HTML Citation Generator

Build a <cite> snippet with a live preview and copy the HTML.

The Art of Computer Programming
HTML
<cite>The Art of Computer Programming</cite>

Free Online HTML Citation Generator

The <cite> element represents the title of a creative work being referenced — a book, song, film, paper, or similar. This generator builds a ready-to-paste <cite> snippet: type your text, adjust the attributes below, and copy the live-updating HTML. The preview on the right renders the exact markup you copy, so you can confirm it looks right before pasting it into your page.

Attributes you can set

  • Text — the content placed between the opening and closing <cite> tags. Special characters (<, >, &, ") are escaped automatically so the output is always valid HTML.

When to use <cite>

Reach for <cite> for citing the title of a book, article, or other work inside running text, usually rendered italic. Using the correct semantic tag (instead of styling plain text with CSS) matters for accessibility: screen readers can announce the element differently, and search engines use it to understand the structure of your content.

If <cite> isn't quite what you need, consider <q> and <blockquote>, which hold the quoted text itself rather than the work's title. Mixing semantic tags correctly keeps your HTML meaningful instead of just visually styled, which helps both accessibility tools and SEO.

Browser support

<cite> is part of the HTML5 specification and is supported by every modern browser without any JavaScript or polyfill. The generated snippet works as-is in any HTML document.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. The output is plain HTML — paste it directly into any page and it renders the same without any script.

Yes. <cite> has been part of the HTML specification for years and is supported by every modern desktop and mobile browser.

Yes. Target it with a class or the tag selector itself (e.g. "cite { color: red; }") to change its default appearance while keeping the semantic meaning.