Chapter 1 -- Understanding the HTML Reference
Section
Chapter 1
Understanding the HTML Reference
Section
CONTENTS
About HTML Extensions
About the HTML Reference Chapter
In this section, you'll find an entry for every accepted element
or "tag"(and entries for tags that are anticipated to
be accepted) in the various HTML standards/extensions in use.
Turn to Part I of this book to find out more about categories,
compliance, and so on.
The HTML elements in this section are in alphanumeric sort, as
you would expect to find in an encyclopedia. If a tag manipulates
the visual presentation of a browser, a figure is provided to
help illustrate the effect caused by the use of that tag.
Every effort has been made to build the most comprehensive and
up-to-date reference of the HyperText Markup Language in encyclopedic
format. Note that there are several related conventions that are
not part of the HTML standard but that can be called up or manipulated
from an HTML document. Many of the most advanced math elements
and server-side includes, for example, are not part of the HTML
standards now in development. The scope of this book is constrained
to HTML standards observed by browsers offered by Netscape, Microsoft,
and Mosaic and the HTML 2/HTML 3.2 standards.
New tags will be added to this book as they are recognized, adopted,
and implemented in products such as Netscape Navigator, Internet
Explorer, and Mosaic or as they're included in subsequent HTML
standards.
Every effort has been made to document every HTML tag you may
run across. While individual attributes may not be represented
by specific entries (as do all tags), a few tag/attribute combinations
merit a specific entry and have been granted one.
Most HTML tags fall into families or functional categories. Tag
categories are being developed by standards and proposal groups
in the hopes of organizing individual tag development and standard
enhancement efforts into clearly defined areas for the focus of
more specific groups of practitioners.
The categories defined in this section of the book coincide with
the HTML 2 and HTML 3.2 specification categories with some minor
modifications. The HTML 2 and HTML 3.2 specifications are thoroughly
supported by Netscape and Microsoft. In addition, both companies
have introduced their own enhancements in the form of tags called
extensions.
As the HTML standards mature, individual categories are expected
to proliferate and become areas of specialty for many HTML authors.
The following sections detail those categories and their descriptions.
This category includes the basic page formatting tags required
in every HTML document.
Forms tags are specific to authoring works that accept or act
on input from the person viewing a page.
Table support is new to HTML 2 and is not fully supported on earlier
versions of HTML and older browser software.
Frames are an extension of Netscape's interpretation of the HTML
3.2 standard. Currently, proper authoring of frames requires the
HTML author to write three sets of documents, each set readable
by three classes of browsers: those that employ proprietary extensions,
browsers that are HTML 3.2 compliant, and, of course, legacy browsers
that do not render frames at all.
Structural definition takes advantage of the browser software's
ability to format text without further input from the HTML document.
This category is host to tags that are not effectively included
in other, more distinct categories.
Tags that are designed to work with characters that are not included
in the lower ASCII character set are included in this category.
The International Standards Organization (ISO) Latin characters
are special characters.
This category includes the tags that manipulate background imagery
and colors used in HTML documents.
Lists provide the HTML author with the ability to organize content
in hierarchies within a document.
Dividers are objects that are employed by every browser to separate
bodies of text or graphics in an HTML document.
This category includes all viewable images that must be rendered
by a browser, not created by one. Links take that reader to another
point in the same page or to another URL entirely.
The presentation formatting category includes all font handling
tags that manipulate which font is used, which point size is used,
which color is used, and so on.
Microsoft has presented another set of HTML tag categories that
is closer to supporting Microsoft's goal for Internet Explorer's
integration into every Microsoft application.
Many of the Netscape and Microsoft extensions are integrated into
emerging HTML standards as they are revised. Correspondingly,
some tags become obsolete because of disuse or poor performance.
At the time of this writing, Microsoft has done much to enhance
the power of its HTML browser, Microsoft Internet Explorer. By
introducing tags, such as <BGCOLOR>,
which gives the Web author the ability to use shades of colors
instead of just sixteen primary colors and <MARQUEE>
that scrolls text across the browser's display, Web browsing has
been made significantly more interesting.
The organization that actually sponsors HTML standards, W3C, did
not include many tags that are proprietary extensions of HTML
2. If you want your Web pages to be rendered by the majority of
browsers, consider avoiding the use of these extensions unless
they are properly rendered by both of the latest versions of Netscape
Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Chapter 3, "HTML Reference,"
is the part of this book that describes HTML tags and attributes.
Some tags include a graphic or a table. Other tags do not. Some
tags occupy more than a single page so that they are documented
properly.
The following sections describe the kind of information you can
expect to find on each page in the HTML Reference Section.
This section displays the name of the HTML element described on
that page or pages.
This section deals with compliance issues and the relevance to
the content of the reference section. Icons are used to indicate
whether readers can expect a given element to work properly if
they are staying within the scope of these levels of compliance:
Netscape. This icon indicates that the latest versions of Netscape
Navigator will render this element properly.
Internet Explorer. This icon
indicates that the latest versions of Internet Explorer will render
this element properly.
Mosaic/XMosaic. This icon indicates that the latest versions of
Mosaic and XMosaic will render this element properly.
HTML 2. This icon indicates compliance with this set of standards.
HTML 3.2. This icon indicates compliance with this set of standards.
This section provides an example of how the covered element appears
in an HTML document. Includes beginning and ending tags if both
are used.
This section defines the use for the element as originally intended.
Any general discussion of the element appears in this section.
This section provides an example of how the element is used in
an actual line in an HTML document. Also, if a figure is displayed
on the same page, every effort has been made to display the result
of the example syntax in that Figure.
If a figure (screen shot and caption) imparts value in a visual
way, it is included here. The "Example Syntax" section
is used for this illustration.
If a figure is not useful, the "In Actual Use" section
is not included.
If appropriate to the element being discussed, this section has
a table that informs the reader of related HTML elements that
can be used outside or inside the discussed element.
Some elements do not require a "Related Elements" section,
in which case it will be omitted.