The <XMP>
element was designated as obsolete in the HTML 4.0 specification, which makes it likely that browsers will stop supporting it. While it's supported in Internet Explorer 3.02 (and preview versions of 4.0) and versions of Netscape up to 4.01, it is recommended that for new documents, the <PRE>
be used instead.
The <XMP>
element can be used to presents blocks of text in fixed-width font, and so is suitable for text that has been formatted on screen. As such, it is similar to the <PRE>
and <LISTING>
elements, but has a different syntax.
Typically, it will render as fixed width font with white space separating it from other text. It should be rendered such that 80 characters fit on the line.
Example:
The <XMP>W3C</XMP> defines Web languages.
Would render as:
The
TITLE="informational ToolTip"
The Internet Explorer 4.0 (and above) specific TITLE
attribute is used for informational purposes. If present, the value of the TITLE
attribute is presented as a ToolTip when the users mouse hovers over the <XMP>
section.
LANG="language setting"
The LANG
attribute can be used to specify what language the <XMP>
element is using. It accepts any valid ISO standard language abbreviation (for example "en"
for English, "de"
for German etc.)
LANGUAGE="Scripting language"
The LANGUAGE
attribute can be used to expressly specify which scripting language Internet Explorer 4.0 uses to interpret any scripting information used in the <XMP>
element. It can accept values of vbscript
, vbs
, javascript
or jscript
. The first two specify the scripting language as Visual Basic Script, the latter two specify it as using Javascript (the default scripting language used if no LANGUAGE
attribute is set.
CLASS="Style Sheet class name"
The CLASS
attribute is used to specify the <XMP>
as using a particular style sheet class.
STYLE="In line style setting"
As well as using previously defined style sheet settings, the <XMP>
element can have in-line stylings attached to it.
ID="Unique element identifier"
The ID
attribute can be used to either reference a unique style sheet identifier, or to provide a unique name for the <XMP>
element for scripting purposes. Any <XMP>
element with an ID
attribute can be directly manipulated in script by referencing its ID
attribute.