Copyright: Copyright ©1995 Quarterdeck Corporation
Citation: Copyright ©1995 Quarterdeck Corporation


Advanced Commands

This command is not used often, but can be useful in your HTML documents under certain circumstances:.

<BASE>
Identifies the base URL of an HTML document, regardless of the directory or context from which it is accessed. This tag is used to preserve hypertext links in a document that you may be sharing with other computer systems or that you may want to make available from multiple directories at the same time.

For other advanced HTML commands, consult the HTML documentation available on the Internet.


Alphabetic command list
Alphabetic list

The following is a list of the commands documented in this online guide. For information on commands that begin with a slash, see the version of that command which does not begin with a slash. (For example, for information about </ADDRESS>, see <ADDRESS>).

& commands

<! - - ... text ... >

<A HREF="target file">

<A NAME="anchor_name">

<ADDRESS>

<B>

<BR>

<BASE>

<BLOCKQUOTE>

<BODY>

<DD>

<DL>

<DT>

<EM>

<FORM>

<H1>

<H2>

<H3>

<H4>

<H5>

<H6>

<HEAD>

<HR>

<HTML>

<I>

<IMG ALIGN=alignment SRC="image file">

<INPUT>

<LI>

<OL>

<P>

<PRE>

<SELECT>

<STRONG>

<TEXTAREA>

<TITLE>

<TT>

<U>

<UL>


Basic commands

<BODY>...body of the document...</BODY>

Defines the "body" of the HTML document. Headings, text, inline images, hypertext links--all are contained within the <BODY> section of the document.

<HEAD>...document head commands...</HEAD>

Defines the "head" of the HTML document. Several HTML commands are restricted to the <HEAD> area of the HTML document; the most important of these is the <TITLE> command (see below).

<HR>	Horizontal Rule. Draws a horizontal line across the Browser window.

<HTML>...document ...</HTML>

This paired command must begin and end each HTML file.

<P>...</P>	Paragraph. Display a paragraph of ordinary "body" text.

<TITLE>...document title...</TITLE>

Makes "document title" the title of the current document. The title is displayed in the Browser windows' title bar, and is used in hotlists and history lists to reference the document. Must appear within the <HEAD> section of the HTML document.


Checkboxes

Use checkboxes to enable a browser to select any of a number of options.

Checkboxes are specified using the following HTML command:

<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="variable" VALUE="value" CHECKED>text...

The NAME attribute specifies the name of the variable that you want to assign a value to. The VALUE attribute specifies the value associated with each INPUT line. The CHECKED attribute is optionally used to indicate a checkbox that is checked by default when the form is displayed.

Click on portions of the following screen to see the HTML code for that area:

Related topics

Use radio buttons or a form list to enable a browser to select exactly one of a list of options.


Checkboxes:no
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="box1" VALUE="no"> No<P>


Checkboxes:title
<H1>Check Boxes</H1>


Checkboxes:yes
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="box1" VALUE="yes"> Yes<P>


Contents
HTML Reference: Overview

This online reference guide lists the usage of some of the most common HTML commands. All commands in this guide are compliant with the official HTML 2.0 specification. For a complete list of all HTML commands, and discussions of the philosophy, background, and future of HTML, see the HTML documentation available on the Internet.

Most HTML commands are "wrappers," pairs of beginning and ending commands that surround the text they modify. For example, the paired command <B> </B> indicates that the text between the two tags should be displayed in bold type. In this guide, both the beginning and ending commands are discussed in the same section. So, if you want to look up a "slash" command (like </B>), search the index for the "unslashed" command (<B>).

In this guide, HTML commands are shown in UPPER CASE, and information you supply is shown in lower case. HTML commands sometimes include quotation marks; be sure to include all quotation marks as shown.

Alphabetic list of commands

Basic commands

Basic URL format

Emphasizing text

Headings

Hypertext links

Images

International characters

Punctuation and other special characters

Lists

Forms

Other text commands

Where to find more information

For help with the online help system, press F1


Copyright
Online HTML Reference written by Robert Parker and Bill Von Hagen.
Copyright ©1995 Quarterdeck Corporation. All rights reserved.


Emphasizing text

Not all browsers support each of these text enhancements (Quarterdeck Mosaic does).

<B>...text...</B>	Boldfaces text

<I>...text...</I>	Italicizes text

<U>...text...</U>	Underlines text

<TT>...text...</TT>	Typewriter font

You can also use these alternate commands to add emphasis. Each browser handles these differently; if you prefer a particular technique for emphasis (for example, bold rather than italic) use the above commands.

<EM>...text...</EM>
Adds emphasis

<STRONG>...text...</STRONG>

Adds "stronger" emphasis


Form Lists
Lists (Scrollable or Pull-down)

Form lists enable a brower to select one item from a scrollable list.

Lists from which you can select a value are specified using the following HTML command:

<SELECT NAME="variable" SIZE="number">

 <OPTION>...

 <OPTION>...

</SELECT>

The NAME attribute specifies the name of the variable that you want to assign a value to. Each option statement within the <SELECT> and </SELECT> tags is a possible value that is assigned to that variable when that <OPTION> is selected.

The SIZE attribute is optionally used to create a scrollable list of possible selections. Click on portions of the following screen to see the HTML code for that area:

If the size attribute is not specified, a menu of possible choices is displayed:

Related topics

Radio buttons are another method to enable a user to select one of a number of options.


Form Lists: Menu Title
<H1>Menu List</H1>


Form Lists:Menu
<SELECT NAME="select1">
<OPTION>Spring
<OPTION>Summer
<OPTION>Fall
<OPTION>Winter
</SELECT>


Form Lists:Scroll
<SELECT NAME="select1" SIZE="2">
<OPTION>Spring
<OPTION>Summer
<OPTION>Fall
<OPTION>Winter
</SELECT>


Form Lists:Scroll Title
<H1>Scrollable List</H1>


Forms

HTML forms are enclosed within <FORM> and </FORM> tags. Two attributes of the <FORM> tag must be specified: an ACTION identifying the URL of the script or program that will process the data collected by the form, and the METHOD used to pass the collected data to that script or program.

<FORM ACTION="action" METHOD="method">...</FORM>

Defines a form whose data will be collected by the script or program identified by the ACTION attribute, and whose data will be passed using the specified METHOD. The METHOD can be either GET or POST. If GET is specified, the data collected by the form will be passed as the contents of the QUERY_STRING environment variable. If POST is specified, the data will be passed as standard input to the specified script or program. A submit entry must be present in order to actually submit the collected data to the specified program or script.

Forms can contain any of the following elements, most of which are specific TYPE values for the <INPUT> command:

Checkboxes

Fields for text input

Images that can be selected

Lists (Scrollable or Pull-down)

Multi-line areas for text input

Radio Buttons

Related topics:

Submitting Information from a Form


Headings

<H1>...heading text ...</H1>

The most prominent heading

<H2>...heading text...</H2>

<H3>...heading text...</H3>

<H4>...heading text...</H4>

<H5>...heading text...</H5>

<H6>...heading text ...</H6>

The least prominent heading


Hypertext links

Hypertext links are references to other files that can be on your local system, or on a remote system on a network such as the Internet.

The target of a hypertext link can be:

an HTML file

a graphic file (usually .GIF or .JPG)

a sound clip (requires sound card and special drivers)

a movie or animation (requires special drivers)

a network service, such as Gopher, Archie, Veronica, FTP, and so on

If the target is on your local system:

Specify the target as a DOS file name, with the following changes:

Change the colon (:) to a pipe symbol (I)

Change DOS backward slashes (\) to forward slashes (/)

Example:

C:\MOSAIC\DEMO4.HTM becomes C|/MOSAIC/DEMO4.HTM

If the target is on a remote system or is a network service:

Specify the target as a URL.

Hypertext link commands:

<A HREF="target file">...link text...</A>

Create a hypertext link to "target file", jumping to the target when the user clicks on the "link text."

<A NAME="anchor_name">...text ...</A>

Create an anchor named "anchor_name" at the "text," to which hypertext links may be targeted

<A HREF="#anchor_name">...link text...</A>

When the user clicks on the link text, jump to the text marked with "anchor_name".

<A HREF="target file#anchor_name">...link text...</A>

When the user clicks on the link text, jump to the target file, and position the browser window at the text marked with "anchor_name."

Related topics:

Basic URL Format


Image:Image
<INPUT TYPE="image" SRC="qmosaic.gif" NAME="qmosaic">

In this example, the X and Y coordinates of the image will be returned in variables named qmosaic.X and qmosiac.Y.


Image:Title
<H1>Selectable Image</H1>


Images

Inline images are displayed as part of a document's text. Only .GIF and .XBM files can be displayed as inline images.

<IMG ALIGN=alignment SRC="image file">

Display the "image file" as an inline image, with the "alignment" as indicated below:

TOP	Aligns the top of the image with the top of the text.

MIDDLE	Centers the image with the line of text.

BOTTOM	Aligns the bottom of the image with the baseline of the text.


Images that can be selected
Selectable Images in Forms

Selectable images are specified using the following HTML command:

<INPUT TYPE="image" SRC="image-url" NAME="variable">

The SRC attribute specifies the URL of the image. Unlike other types of <INPUT> items in forms, images return the X and Y coordinates of the image that was selected, in variables named X and Y. The optional NAME attribute provides a name for the image that was selected, and is used in forms that contain multiple selectable images.

For example, if no NAME is specified, only the coordinates of the image are returned, in variables X and Y. If a NAME of TEST is specified, the coordinates of the image are returned in variables named TEST.X and TEST.Y.

Click on portions of the following screen to see the HTML code for that area:


International Characters

HTML provides special codes non-English "international" characters and some punctuation marks. Each code is an HTML command to display a single character. Commands to display single characters are the only HTML commands that do not require angle brackets.

Each of the codes begins with an ampersand ( & ) and ends with a semicolon ( ; ). These commands are case-sensitive.

"International" characters

Æ	&AElig;

Á	&Aacute;

Â	&Acirc;

À	&Agrave;

Å	&Aring;

Ã	&Atilde;

Ä	&Auml;

Ç	&Ccedil;

Ð	&ETH;

É	&Eacute;

Ê	&Ecirc;

È	&Egrave;

Ë	&Euml;

Í	&Iacute;

Î	&Icirc;

Ì	&Igrave;

Ï	&Iuml;

Ñ	&Ntilde;

Ó	&Oacute;

Ô	&Ocirc;

Ò	&Ograve;

Ø	&Oslash;

Õ	&Otilde;

Ö	&Ouml;

Þ	&THORN;

Ú	&Uacute;

Û	&Ucirc;

Ù	&Ugrave;

Ü	&Uuml;

Ý	&Yacute;

á	&aacute;

â	&acirc;

æ	&aelig;

à	&agrave;

å	&aring;

ã	&atilde;

ä	&auml;

ç	&ccedil;

é	&eacute;

ê	&ecirc;

è	&egrave;

ð	&eth;

ë	&euml;

í	&iacute;

î	&icirc;

ì	&igrave;

ï	&iuml;

ñ	&ntilde;

ó	&oacute;

ô	&ocirc;

ò	&ograve;

ø	&oslash;

õ	&otilde;

ö	&ouml;

ß	&szlig;

þ	&thorn;

ú	&uacute;

û	&ucirc;

ù	&ugrave;

ü	&uuml;

ý	&yacute;

ÿ	&yuml;


Lists

Definition ("glossary") list

<DL>	Begin definition list

<DT>,,,term	Term to be defined

<DD>...text	Definition of term

</DL>	End definition list

Unordered (bulleted) list

<UL>	Begin unordered list

<LI>,,,text	List item

<LI>...text	List item

</UL>	End unordered list

Ordered (numbered) list

<OL>	Begin ordered list

<LI>,,,text	List item

<LI>...text	List item

</OL>	End ordered list

Menu list (plain, with no bullets or numbers)

<MENU>	Begin menu list

<LI>,,,text	List item

<LI>...text	List item

</MENU>	End menu list


Multi-line areas for text input

Text input fields with multiple lines are specified using the following HTML command:

<TEXTAREA NAME="variable" ROWS="num-rows" COLUMNS="num-cols">...</TEXTAREA>

The NAME attribute specifies the name of the variable that you want to assign a value to. The optional ROWS attribute specifies the number of rows shown in the text area.  The optional COLUMNS attribute specifies the number of columns in the text area.  Text that exceeds this number of columns will wrap. Any text between the <TEXTAREA> and </TEXTAREA> tags is used to to provide a default value for the field that is shown when the form is displayed.

Click on portions of the following screen to see the HTML code for that area:


Other text commands

These commands format  blocks of text.

<! - - ... text ... >

Comment. Text will not appear in Browser window, but will appear in HTML document source. It is recommended that comments be kept to one line.

<ADDRESS>...contact information...</ADDRESS>

Presents address information, such as information about the contact for an HTML document or WWW site.

<BR>

Indicates that the browser should break the current line at the point where this tag is encountered.

<BLOCKQUOTE>...text block...</BLOCKQUOTE>

Used for extended quotations. Text enclosed in <BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE> tags is indented to distinguish it from regular text.

<PRE>...text block...</PRE>

"Preformatted" text. Used for tables, computer program output, or other text formatted with spaces or tabs that must be displayed "as is." Text is displayed in a fixed-width "typewriter" font.


Overview
HTML Reference: Overview

This online reference guide lists the usage of some of the most common HTML commands. All commands in this guide are compliant with the official HTML 2.0 specification. For a complete list of all HTML commands, and discussions of the philosophy, background, and future of HTML, see the HTML documentation available on the Internet.

Most HTML commands are "wrappers," pairs of beginning and ending commands that surround the text they modify. For example, the paired command <B> </B> indicates that the text between the two tags should be displayed in bold type. In this guide, both the beginning and ending commands are discussed in the same section. So, if you want to look up a "slash" command (like </B>), search the index for the "unslashed" command (<B>).

In this guide, HTML commands are shown in UPPER CASE, and information you supply is shown in lower case. HTML commands sometimes include quotation marks; be sure to include all quotation marks as shown.

Alphabetic list of commands

Basic commands

Basic URL format

Emphasizing text

Headings

Hypertext links

Images

International characters

Punctuation and other special characters

Lists

Forms

Other text commands

Where to find more information

For help with the online help system, press F1


Punctuation and other special characters

The most common use of these special characters is to demonstrate HTML codes within an HTML document. The non-breaking space can be used between words that should not be split between lines. For example, in the name "Ms. Kahler," the space between "Ms." and "Kahler" should be a non-breaking space.

& (ampersand)	&amp;

< (less-than sign)	&lt:

> (greater-than sign)	&gt;

" (double-quote)	&quot;

non-breaking space	&nbsp;


Radio Buttons

Radio buttons are specified using the following HTML command:

<INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="variable" VALUE="value">text...

The NAME attribute specifies the name of the variable that you want to assign a value to. The VALUE attribute specifies the value associated with each INPUT line.

Click on portions of the following screen to see the HTML code for that area:

Related topics:

List boxes provide another means to require a user to select one option from a list.

Use checkboxes to enable users to select any of a number of options.


Radio Buttons:Title
<H1>Radio Buttons</H1>


Radio Buttons:no
<INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="button1" VALUE="no"> No<P>


Radio Buttons:yes
<INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="button1" VALUE="yes"> Yes<P>


Selecting a METHOD
The POST method is used more often than the GET method because it places no limitations of the amount of data that can be returned to the script or program specified in the ACTION attribute. The amount of information that can be returned in the QUERY_STRING environment variable is limited by the maximum size of an environment variable on the system where the script or program is running.


Submitting Information from a Form

To submit the collected data to the specified script or program, forms must also contain a special <INPUT> tag whose type is submit. The syntax of this command is:

<INPUT TYPE="submit" VALUE="button-label">

The optional VALUE attribute specifies a label for the submit button.


Textarea:field
Comments <TEXTAREA ROWS=5 COLUMNS=25 NAME="field3">

Please send me a catalog.

</TEXTAREA>


Textarea:title
<H1>More Complex Text Area</H1>


URL format
Basic URL format

The target of an HTML reference is the URL of a file or service. The elements of a URL are:

the service used to access the file. This tells your browser how to contact the remote server in order to access the data that is being requested. This service is usually http (Hypertext Transport Protocol), indicating that the data you are requesting is an HTML file.  Other commonly-used services are ftp, gopher, netnews, telnet, and wais.

the name of the system on which the remote data is located. It is good practice to always use fully-qualified system names, including the system domain.

the name of the port on the remote system that should be accessed to retrieve the requested data. This part of a URL is optional. You will only need to specify the port if the service used to retrieve the data you are requesting is not running on the port that it commonly identified with that service.

the pathname to the file. The location of the requested data on the remote system. The pathname of a file can include aliases, and typically is not the same as the full pathname of the file on the remote system.

the name of the file. The filename is optional, since many servers can be configured to look for a default file or provide a directory listing if no file name is specified.

a search component or variable. A search component or variable is optional, and is typically only used if the URL is a request to access or search a remote database.

For example, in the sample URL http://www.qdeck.com/applications/is/qmosaic.htm:

http is the service that will be used to retrieve the file

//www.qdeck.com is the name of the system on which the data is located

applications/is is the pathname to the file

qmosaic.htm is the name of the file


Where to find more information

This overview listed very briefly some of the most common and most useful HTML commands. If you would like more information about HTML documents and HTML commands, you can consult the following resources. All are available through the Internet; their URLs are listed below. Remember that unlike HTML commands, URLs are case sensitive: be sure to use upper or lower case as listed below.

For an introduction to HTML:

http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/demoweb/html-primer.html

For a more formal reference on HTML:

http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/MarkUp/MarkUp.html


checkboxes:checked
<INPUT TYPE="checkbox" NAME="box1" VALUE="dontcare" CHECKED> I Don't Care<P>


text input fields
Fields for Text Input

Text input fields are specified using the following HTML command:

<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="variable" VALUE="value">

The NAME attribute specifies the name of the variable that you want to assign a value to. The VALUE attribute is optionally used to to provide a default value for the field that is shown when the form is displayed.

Click on portions of the following screen to see the HTML code for that area:


text:field
Enter Your Name <INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="field1">


text:title
<H1>Text Entry Field</H1>