rel-alternate

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Special Combinations

While rel="alternate" does by itself mean that the destination is some alternate representation or version of the current page, it combines in special ways with other rel values and other attributes to provide different more specific meanings, in particular:

With rel stylesheet

Alternate stylesheets

rel="alternate stylesheet" is how you provide an alternate stylesheet for the document. Note that the stylesheet is not an alternate representation of the current page.

With hreflang

Alternate language versions

When used in combination with the hreflang attribute (with a value other than that of the document itself), rel="alternate" means a link to a version of the current document, but in the language indicated by the hreflang attribute.

Example from http://gmpg.org/xfn/creator :

<link href="creator-fr" rel="alternate" hreflang="fr" title="Cr&eacute;ateur XFN 1.1" />

See also: Google Webmaster Tools Help: rel="alternate" hreflang="x" and hreflang

With media

Alternate devices and media

When used in combination with the media attribute, rel="alternate" means a link to a version of the current document, especially for the specified device or medium indicated by the media attribute.

For example, this is one possible way of linking to a site's mobile version:

<a href="http://m.twitter.com" rel="alternate" media="handheld">Twitter mobile site</a>

With type

Page Feed

When used in combination with the type attribute (with a value other than that of the document itself; e.g. other than "text/html"), rel="alternate" means a link to a representation of the contents of the current document in a different format, as designated by the type attribute.

Examples:

<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" href=".rss"
      title="RSS feed for this page"/>
<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" href=".atom"
      title="Atom feed for this page"/>
<link rel="alternate" type="application/activitystream+json" href=".as"
      title="Activity Streams JSON feed for this page"/>

With type and rel home

Site Feed

Main article: rel-home#use_with_rel-alternate

Proposed: When used in combination with the type attribute (with a value other than that of the document itself, e.g. other than "text/html"), rel="alternate home" means a link to a representation of the contents of the site (the home page for the current page) in a different format, as designated by the type attribute.

Examples:

<link rel="alternate home" type="application/rss+xml" href=".rss"
      title="RSS feed for this site"/>
<link rel="alternate home" type="application/atom+xml" href=".atom"
      title="Atom feed for this site"/>
<link rel="alternate home" type="application/activitystream+json" href=".as"
      title="Activity Streams JSON feed for this site"/>

See Also

• existing-rel-values
• rel-faq
• rel-home, in particular rel-home with rel-alternate proposal