Contents
This section is normative.
This module defines all of the basic text container elements, attributes, and their content model:
| Element | Attributes | Minimal Content Model |
|---|---|---|
| abbr | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| address | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| blockquote | Common | (PCDATA | Inline | Heading | Block | List)* |
| cite | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| code | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| dfn | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| div | Common | (PCDATA | Flow)* |
| em | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| h | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| h1 | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| h2 | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| h3 | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| h4 | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| h5 | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| h6 | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| hr | Common | EMPTY |
| kbd | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| l | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| p | Common | (PCDATA | Inline | List | blockquote | pre | table)* |
| pre | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| quote | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| samp | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| section | Common | (PCDATA | Flow)* |
| span | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| strong | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| sub | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| sup | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
| var | Common | (PCDATA | Inline)* |
split text module
Text module should be split into inline and block submodulesl element content model
Content model of the l element should not allow nested linesThe minimal content model for this module defines some content sets:
Note that the use of the words Block and Inline here are meant to be suggestive of the role the content sets play. They are not normative with regards to presentation since a
style sheet might give any element within the Block content a display property of inline.
Implementation: DTD
nr element
There was a suggestion to introduce annr element to help annotate content as being a number. This suggestion has not yet been addressed by the working group.The abbr element indicates that a text fragment is an abbreviation (e.g., W3C, XML, Inc., Ltd., Mass., etc.); this includes acronyms.
Attributes
The content of the abbr element specifies the abbreviated expression itself, as it would normally appear in running text. The title attribute of these elements may be used to provide the full or expanded form of the expression.
Note that abbreviations often have idiosyncratic pronunciations. For example, while "IRS" and "BBC" are typically pronounced letter by letter, "NATO" and "UNESCO" are pronounced phonetically. Still other abbreviated forms (e.g., "URI" and "SQL") are spelled out by some people and pronounced as words by other people. When necessary, authors should use style sheets to specify the pronunciation of an abbreviated form.
Examples:
<abbr title="Limited">Ltd.</abbr> <abbr title="Abbreviation">abbr.</abbr>
The address element may be used by authors to supply contact information for a document or a major part of a document such as a form. This element often appears at the beginning or end of a document.
content model of address element
The content model of the address element should be improved to improve its semantic processability.Attributes
Example:
<address href="mailto:webmaster@example.net">Webmaster</address>
This element designates a block of quoted text.
Attributes
This example formats an excerpt from "The Two Towers", by J.R.R. Tolkien, as a blockquote.
<blockquote cite="http://www.example.com/tolkien/twotowers.html"> <p>They went in single file, running like hounds on a strong scent, and an eager light was in their eyes. Nearly due west the broad swath of the marching Orcs tramped its ugly slot; the sweet grass of Rohan had been bruised and blackened as they passed.</p> </blockquote>
The cite element contains a citation or a reference to other sources.
Attributes
In the following example, the cite element is used to delineate the speaker:
As <cite cite="http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ht33.html">Harry S. Truman</cite> said, <quote xml:lang="en-us">The buck stops here.</quote> More information can be found in <cite cite="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml">[XML]</cite>.
The code element contains a fragment of computer code.
Attributes
Example:
The <code>code</code> element contains a fragment of computer code.
The dfn element contains the defining instance of the enclosed term.
Attributes
Example:
An <dfn id="def-acronym">acronym</dfn> is a word formed from the initial letters or groups of letters of words in a set phrase or series of words.
The div element, in conjunction with the id and class attributes, offers a generic mechanism for adding extra structure to documents. This element defines no presentational idioms on the content. Thus, authors may use this element in conjunction with style sheets, the xml:lang attribute, etc., to tailor XHTML to their own needs and tastes.
Attributes
For example, suppose you wish to make a presentation in XHTML, where each slide is enclosed in a separate element. You could use a div
element, with a class of slide:
<body>
<h>The meaning of life</h>
<p>By Huntington B. Snark</p>
<div class="slide">
<h>What do I mean by "life"</h>
<p>....</p>
</div>
<div class="slide">
<h>What do I mean by "mean"?</h>
...
</div>
...
</body>
The em element indicates emphasis for its contents.
Attributes
Example:
Do <em>not</em> phone before 9 a.m.
A heading element briefly describes the topic of the section it introduces. Heading information may be used by user agents, for example, to construct a table of contents for a document automatically.
Deprecate h1-6?
There was a suggestion that h1 - h6 be deprecated. The working group has not yet addressed this suggestion.Attributes
There are two styles of headings in XHTML: the numbered versions h1, h2 etc., and the structured version h, which is used in combination with the section element.
There are six levels of numbered headings in XHTML with h1 as the most important and h6 as the least. The visual presentation of headers can render more important headings in larger fonts than less important ones.
Structured headings use the single h element, in combination with the section element to indicate the structure of the document, and the nesting of the sections indicates the importance of the heading. The heading for the section is the one that is a child of the section element.
For example:
<body>
<h>This is a top level heading</h>
<p>....</p>
<section>
<p>....</p>
<h>This is a second-level heading</h>
<p>....</p>
<h>This is another second-level heading</h>
<p>....</p>
</section>
<section>
<p>....</p>
<h>This is another second-level heading</h>
<p>....</p>
<section>
<h>This is a third-level heading</h>
<p>....</p>
</section>
</section>
These visual representation of these levels can be distinguished in a style sheet:
h {font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-size: 200%}
section h {font-size: 150%} /* A second-level heading */
section section h {font-size: 120%} /* A third-level heading */
etc.
Numbered sections and references
XHTML does not itself cause section numbers to be generated from headings. Style sheet
languages such as CSS however allow authors to control the generation of section numbers.
The practice of skipping heading levels is considered to be bad practice. The series h1 h2 h1 is acceptable, while h1 h3 h1 is not, since the heading level h2 has been skipped.
The hr element places a horizontal line in the document.
Remove or rename hr
It has been suggested thathr be removed or renamed to, for instance, <separator/>. The working group has not yet addressed this suggestion.Attributes
The kbd element indicates text to be entered by the user.
Attributes
Example:
To exit, type <kbd>QUIT</kbd>.
The l element contains a sub-paragraph that represents a sinle line of text. It is intended as a structured replacement for the br
element. It contains a piece of text that when visually represented should start on a new line, and have a line break at the end. Whether the line should wrap or not visually depends on styling
properties of the element.
Attributes
By retaining structure in text that has to be broken over lines, you retain essential information about its makeup. This gives you greater freedom with styling the content. For instance, line numbers can be generated automatically from the stylesheet if needed.
For instance, for a document with the following structure:
<p class="program">
<l>program p(input, output);</l>
<l>begin</l>
<l> writeln("Hello world");</l>
<l>end.</l>
</p>
the following CSS stylesheet would number each line:
.program { counter-reset: linenumber }
l:before {
position: relative;
left: -1em;
counter-increment: linenumber;
content: counter(linenumber);
}
The p element represents a paragraph.
In comparison with earlier versions of HTML, where a paragraph could only contain inline text, XHTML2's paragraphs represent the conceptual idea of a paragraph, and so may contain lists, blockquotes, pre's and tables as well as inline text. They may not, however, contain directly nested p elements.
Attributes
Example:
<p>Payment options include: <ul> <li>cash</li> <li>credit card</li> <li>luncheon vouchers.</li> </ul> </p>
The pre element indicates that whitespace in the enclosed text has semantic relevance, and will normally be included in visual renderings of the content.
Note that all elements in the XHTML family preserve their whitespace in the document, which is only removed on rendering, via a stylesheet, according to the rules of CSS [CSS]. This means that in principle any elements may preserve or collapse whitespace on rendering, under control of a stylesheet. Also note that there is no normative requirement that the <pre> element be rendered in a monospace font (although this is the default rendering), nor that text wrapping be disabled.
Non-visual user agents are not required to respect extra white space in the content of a pre element.
Attributes
The following example shows a preformatted verse from Shelly's poem To a Skylark:
<pre>
Higher still and higher
From the earth thou springest
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
</pre>
Here is how this might be rendered:
Higher still and higher
From the earth thou springest
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
This element designates an inline text fragment of quoted text.
Attributes
Visual user agents must not by default add delimiting quotation marks (as was the case for the q element in earlier versions of XHTML). It is the responsibility of the document author
to add any required quotation marks, either directly in the text, or via a stylesheet.
The following example illustrates nested quotations with the quote element.
<p>John said, <quote>"I saw Lucy at lunch, she told me <quote>'Mary wants you to get some ice cream on your way home.'</quote> I think I will get some at Jen and Berry's, on Gloucester Road."</quote></p>
Here is an example using the cite attribute:
Steven replied: <quote cite="http://lists.example.org/2002/01.html">We quite agree</quote>
The samp element designates sample output from programs, scripts, etc.
Attributes
Example:
On starting, you will see the prompt <samp>$ </samp>.
Attributes
The section element, in conjunction with the h element, offers a mechanism for structuring documents into sections. This element defines content to be block-level but imposes no other presentational idioms on the content, which may otherwise be controlled from a style sheet.
By representing the structure of documents explicitely using the section and h elements gives the author greater control over presentation possibilities than the traditional implicit structuring using numbered levels of headings. For instance, it is then possible to indicate the nesting of sections by causing a border to be displayed to the left of sections.
Here is an example
<body>
<h>Events</h>
<section>
<h>Introduction</h>
<p>....</p>
<h>Specifying events</h>
<p>...</p>
<section>
<h>Attaching events to the handler</h>
<p>...</p>
</section>
<section>
<h>Attaching events to the listener</h>
<p>...</p>
</section>
<section>
<h>Specifying the binding elsewhere</h>
<p>...</p>
</section>
</section>
The span element, in conjunction with the id and class attributes, offer a generic mechanism for adding structure to documents. This element imposes no presentational idioms on the content. Thus, authors may use this element in conjunction with style sheets, the xml:lang attribute, etc., to tailor XHTML to their own needs and tastes.
Attributes
For example, suppose you wish to mark all words in a document that need to be collected into an index. You could use a span element, with a
class of xref:
<p>This operation is called the <span class="xref">transpose</span> or <span class="xref">inverse</span>.</p>
The strong element indicates higher importance for its contents.
Attributes
On <strong>Monday</strong> please put the rubbish out, but <em>not</em> before nightfall!
strong
Leave in, deprecate or remove? No consensus.The sub element indicates that its contents should regarded as a subscript.
Attributes
For visual user agents this element would normally be rendered as a subscript of the text baseline, but on user agents where this is not possible (for instance teletype-like devices) other
renderings may be used. For instance, a<sub>i, j</sub> that would be rendered as ai, j on a device that can render it so, might be rendered as
a[i, j] on a simpler device.
Example:
H<sub>2</sub>O
The sup element indicates that its contents should be regarded as a super-script.
Attributes
For visual user agents this element would normally be rendered as a super-script of the text baseline, but on user agents where this is not possible (for instance teletype-like devices) other
renderings may be used. For instance, 2<sup>n</sup> that would be rendered as 2n on a device that can render it so, might be rendered as
2↑(n) on a simpler device.
Many scripts (e.g., French) require superscripts or subscripts for proper rendering. The sub and sup elements should be used to markup text in these cases.
H<sub>2</sub>O
E = mc<sup>2</sup>
<span xml:lang="fr">M<sup>lle</sup> Dupont</span>
The var element indicates an instance of a variable or program argument.
Attributes
Example:
The parameter <var>ncols</var> represents the number of colors to use.