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`REChtml40971218
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`HTML 4.0 Specification
`
`W3C Recommendation 18Dec1997
`
`This version:
`http://www.w3.org/TR/REChtml40971218
`Latest version:
`http://www.w3.org/TR/REChtml40
`Previous version:
`http://www.w3.org/TR/PRhtml40971107
`Editors:
`Dave Raggett <dsr@w3.org>
`Arnaud Le Hors <lehors@w3.org>
`Ian Jacobs <ij@w3.org>
`Abstract
`
`This specification defines the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), version 4.0, the publishing
`language of the World Wide Web. In addition to the text, multimedia, and hyperlink features of the
`previous versions of HTML, HTML 4.0 supports more multimedia options, scripting languages, style
`sheets, better printing facilities, and documents that are more accessible to users with disabilities. HTML
`4.0 also takes great strides towards the internationalization of documents, with the goal of making the
`Web truly World Wide.
`
`HTML 4.0 is an SGML application conforming to International Standard ISO 8879 Standard
`Generalized Markup Language [ISO8879].
`Status of this document
`
`This document has been reviewed by W3C Members and other interested parties and has been endorsed
`by the Director as a W3C Recommendation. It is a stable document and may be used as reference
`material or cited as a normative reference from another document. W3C's role in making the
`Recommendation is to draw attention to the specification and to promote its widespread deployment.
`This enhances the functionality and interoperability of the Web.
`
`W3C recommends that user agents and authors (and in particular, authoring tools) produce HTML 4.0
`documents rather than HTML 3.2 documents (see [HTML32]). For reasons of backwards compatibility,
`W3C also recommends that tools interpreting HTML 4.0 continue to support HTML 3.2 and HTML 2.0
`as well.
`
`A list of current W3C Recommendations and other technical documents can be found at
`
`AHBLT-2011.001
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`
`
`http://www.w3.org/TR.
`
`Public discussion on HTML features takes place on wwwhtml@w3.org.
`
`Available formats
`
`The HTML 4.0 W3C Recommendation is also available in the following formats:
`
`A plain text file:
`http://www.w3.org/TR/REChtml40971218/html40.txt (723Kb),
`A gzip'ed tar file containing HTML documents:
`http://www.w3.org/TR/REChtml40971218/html40.tgz (339Kb),
`A zip file containing HTML documents (this is a '.zip' file not an '.exe'):
`http://www.w3.org/TR/REChtml40971218/html40.zip (372Kb),
`A Postscript file:
`http://www.w3.org/TR/REChtml40971218/html40.ps (4.4Mb, 363 pages),
`A PDF file:
`http://www.w3.org/TR/REChtml40971218/html40.pdf (2.1Mb) file.
`
`In case of a discrepancy between electronic and printed forms of the specification, the electronic version
`is the definitive version.
`
`Available languages
`
`The English version of this specification is the only normative version. However, for translations of this
`document, see http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html40updates/translations.html.
`
`Errata
`
`The list of known errors in this specification is available at http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html40
`updates/html40errata.html
`
`Please report errors in this document to wwwhtmleditor@w3.org.
`Table of Contents
`
`1. About the HTML 4.0 Specification
`1. How the specification is organized
`2. Document conventions
`1. Elements and attributes
`2. Notes and examples
`3. Acknowledgments
`4. Copyright Notice
`2. Introduction to HTML 4.0
`1. What is the World Wide Web?
`1. Introduction to URIs
`2. Fragment identifiers
`3. Relative URIs
`2. What is HTML?
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`AHBLT-2011.002
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`1. A brief history of HTML
`3. HTML 4.0
`1. Internationalization
`2. Accessibility
`3. Tables
`4. Compound documents
`5. Style sheets
`6. Scripting
`7. Printing
`4. Authoring documents with HTML 4.0
`1. Separate structure and presentation
`2. Consider universal accessibility to the Web
`3. Help user agents with incremental rendering
`3. On SGML and HTML
`1. Introduction to SGML
`2. SGML constructs used in HTML
`1. Elements
`2. Attributes
`3. Character references
`4. Comments
`3. How to read the HTML DTD
`1. DTD Comments
`2. Parameter entity definitions
`3. Element declarations
`Content model definitions
`4. Attribute declarations
`DTD entities in attribute definitions
`Boolean attributes
`4. Conformance: requirements and recommendations
`1. Definitions
`2. SGML
`3. The text/html content type
`5. HTML Document Representation Character sets, character encodings, and entities
`1. The Document Character Set
`2. Character encodings
`1. Choosing an encoding
`Notes on specific encodings
`2. Specifying the character encoding
`3. Character references
`1. Numeric character references
`2. Character entity references
`4. Undisplayable characters
`6. Basic HTML data types Character data, colors, lengths, URIs, content types, etc.
`1. Case information
`2. SGML basic types
`3. Text strings
`4. URIs
`5. Colors
`1. Notes on using colors
`6. Lengths
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`AHBLT-2011.003
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`7. Content types (MIME types)
`8. Language codes
`9. Character encodings
`10. Single characters
`11. Dates and times
`12. Link types
`13. Media descriptors
`14. Script data
`15. Style sheet data
`16. Frame target names
`7. The global structure of an HTML document The HEAD and BODY of a document
`1. Introduction to the structure of an HTML document
`2. HTML version information
`3. The HTML element
`4. The document head
`1. HEAD element
`2. The TITLE element
`3. The title attribute
`4. Meta data
`Specifying meta data
`The META element
`Meta data profiles
`5. The document body
`1. The BODY element
`2. Element identifiers: the id and class attributes
`3. Blocklevel and inline elements
`4. Grouping elements: the DIV and SPAN elements
`5. Headings: The H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6 elements
`6. The ADDRESS element
`8. Language information and text direction International considerations for text
`1. Specifying the language of content: the lang attribute
`1. Language codes
`2. Inheritance of language codes
`3. Interpretation of language codes
`2. Specifying the direction of text and tables: the dir attribute
`1. Introduction to the bidirectional algorithm
`2. Inheritance of text direction information
`3. Setting the direction of embedded text
`4. Overriding the bidirectional algorithm: the BDO element
`5. Character references for directionality and joining control
`6. The effect of style sheets on bidirectionality
`9. Text Paragraphs, Lines, and Phrases
`1. White space
`2. Structured text
`1. Phrase elements: EM, STRONG, DFN, CODE, SAMP, KBD, VAR, CITE, ABBR, and ACRONYM
`2. Quotations: The BLOCKQUOTE and Q elements
`Rendering quotations
`3. Subscripts and superscripts: the SUB and SUP elements
`3. Lines and Paragraphs
`1. Paragraphs: the P element
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`AHBLT-2011.004
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`2. Controlling line breaks
`Forcing a line break: the BR element
`Prohibiting a line break
`3. Hyphenation
`4. Preformatted text: The PRE element
`5. Visual rendering of paragraphs
`4. Marking document changes: The INS and DEL elements
`10. Lists Unordered, Ordered, and Definition Lists
`1. Introduction to lists
`2. Unordered lists (UL), ordered lists (OL), and list items (LI)
`3. Definition lists: the DL, DT, and DD elements
`1. Visual rendering of lists
`4. The DIR and MENU elements
`11. Tables
`1. Introduction to tables
`2. Elements for constructing tables
`1. The TABLE element
`Table directionality
`2. Table Captions: The CAPTION element
`3. Row groups: the THEAD, TFOOT, and TBODY elements
`4. Column groups: the COLGROUP and COL elements
`The COLGROUP element
`The COL element
`Calculating the number of columns in a table
`Calculating the width of columns
`5. Table rows: The TR element
`6. Table cells: The TH and TD elements
`Cells that span several rows or columns
`3. Table formatting by visual user agents
`1. Borders and rules
`2. Horizontal and vertical alignment
`Inheritance of alignment specifications
`3. Cell margins
`4. Table rendering by nonvisual user agents
`1. Associating header information with data cells
`2. Categorizing cells
`3. Algorithm to find heading information
`5. Sample table
`12. Links Hypertext and MediaIndependent Links
`1. Introduction to links and anchors
`1. Visiting a linked resource
`2. Other link relationships
`3. Specifying anchors and links
`4. Link titles
`5. Internationalization and links
`2. The A element
`1. Syntax of anchor names
`2. Nested links are illegal
`3. Anchors with the id attribute
`4. Unavailable and unidentifiable resources
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`AHBLT-2011.005
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`3. Document relationships: the LINK element
`1. Forward and reverse links
`2. Links and external style sheets
`3. Links and search engines
`4. Path information: the BASE element
`1. Resolving relative URIs
`13. Objects, Images, and Applets
`1. Introduction to objects, images, and applets
`2. Including an image: the IMG element
`3. Generic inclusion: the OBJECT element
`1. Rules for rendering objects
`2. Object initialization: the PARAM element
`3. Global naming schemes for objects
`4. Object declarations and instantiations
`4. Including an applet: the APPLET element
`5. Notes on embedded documents
`6. Image maps
`1. Clientside image maps: the MAP and AREA elements
`Clientside image map examples
`2. Serverside image maps
`7. Visual presentation of images, objects, and applets
`1. Width and height
`2. White space around images and objects
`3. Borders
`4. Alignment
`8. How to specify alternate text
`14. Style Sheets Adding style to HTML documents
`1. Introduction to style sheets
`2. Adding style to HTML
`1. Setting the default style sheet language
`2. Inline style information
`3. Header style information: the STYLE element
`4. Media types
`3. External style sheets
`1. Preferred and alternate style sheets
`2. Specifying external style sheets
`4. Cascading style sheets
`1. Mediadependent cascades
`2. Inheritance and cascading
`5. Hiding style data from user agents
`6. Linking to style sheets with HTTP headers
`15. Alignment, font styles, and horizontal rules
`1. Formatting
`1. Background color
`2. Alignment
`3. Floating objects
`Float an object
`Float text around an object
`
`2. Fonts
`1. Font style elements: the TT, I, B, BIG, SMALL, STRIKE, S, and U elements
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`AHBLT-2011.006
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`2. Font modifier elements: FONT and BASEFONT
`3. Rules: the HR element
`16. Frames Multiview presentation of documents
`1. Introduction to frames
`2. Layout of frames
`1. The FRAMESET element
`Rows and columns
`Nested frame sets
`Sharing data among frames
`2. The FRAME element
`Setting the initial contents of a frame
`Visual rendering of a frame
`3. Specifying target frame information
`1. Setting the default target for links
`2. Target semantics
`4. Alternate content
`1. The NOFRAMES element
`2. Long descriptions of frames
`5. Inline frames: the IFRAME element
`17. Forms Userinput Forms: Text Fields, Buttons, Menus, and more
`1. Introduction to forms
`2. Controls
`1. Control types
`3. The FORM element
`4. The INPUT element
`1. Control types created with INPUT
`2. Examples of forms containing INPUT controls
`5. The BUTTON element
`6. The SELECT, OPTGROUP, and OPTION elements
`1. Preselected options
`7. The TEXTAREA element
`8. The ISINDEX element
`9. Labels
`1. The LABEL element
`10. Adding structure to forms: the FIELDSET and LEGEND elements
`11. Giving focus to an element
`1. Tabbing navigation
`2. Access keys
`12. Disabled and readonly controls
`1. Disabled controls
`2. Readonly controls
`13. Form submission
`1. Form submission method
`2. Successful controls
`3. Processing form data
`Step one: Identify the successful controls
`Step two: Build a form data set
`Step three: Encode the form data set
`Step four: Submit the encoded form data set
`4. Form content types
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`AHBLT-2011.007
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`application/xwwwformurlencoded
`multipart/formdata
`18. Scripts Animated Documents and Smart Forms
`1. Introduction to scripts
`2. Designing documents for user agents that support scripting
`1. The SCRIPT element
`2. Specifying the scripting language
`The default scripting language
`Local declaration of a scripting language
`References to HTML elements from a script
`3. Intrinsic events
`4. Dynamic modification of documents
`3. Designing documents for user agents that don't support scripting
`1. The NOSCRIPT element
`2. Hiding script data from user agents
`19. SGML reference information for HTML Formal definition of HTML and validation
`1. document Document Validation
`2. Sample SGML catalog
`20. SGML Declaration of HTML 4.0
`1. SGML Declaration
`21. Document Type Definition
`22. Transitional Document Type Definition
`23. Frameset Document Type Definition
`24. Character entity references in HTML 4.0
`1. Introduction to character entity references
`2. Character entity references for ISO 88591 characters
`1. The list of characters
`3. Character entity references for symbols, mathematical symbols, and Greek letters
`1. The list of characters
`4. Character entity references for markupsignificant and internationalization characters
`1. The list of characters
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`A. Changes between HTML 3.2 and HTML 4.0
`1. Changes to elements
`1. New elements
`2. Deprecated elements
`3. Obsolete elements
`2. Changes to attributes
`3. Changes for accessibility
`4. Changes for meta data
`5. Changes for text
`6. Changes for links
`7. Changes for tables
`8. Changes for images, objects, and image maps
`9. Changes for forms
`10. Changes for style sheets
`11. Changes for frames
`12. Changes for scripting
`13. Changes for internationalization
`B. Performance, Implementation, and Design Notes
`1. Notes on invalid documents
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`AHBLT-2011.008
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`2. Special characters in URI attribute values
`1. NonASCII characters in URI attribute values
`2. Ampersands in URI attribute values
`3. SGML implementation notes
`1. Line breaks
`2. Specifying nonHTML data
`Element content
`Attribute values
`3. SGML features with limited support
`4. Boolean attributes
`5. Marked Sections
`6. Processing Instructions
`7. Shorthand markup
`4. Notes on helping search engines index your Web site
`1. Search robots
`The robots.txt file
`Robots and the META element
`5. Notes on tables
`1. Design rationale
`Dynamic reformatting
`Incremental display
`Structure and presentation
`Row and column groups
`Accessibility
`2. Recommended Layout Algorithms
`Fixed Layout Algorithm
`Autolayout Algorithm
`6. Notes on forms
`1. Incremental display
`2. Future projects
`7. Notes on scripting
`1. Reserved syntax for future script macros
`Current Practice for Script Macros
`8. Notes on frames
`9. Notes on accessibility
`10. Notes on security
`1. Security issues for forms
`
`References
`1. Normative references
`2. Informative references
`Index of Elements
`Index of Attributes
`Index
`
`Copyright © 1997 W3C (MIT, INRIA, Keio ), All Rights Reserved.
`
`next table of contents elements attributes index
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`AHBLT-2011.009
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