---
title: "Element <description>"
source: https://dev.pageseeder.com/psml/elements/element-description.html
description: "PSML Element reference for <description>"
last_updated: 2026-08-07T17:09:54+10:00
tokens: ~266
---

# \<description\>

## Summary

The `<description>` element is used to provide a short text-only description.

## Usage context

| Element category | metadata |
| --- | --- |
| PSML level | metadata |
| Permitted content | text |
| Permitted parent | `<uri>`, `<version>`, `<compareto>` |
| HTML equivalent | `<meta name="description">` |
| OpenXML equivalent |  |

## Attributes

This element does not have any attributes.

## Examples

Description of a document inside a `<uri>` element.

```lang-xml

<uri title="Alice in Wonderland" ... >
  <displaytitle>Alice in Wonderland</displaytitle>
  <description>Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel
    written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the
    pseudonym Lewis Carroll.
  </description>
</uri>
```

## Schema

### XML Schema

```lang-xml

<xs:element name="description" type="xs:string"/>
```

### Relax Schema

```lang-relax

element description {
  text
}
```

## Compatibility

This element was introduced in the first draft of PSML and is well-supported from PageSeeder 5.1.