples
javascripthtmlhttpmeta

http-equiv="content-language" doesn't work (element.lang = "")

console.log("lang = " + document.documentElement.lang);
    <html>
    <head>
        <meta http-equiv="content-language" content="es">
    </head>
    <body></body>
    <html>

Why?

According to specification, If neither the node nor any of the node’s ancestors, including the root element, have either attribute set, but there is a pragma-set default language set, then that is the language of the node.

Solution

  • The specification says:

    This feature is non-conforming. Authors are encouraged to use the lang attribute instead.

    Another note says:

    The Content-Language value for an http-equiv attribute on a meta element should no longer be used.

    As What is the HTML5 alternative to the obsolete meta http-equiv=content-language. suggests, using lang= instead works:

    console.log("lang = " + document.documentElement.lang);
        <html lang="es">

    If your aim is to set the language, that's a better way to do it.