onload Attribute

Where to use the onload Attribute

• As Type Script:
  onload is declared on the element: body

Description

The onload attribute may be used on the body element to specify script to be executed immediately after the page has been fully loaded. For example, it is necessary to wait until the page has fully loaded before using the DOM so any script which does this should be triggered by an onload handler.

See also the onunload and defer attributes.

If you use this attribute (or any attributes of Type Script) the MIME type of the scripting language used should always be provided in a Content-Script-Type HTTP header.

It is good practice not to use these attributes, however, and instead to include external scripts (via script elements) which add any handlers unobtrusively. This makes code more self-contained and also the XHTML is easier to maintain if it doesn't contain any events attributes.