OnTap HTML Reference 





 

 HTML Basics 

HTML provides a simple way to markup text files that will be put on the PalmPilot. With HTML, you can mark the paragraphs in your text, indicate bold or underine items, create itemized lists, etc.

For OnTap, an HTML document should have the following structure:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE> your title goes here </TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY> your text goes here </BODY>
</HTML>

 

 Character Formats 

Within the limits of the PalmPilot's three fonts (small, large, and bold small), OnTap supports these tags to select character formats.

Address. <ADDRESS>...</ADDRESS>
Same as <I>

Bold. <B>...</B> displays bold. This only works with the small (normal) size font.

Example:
<B>bold text</B>
displays bold text

Highlight. <BLINK>...</BLINK>

Example:
<BLINK>highlighted</BLINK>
displays highlighted

Citation. <CITE>...</CITE>
Same as <I>

Emphasize. <EM>...</EM>
Same as <I>

Font Size.
<FONT SIZE=n>...</FONT> select the PalmPilot's larger font if n > 3. Otherwise, the PalmPilot's smaller font is selected.

Italics. <I>...</I> is for italics, but the PalmPilot has no italics font. The italics tag displays the same as <B>

Strong. <STRONG>...</STRONG>
Same as <B>

Superscript. <SUP>...</SUP>

Example:
E=mc<sup>2</sup> produces E=mc2

Subscript. <SUB>...</SUB>

Example:
H<sub>2</sub>O produces H2O

Teletype. <TT>...</TT> selects the small font, since the PalmPilot has no fixed-width font.

Underline. <U>...</U>

Example:
<U>underlined text</U> produces underlined text

 

 Heading Styles 

OnTap allows six levels of headings. A heading element implies all the font changes, paragraph breaks before and after, and any white space necessary to render the heading. The heading elements are H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6 with H1 being the highest (or most important) level and H6 the least.

Heading 1 (H1)

Heading 2 (H2)

Heading 3 (H3)

Heading 4 (H4)

Heading 5 (H5)
Heading 6 (H6)
Supported Attributes (H1..H6)
ALIGN
Headings are usually rendered flush left. The ALIGN attribute can be used to explicitly specify the horizontal alignment:
CLEAR
This attribute is common to all block-like elements. The CLEAR attribute allows you to move down unconditionally before displaying the block:

 

 Paragraphs 

The <P> element is used to define a paragraph. The text up to the </p> or the next <p> element is treated as being part of the current paragraph.

Supported Attributes (P)
ALIGN
Paragraphs are usually rendered flush left. The ALIGN attribute can be used to explicitly specify the horizontal alignment:
CLEAR
This attribute is common to all block-like elements. The CLEAR attribute allows you to move down unconditionally before displaying the block:

 

 The Block Quote 

The <BLOCKQUOTE> element (or <BQ>) is used for extended quotations. For example:

<BLOCKQUOTE>
Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth to this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

produces:

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth to this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Supported Attributes (BQ)
ALIGN
BlockQuotes are usually rendered flush left. The ALIGN attribute can be used to explicitly specify the horizontal alignment:
CLEAR
This attribute is common to all block-like elements. The CLEAR attribute allows you to move down unconditionally before displaying the block:

 

 Unordered Lists 

An unordered list typically is a bulleted list of items. The opening list tag must be <UL>. It is followed by an optional list header (<LH>caption</LH>) and then by the first list item (<LI>). For example:

<UL>
<LH>Table Fruit</LH>
<LI>apples
<LI>oranges
<LI>bananas
</UL>

produces:

Supported Attributes (UL)
PLAIN
The presence of this attribute suppresses the display of bullets, e.g. <ul plain>.
COMPACT
The presence of this attribute indicates causes OnTap to display the list in a compact form, with tighter vertical spacing.
CLEAR
This attribute is common to all block-like elements. The CLEAR attribute allows you to move down unconditionally before displaying the block:

 

 Ordered Lists 

An ordered list typically is a numbered list of items. The opening list tag must be <OL>. It is followed by an optional list header (<LH>caption</LH>) and then by the first list item (<LI>). For example:

<OL>
<LH>Table Fruit</LH>
<LI>apples
<LI>oranges
<LI>bananas
</OL>

produces

    Table Fruit
  1. apples
  2. oranges
  3. bananas
Supported Attributes (OL)
COMPACT
The presence of this attribute indicates causes OnTap to display the list in a compact form, with tighter vertical spacing.
CLEAR
This attribute is common to all block-like elements. The CLEAR attribute allows you to move down unconditionally before displaying the block:
CONTINUE
Don't restart the sequence number, i.e. continue where previous list left off, e.g. <ol continue>
SEQNUM
Set the starting number for the first item, e.g. <li seqnum=3>

 

 Definition Lists 

A definition list is a list of terms and corresponding definitions. The definition text is typically indented with respect to the term.

The opening list tag must be <DL>. It is followed by an optional list header (<LH>caption</LH>) and then by term names (<DT>) and definitions (<DD>). For example:

<DL>
<LH>List Header</LH>
<DT>Term 1
<DD>This is the definition for Term1.
<DT>Term 2
<DD>This is the definition for Term2.
</DL>

produces:

List Header
Term1
This is the definition for Term1.
Term2
This is the definition for Term2.
Supported Attributes (DL)
COMPACT
The presence of this attribute indicates causes OnTap to display the list in a compact form, with tighter vertical spacing.
CLEAR
This attribute is common to all block-like elements. The CLEAR attribute allows you to move down unconditionally before displaying the block:

 

 Hypertext Links 

The anchor <A> element is used to define the start and/or destination of a hypertext link. For example:

<A NAME="target"> defines the destination named, target.

<A HREF="#target">any text here</A> defines the link to the name, target.

Supported Attributes (A)
HREF
The HREF attribute implies that the anchor acts as the start of a hypertext link.
NAME
This attribute is used to define a named anchor for use as the destination of hypertext links.

 

 Miscellany 

Center
<CENTER>...</CENTER> can be used to center text. Usually the ALIGN=CENTER option of the block elements is a better choice.

Line Break
<BR> forces a line break.

 

 Other Extensions 

OnTap adds two non-standard character entities to its HTML.

&tm; inserts a trademark symbol (&tm;) into the text.

&newline; is used to begin a new line within the <TITLE>...</TITLE> tags. The OnTap Reader displays these extra lines in a document's info dialog.

 

 Supported HTML Tags 

<A>, <ADDRESS>, <B>, <BLINK>, <BLOCKQUOTE>, <BODY>, <BR>, <BQ>, <CENTER>, <CITE>, <DD>, <DL>, <DT>, <EM>, <FONT SIZE>, <H1>..<H6>, <HEAD>, <HTML>, <I>, <LH>, <LI>, <OL>, <P>, <STRONG>, <SUB>, <SUP>, <TITLE>, <TT>, <U>, <UL>, more...