html 4.01 specifications

Information TechnologyRice University

HTML 4.01 Specification MarkUp Tag List

Document ALL 14August 1, 2001

This document lists the most widely implemented tags currently accepted by the HTML 4.01 specifi-cation, as well as common Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) properties and many deprecated tags still in common use. This is purely a reference and is not designed for newcomers to HTML or the Web.

Rice University, 2001 All Rights Reserved

Document may not be resold to, used by, nor licensed to third parties without written permission from User Services, Rice University.

Table of Contents

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Table of Contents

Background on HTML..............................................................................................3Symbols Used ....................................................................................................3

General ......................................................................................................................3

Structural Definition..................................................................................................4

Presentation Formatting ............................................................................................4

Links and Graphics ...................................................................................................5

Dividers .....................................................................................................................6

Lists ...........................................................................................................................6

Backgrounds and Colors ...........................................................................................6

Forms ........................................................................................................................7

Tables ........................................................................................................................8

Frames.......................................................................................................................9

Miscellaneous............................................................................................................9

Cascading Style Sheets .............................................................................................9Length Values ..................................................................................................10Font Properties .................................................................................................10Color and Background Properties....................................................................10Text Properties .................................................................................................11List Properties ..................................................................................................11

ISO Latin Codes - Special Characters.....................................................................11

HexaDecimal Color Triplets ...................................................................................13

2 HTML 4.01 Specification MarkUp Tag List

Background on HTML

Background on HTML

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the self-appointed official policy-makers attempting to define standards for all documents on the web, released the HTML 4.01 in December 1999 to fix some bugs in the 4.0 specification. It is essential to understand that, at this point, no one really has the power to standardize the web. Powerful corporations such as Netscape and Microsoft have at least as much say in what will be recognized because it is their browsers that interpret the code. The W3C makes a valiant effort at encompassing the most widely-recognized HTML tags into their specification. But this is an uphill effort, to say the least. The web is constantly evolving and browsers vary greatly. It is always a good policy to check the appearance of your page in several different browsers.

The following list is a collection of the most widely implemented and up-to-date tags. Where noted cer-tain tags apply only to a given version (or higher) of a browser. This document considers only Internet Explorer versions 3 and above, and Netscape versions 4 and above, as these are a minimum standard for the vast majority of internet users. If you wish to check the compatibility of HTML features you are using with other browsers, or older browser versions, consult a page with a compatibility chart such as the one at blooberry.com:

http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/html/supportkey/a.htm

Symbols Used

General

All HTML Documents Should Have These

The following list of tags in grouped by function. There are several tags listed as being deprecated in HTML 4.01. This means that they are no longer part of the standard, and while they will still work, the preferred method for getting the same effect is to use style sheets.

URL URL of an external file including “http://” (or a relative link)

? Arbitrary number (i.e. <H?> means <H1>, <H2>, etc.)

% Arbitrary percentage (i.e. <HR WIDTH= “%”> means <HR WIDTH= “50%”>, etc.)

*** Arbitrary text (i.e. ALT= “***” means fill in with appropriate text)

rrggbb Arbitrary hex color (i.e. BGCOLOR= “#rrggbb” means BGCOLOR= “#00FF33”, etc.)

| Logical OR, a choice between several options separated by |

, , , Several numbers separated by commas

NN4 Netscape Navigator 4.x

IE3 Internet Explorer 3

Document Type <HTML> </HTML> beginning and end of file

Header <HEAD> </HEAD> descriptive, info, such as title

Title <TITLE> </TITLE> must be in header

Body <BODY> </BODY> bulk of the page

HTML 4.01 Specification MarkUp Tag List 3

Structural Definition

Structural Definition

Appearance Controlled by the Browser’s Preferences

Presentation Formatting

Author Specifies Text Appearance

Description Tag Notes

Heading <H?> </H?> The specification defines levels 1-6

Heading Align-ment

<H? ALIGN=LEFT | RIGHT | CENTER> </H?>

Division <DIV STYLE= “***”> </DIV> creates a logical division, often used in combination with in-line style defini-tions, defined by the STYLE attribute

Division Align-ment

<DIV ALIGN=LEFT | RIGHT | CENTER> </DIV>

Emphasis <EM> </EM> Usually displayed as italics

Strong Emphasis <STRONG> </STRONG> Usually displayed as bold

Citation <CITE> </CITE> Usually displayed as italics

Blockquote <BLOCKQUOTE> </BLOCKQUOTE>

Usually indented on both sides, defines a long quote

Code <CODE> </CODE> for source code; usually used a fixed-width font (such as Courier)

Sample Output <SAMP> </SAMP> Usually uses fixed-width font

Keyboard Input <KBD> </KBD> Usually uses fixed-width font

Variable <VAR> </VAR> Usually uses italics

Definition <DFN> </DFN> Not supported in NN4 and below

Author’s Address <ADDRESS> </ADDRESS> Usually uses italics and is indented

Large Font Size <BIG> </BIG>

Small Font Size <SMALL> </SMALL>

Acronym <ACRONYM TITLE= “***”> </ACRONYM>

Title field specifies long version of acro-nym; not supported in NN4, IE3 or below; title text displays on mouse-over


Bold <B> </B>

Italics <I> </I>

Underline <U> </U> use carefully - makes text look like links

Strikeout <S> </S> or <STRIKE> </STRIKE> deprecated in HTML 4.01 - use style sheets instead


Links and Graphics

Links and Graphics

Subscript <SUB> </SUB>

Superscript <SUP> </SUP>

Typewriter <TT> </TT> monospaced font (Courier)

Preformatted <PRE> </PRE> respects spaces, monospaced font

Center <CENTER> </CENTER> deprecated in HTML 4.01 - use style sheets or: <DIV ALIGN=CENTER>

Font Size <FONT SIZE=?> </FONT> from 1-7, default is 3; deprecated in HTML 4.01 - use style sheets

Font Color <FONT COLOR=“#rrggbb”></FONT> deprecated in HTML 4.01 - use style sheets

Select Font <FONT FACE=“***”> </FONT> deprecated in HTML 4.01 - use style sheets; won’t work if font specified isn’t installed on the viewer’s computer


Anchor <A NAME=“***”> </A> creates an invisible anchor in the docu-ment that can be linked to

Link <A HREF=“URL”> </A>

Link to Anchor <A HREF=“#***”> </A><A HREF=“URL#***”> </A>

same pageanother document

Link to Email <A HREF=“mailto:***@***”> </A>

Target Window <A HREF=“URL”TARGET=“***”> </A>

specifies the window or frame to open the link in; standard values are:_blank - opens a new window_parent - open in the window that opened this one_self - (default) open in this window_top - break out of frame and fill window

Display Image <IMG SRC=“URL”> no closing tag

Alternate Text <IMG SRC=“URL” ALT= “***”> text displayed if image can’t be displayed

Image Alignment <IMG SRC=“URL” ALIGN= TOP | BOTTOM | MIDDLE | LEFT | RIGHT>

deprecated in HTML 4.01 - use style sheets instead

Image Dimensions <IMG SRC=“URL” WIDTH= ? | % HEIGHT= ? | %>

in pixels or percent of page

Image Border <IMG SRC=“URL” BORDER=?> in pixels; deprecated in HTML 4.01 - use style sheets

Runaround Space <IMG SRC=“URL” HSPACE=? VSPACE=?>

in pixels; deprecated in HTML 4.01 - use style sheets



Dividers

Dividers

Lists

Backgrounds and Colors


Paragraph <P> </P> closing tag often unnecessary

Line Break <BR> no closing tag

Horizontal Rule <HR> no closing tag

HR Thickness <HR SIZE=?> in pixels

HR Width <HR WIDTH= ? | %> in pixels or percent of page


Unordered List <UL> <LI> </UL> <LI> before each item

Bullet Type <UL TYPE=DISC | CIRCLE | SQUARE> </UL>

for the whole listdeprecated in HTML 4.01, use style sheet

Bullet Type <LI TYPE=DISC | CIRCLE | SQUARE>

this and subsequentdeprecated in HTML 4.01, use style sheet

Ordered List <OL> <LI> </OL> <LI> before each item

Numbering Type <OL TYPE= A | a | I | i | 1> </OL> for the whole listdeprecated in HTML 4.01, use style sheet

Numbering Type <LI TYPE= A | a | I | i | 1> this and subsequentdeprecated in HTML 4.01, use style sheet

Starting Number <OL START=?> for the whole list

Starting Number <LI VALUE=?> this and subsequent


Tiled Background <BODY BACKGROUND=“URL”>

Background Color <BODY BGCOLOR=“#rrggbb”>

Text Color <BODY TEXT=“#rrggbb”>

Link Color <BODY LINK=“#rrggbb”> unvisited links

Visited Link <BODY VLINK=“#rrggbb”>

Active Link <BODY ALINK=“#rrggbb”>


Forms

Forms

Generally requires a script on the server. Rice supports a specific script, and you can use ones on out-side sites. For more information about forms on Rice webpages consult document ALL 13.


Define Form <FORM ACTION=“URL”METHOD=GET | POST> </FORM>

Action specifies the url of the script used to process input; the method will be specified by the script you use

Input Field <INPUT TYPE=TEXT | PASSWORD | CHECKBOX | RADIO | FILE | IMAGE | HIDDEN | SUBMIT | RESET>

no closing tag needed

Field Name <INPUT TYPE=*** NAME=“***”>

Field Value <INPUT TYPE=*** VALUE=“***”> • initial value in a field for text, pass-word, hidden inputs

• value submitted if selected for radio buttons and checkboxes

• text on the Submit and Reset but-tons

Checked? <INPUT TYPE=CHECKBOX | RADIO CHECKED>

defaults checkboxes and radio buttons as selected

Field Size <INPUT TYPE=TEXT | FILE | PASS-WORD SIZE=?>

in characters

Max Length <INPUT TYPE=TEXT | FILE | PASS-WORD MAXLENGTH=?>

in characters

Selection List <SELECT> </SELECT> drop-down menu that contains several options

Num of Options Visible

<SELECT SIZE=?> </SELECT> number of rows in selection box displayed at one time

Select Multiple <SELECT MULTIPLE> </SELECT> can select multiple options at one time

Option <OPTION VALUE=“***”>displayed text</OPTION>

value contains what will be submitted, text between open and close tags is displayed to user

Default Select? <OPTION SELECTED> this option is selected by default

Multi-Line Text Box

<TEXTAREA NAME=“***”>default text contents</TEXTAREA>

Size of Text Box

<TEXTAREA NAME=“***” ROWS=? COLS=?> </TEXTAREA>

columns in number of characters

Text Wrap <TEXTAREA WRAP=“OFF | SOFT | HARD”> </TEXTAREA>

• off -no text wrap• soft - on-screen wrap, not sent in

submitted data• hard - visible text wrap sent with

form


Tables

Tables

If you plan to use tables for extensive or detailed layout using an HTML editor such as Dream-weaver will be more efficient than hand-design.


Define Table <TABLE> </TABLE>

Border <TABLE BORDER=?> </TABLE> in pixels; a 0 border is invisible

Cell Spacing <TABLE CELLSPACING=?> in pixels; space between cells

Cell Padding <TABLE CELLPADDING=?> in pixels; space between cell border and contents

Desired Width <TABLE WIDTH= ? | %> in pixels or percent of page

Background Color <TABLE BGCOLOR=“#rrggbb”>

Outer Border <TABLE FRAME= VOID | ABOVE | BELOW | HSIDES | VSIDES | LHS | RHS | BOX>

Background Image <TABLE BACKGROUND=“URL”> Very uneven implementation -- view on several browsers and platforms

Table Row <TR> </TR> Can over-ride table settings for BGCOLOR

Vertical Alignment <TR VALIGN=TOP | MIDDLE | BOTTOM>

Table Cell <TD> </TD> Can over-ride table and row settings for BGCOLOR, VALIGN

No Linebreaks <TD NOWRAP>

Columns to Span <TD COLSPAN=?>

Rows to Span <TD ROWSPAN=?>

Desired Width <TD WIDTH ? | %> in pixels or percent of table width


Frames

Frames

Miscellaneous

Cascading Style Sheets

HTML tags were originally designed to specify the type of content contained in them , and the layout was supposed to be defined by the browser. As web pages became more complex, designers wanted more control over the layout and the major browsers added extra tags (such as <FONT>) and attributes (such as COLOR) to specify layout.

The HTML 4.01 specification attempts to clearly separate content and its layout by using style sheets to define layout. Further information on using style sheets can be found in document ALL 10 Cascading


Frame Document <FRAMESET> </FRAMESET> instead of <BODY> tags

Row Heights <FRAMESET ROWS=, , , > in pixels, %, or use * for relative size

Column Widths <FRAMESET COLS=, , , > in pixels, %, or use * for relative size

Border Width <FRAMESET BORDER=?> in pixels

Border Color <FRAMESET BORDERCOLOR=“#rrg-gbb”>

Define Frame <FRAME> </FRAME>

Display Document <FRAME SRC=“URL”>

Frame Name <FRAME NAME=“***” | _blank | _self | _parent | _top>

see link target window on page 5 for explanation of options

Margin Width <FRAME MARGINWIDTH=?> left and right margins

Margin Height <FRAME MARGINHEIGHT=?> top and bottom margins

Scrollbar? <FRAME SCROLLING=YES | NO | AUTO>

Not Resizable <FRAME NORESIZE>

Borders <FRAME BORDER=?> in pixels

Border Color <FRAME BORDERCOLOR=“#rrggbb”>

Unframed Content <NOFRAMES> </NOFRAMES content viewable in no-frames browser; includes the <BODY> tags


Comment  not displayed by browser

Meta Information <META> must be in header

Style Sheets <STYLE> </STYLE>

Cascading Style Sheets

Style Sheets. Style sheets are supported in versions 4 and up of Netscape and versions 3 and up of Internet Explorer. Style can be added to HTML tags using the syntax (NN4 has problems with styles in the LI tag):

<tag STYLE=“property 1: value1; property2: value1, value2;”>

Following is a list of the most common and wisely-implemented properties and values. For a mas-ter compatibility chart, consult:

http://www.webreview.com/style/css1/charts/mastergrid.shtml

Length Values

Font Properties

Color and Background Properties

Unit Description

% percentage of something

in, cm, mm standard measurements: inches, centimeters, millimeters

em 1em is the font size of the current element (not implemented in IE3)

ex the x-height of the font (in theory); usually one-half of 1em (not implemented in IE3)

pt point (1/72 of an inch)

pc pica (12 points)

px pixels

Property Values Notes

font-family font name, serif, sans-serif, monospace

use a specific font or browser-default font of a given type; can specify several separated by commas, browser will use the first one it has

font-style normal, italic not implemented in IE3 for Windows

font-weight normal, bold, bolder, 100, 200, ..., 900

100-900 define thin through thick, with 400 as normal, 700 as bold; numbers and “normal” not implemented in IE3; “bolder” not implemented in IE3 NN4 for Mac

font-size xx-small, x-small, small, medium, large, x-large, xx-large, larger, smaller, length, %

browsers implement xx-small through xx-large slightly differently; keywords produce buggy results in IE in general


color rgb(?, ?, ?), #rrggbb several color names, while not part of the stan-dard, are supported (such as black); rgb nota-tion uses three decimal numbers 0-255

background-color rgb(?, ?, ?), #rrggbb, transparent

buggy in NN4, not implemented in IE3

background- image url, none

background-repeat repeat, no-repeat, repeat-x, repeat-y

not implemented in IE3

background-attachment fixed, scroll not implemented in NN4 or IE3


ISO Latin Codes - Special Characters

Descriptio

quotation mark

ampersand

less-than sign

Text Properties

List Properties


This is a comprehensive list of the ISO Latin codes for use on the World Wide Web. These codes have evolved from a character set related to the Hyper-G Text Format.

For each symbol there exists an entity name and an older code name. They are equivalent. The entity names are approved in the latest version of HTML but are not guaranteed to work on other browsers than Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer. To ensure readability by the largest possible audience use the code translations.

• ISO codes always begin with an ampersand(&) and end with a semicolon(;).

• ISO codes should always be typed in lowercase.


text-decoration none, underline, overline, line-through

of these, only line-through is compatible with NN4 and IE3

vertical-align baseline, sub, super not compatible with NN4 or IE3

text-transform capitalize, uppercase, lowercase, none

text-align left, right, center, justify justify is buggy when used within tables for NN4; justify doesn’t work at all in IE3 (all platforms) or IE4 for Mac

text-indent length, % indents first line

line-height number, length, % number multiplied by font size for total spacing; possibly buggy in NN4, IE3; number not supported by IE3


list-style-type disc, circle, square, decimal, lower-roman, upper-roman, lower-alpha, upper-alpha, none

not compatible with IE3; “none” displays as question marks in Mac NN4

list-style-image url, none not compatible with NN4, IE3

n Code Entity Name Description Code Entity Name

" --> “ " --> “ capital I, circumflex accent Î --> Î Î --> Î

& --> & & --> & capital I, dieresis or umlaut mark

Ï --> Ï Ï --> Ï

< --> < < --> < capital Eth, Icelandic Ð --> ‹ Ð --> ‹



Ñ --> Ñ

Ò --> Ò

Ó --> Ó

Ô --> Ô

Õ --> Õ

Ö --> Ö

× --> x

Ø --> Ø

Ù --> Ù

Ú --> Ú

Û --> Û

Ü --> Ü

Ý --> †

Þ --> ?

ß --> ß

à --> à

á --> á

â --> â

ã --> ã

ä --> ä

å --> å

æ --> æ

ç --> ç

è --> è

é --> é

ê --> ê

ë --> ë

ì --> ì

í --> í

Entity Name

greater-than sign > --> > > --> > capital N, tilde Ñ --> Ñ

non-breaking space --> --> capital O, grave accent Ò --> Ò

inverted exclamation mark

¡ --> ¡ ¡ --> ¡ capital O, acute accent Ó --> Ó

cent sign ¢ --> ¢ ¢ --> ¢ capital O, circumflex accent Ô --> Ô

pound sign £ --> £ £ --> £ capital O, tilde Õ --> Õ

currency sign ¤ --> ¤ ¤ --> ¤ capital O, dieresis or umlaut mark

Ö --> Ö

yen sign ¥ --> ¥ ¥ --> ¥ multiplication sign × --> x

broken vertical bar ¦ --> | ¦ --> | capital O, slash Ø --> Ø

section sign § --> § § --> § capital U, grave accent Ù --> Ù

spacing diaresis ¨ --> ¨ ¨ --> ¨ capital U, acute accent Ú --> Ú

copyright sign © --> © © --> © capital U, circumflex accent Û --> Û

feminine ordinal indi-cator

ª --> ª ª --> ª capital U, dieresis or umlaut mark

Ü --> Ü

angle quotation mark, left

« --> « « --> « capital Y, acute accent Ý --> †

negation sign ¬ --> ¬ ¬ --> ¬ capital THORN, Icelandic Þ --> ?

soft hyphen --> – --> – small sharp s, German (sz ligature)

ß --> ß

circled R registered sign

® --> ® ® --> ® small a, grave accent à --> à

spacing macron ¯ --> ¯ &hibar; --> ¯ small a, acute accent á --> á

degree sign ° --> ° ° --> ° small a, circumflex accent â --> â

plus-or-minus sign ± --> ± ± --> ± small a, tilde ã --> ã

superscript 2 ² --> 2 ² --> 2 small a, dieresis or umlaut mark

ä --> ä

superscript 3 ³ --> 3 ³ --> 3 small a, ring å --> å

spacing acute ´ --> ´ ´ --> ´ small ae diphthong (liga-ture)

æ --> æ

micro sign µ --> µ µ --> µ small c, cedilla ç --> ç

paragraph sign ¶ --> ¶ ¶ --> ¶ small e, grave accent è --> è

middle dot · --> · · --> · small e, acute accent é --> é

spacing cedilla ¸ --> ¸ ¸ --> ¸ small e, circumflex accent ê --> ê

superscript 1 ¹ --> 1 ¹ --> 1 small e, dieresis or umlaut mark

ë --> ë

masculine ordinal indi-cator

º --> º º --> º small i, grave accent ì --> ì

angle quotation mark, right

» --> » » --> » small i, acute accent í --> í

Description Code Entity Name Description Code


HexaDecimal Color Triplets

fraction 1/4

fraction 1/2

fraction 3/4

inverted questio

capital A, grave

capital A, acute

capital A, circumaccent

capital A, tilde

capital A, dieresumlaut mark

capital A, ring

capital AE dipht(ligature)

capital C, cedilla

capital E, grave

capital E, acute

capital E, circumaccent

capital E, dieresumlaut mark

capital I, grave a

capital I, acute a

Descriptio

HexaDecimal Color Triplets

These are the six-digit codes that define the colors of elements such as background, text, and hypertext links. There are two hex digits each for the intensity of the red, green and blue parts of a pixel. The best way to pick web-safe colors is to use one of the many available web color wheels. An example of one may be found at:

http://html-color-codes.com/

¼ --> π ¼ --> π small i, circumflex accent î --> î î --> î

½ --> ∏ ½ --> ∏ small i, dieresis or umlaut mark

ï --> ï ï --> ï

¾ --> ≤ ¾ --> ≤ small eth, Icelandic ð --> › ð --> ›

n mark ¿ --> ¿ ¿ --> ¿ small n, tilde ñ --> ñ ñ --> ñ

accent À --> À À --> À small o, grave accent ò --> ò ò --> ò

accent Á --> Á Á --> Á small o, acute accent ó --> ó ó --> ó

flex Â --> Â Â --> Â small o, circumflex accent ô --> ô ô --> ô

Ã --> Ã Ã --> Ã small o, tilde õ --> õ õ --> õ

is or Ä --> Ä Ä --> Ä small o, dieresis or umlaut mark

ö --> ö ö --> ö

Å --> Å Å --> Å division sign ÷ --> ÷ ÷ --> ÷

hong Æ --> Æ Æ --> Æ small o, slash ø --> ø ø --> ø

Ç --> Ç Ç --> Ç small u, grave accent ù --> ù ù --> ù

accent È --> È È --> È small u, acute accent ú --> ú ú --> ú

accent É --> É É --> É small u, circumflex accent û --> û û --> û

flex Ê --> Ê Ê --> Ê small u, dieresis or umlaut mark

ü --> ü ü --> ü

is or Ë --> Ë Ë --> Ë small y, acute accent ý --> ‡ ý --> ‡

ccent Ì --> Ì Ì --> Ì small thorn, Icelandic þ --> ? þ --> ?

ccent Í --> Í Í --> Í small y, dieresis or umlaut mark

ÿ --> ÿ ÿ --> ÿ

n Code Entity Name Description Code Entity Name


html 4.01 specifications

Documents

style sheets deprecated

style sheets

width font

style sheet

closing tag

radio buttons

rice university

subsequent deprecated