HTML / DHTML

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What an 'invention'! What would we do without it? Actually it was probably more an evolution, rather than something new ... Typing those 4 letters in Yahoo recently yielded some 1/4 million hits ... Perhaps you should start at www.w3.org/MarkUp/ , to learn it is based upon SGML, circa 1994/5, and is fast evolving into XHTML, to take full advantage of XML, and onwards, upwards ... see DOM also ... and Tidy, a HTML editor of type ...

Dynamic HyperText Markup Language, DHTML, happens at the client end. If the browser displaying the HTML received from the web site supports scripts, it is possible to dynamically change, re-change, and change again, the HTML being displayed. On clicking [Start] the following sample will change the text and the colour approximately each 2 seconds ... until [Stop] is clicked ...

Simple Text

On clicking [Start], with Javascript enabled, the above paragraph will be changed each few seconds, or so, by some simple script. The HTML being displayed by the browser is being changed in a small cycle, while you are watching ...

I began writing HTML around 1995. At that time there were very few helpful HTML editors. My first was the MS 16-bit Home Page Wizard, and I still use some of its background samples. I note in the file  person2.htm that by 1996 I had found a WinHTML, written in MS Visual Basic, shareware, that took some of the grudge and grind out of manually writing HTML.

Now there is a fleet of WYSIWYG editors, so you can drag and drop an image from another window, and the underlying HTML will be written. Presently I use a mixture of tools, including MS FrontPage 2000 ;-)). In addition, when writing scripts, say either client side java or server side php, you often have to add the HTML code by hand, so one must keep a reasonable knowledge of manual HTML.

I will leave it to other sites to predict some future level of HTML. Although version 4, namely XHTML, takes on the Extensible of XML, where is it really trying to go? Although some ten years have elapsed to this 2004 update, HTML has changed quite modestly, but that is good for an internationally agreed 'standard' of data exchange. One might also say HTML is perpetually -

under dynamic gif construction ;-))

While HTML is written in normal text, there are quite a number of special characters. Luckily in FP you can just type them, like normal, but the underlying HTML contains the character sequence representing that character is inserted. For example when I type the "<" (less than sign), the HTML contains "&lt;". Interesting, huh? Even the double quotation marks I used were inserted as "&quote;". You got it?

So, I've been programming in HTML for about 10 years, and love attempting to stay up with where it is going ... Here is another, server, markup language, CFML.

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There are an immense number of helpful sites out there if you want to learn HTML. Of course you should perhaps begin at the defining site, where you will find, for example, a 10 minute guide, and much, much more, but, from the above yahoo "HTML" search I visited, read, used ...

www.davesite.com/webstation/html - They vend web space, and have some very helpful tutorial pages. Gain some early insight into that beast called Cascading Style Sheets, CSS, there ... you know, like -
<STYLE>
p { text-indent : 3em; }
</STYLE>

But, where ever you learn more about this interesting language, is great ;-))

One thing that helped me was a simple table of elements ...

element

description.

a

Designates the start or destination of a hypertext link.

acronym

Indicates an acronym abbreviation.

address

Specifies information, such as address, signature, and authorship, of the current document.

applet

Places executable content on the page.

area

Defines the shape, coordinates, and associated URL of one hyperlink region within a client-side image map.

b

Specifies that the text should be rendered in bold.

base

Specifies an explicit URL used to resolve links and references to external sources such as images and style sheets.

baseFont

Sets a base font value to be used as the default font when rendering text.

bdo

Allows authors to disable the bi-directional algorithm for selected fragments of text.

bgSound

Enables an author to create pages with background sounds or soundtracks.

big

Specifies that the enclosed text should be displayed in a larger font than the current font.

blockQuote

Sets apart a quotation in text.

body

Specifies the beginning and end of the document body.

br

Inserts a line break.

button

Specifies a container for rich HTML that is rendered as a button.

caption

Specifies a brief description for a table.

center

Centers subsequent text and images.

cite

Indicates a citation by rendering text in italic.

code

Specifies a code sample, usually fixed font.

col

Specifies column-based defaults for the table properties.

colGroup

Specifies property defaults for a column or group of columns in a table.

comment

Indicates a comment that is not displayed.

custom

Represents a user-defined element.

dd

Indicates the definition in a definition list. The definition is usually indented in the definition list.

del

Indicates text that has been deleted from the document.

dfn

Indicates the defining instance of a term, usually rendered in italics.

dir

Denotes a directory list.

div

Specifies a container that renders HTML.

dl

Denotes a definition list.

dt

Indicates a definition term within a definition list.

em

Emphasizes text, usually by rendering it in italic.

embed

Allows documents of any type to be embedded.

fieldSet

Draws a box around the text and other elements that the field set contains.

font

Specifies a new font, size, and color to be used for rendering the enclosed text.

form

Specifies that the contained controls take part in a form.

frame

Specifies an individual frame within a FRAMESET element.

frameSet

Specifies a frameset, which is used to organize multiple frames and nested framesets.

head

Provides an unordered collection of information about the document.

h[n]

Renders text in heading style, 1 to ...

hr

Draws a horizontal rule.

html

Identifies the document as containing HTML elements.

i

Specifies that the text should be rendered in italic, where available.

iframe

Creates inline floating frames.

img

Embeds an image or a video clip in the document.

input

type=

description - Creates a variety of form input controls.

button

Creates a button control.

checkbox

Creates a check box control.

file

Creates a file upload object with a text box and Browse button.

hidden

Transmits state information about client/server interaction.

image

Creates an image control that, when clicked, causes the form to be immediately submitted.

password

Creates a single-line text entry control similar to the INPUT type=text control, except that text is not displayed as the user enters it.

radio

Creates a radio button control.

reset

Creates a button that, when clicked, resets the form's controls to their initial values.

submit

Creates a button that, when clicked, submits the form.

text

Creates a single-line text entry control.

ins

Specifies text that has been inserted into the document.

isIndex

Causes the browser to display a dialog window that prompts the user for a single line of input.

kbd

Renders text in a fixed-width font.

label

Specifies a label for another element on the page.

legend

Inserts a caption into the box drawn by the fieldSet object.

li

Denotes one item in a list.

link

Enables the current document to establish links to external documents.

listing

Renders text in a fixed-width font.

map

Contains coordinate data for client-side image maps.

marquee

Creates a scrolling text marquee.

menu

Creates an unordered list of items.

meta

Conveys hidden information about the document to the server and the client.

noBR

Renders text without line breaks.

noFrames

Contains HTML for browsers that do not support FRAMESET elements.

noScript

Specifies HTML to be displayed in browsers that do not support scripting.

object

Inserts an object into the HTML page.

ol

Draws lines of text as a numbered list.

optGroup

Allows authors to group choices logically in a select element.

option

Denotes one choice in a SELECT element.

p

Denotes a paragraph.

param

Sets the initial value of a property for an APPLET, EMBED, or OBJECT element.

plainText

Renders text in a fixed-width font without processing tags.

pre

Renders text in a fixed-width font.

q

Sets apart a quotation in text.

rt

Designates the ruby text for the RUBY element.

ruby

Designates an annotation or pronunciation guide to be placed above or inline with a string of text.

s

Renders text in strike-through type.

samp

Specifies a code sample.

script

Specifies a script for the page that is interpreted by a script engine.

select

Denotes a list box or drop-down list.

small

Specifies that the enclosed text should be displayed in a smaller font.

span

Specifies an inline text container.

strike

Renders text in strike-through type.

strong

Renders text in bold.

style

Specifies a style sheet for the page.

sub

Specifies that the enclosed text should be displayed in subscript, using a smaller font than the current font.

sup

Specifies that the enclosed text should be displayed in superscript, using a smaller font than the current font.

table

Specifies that the contained content is organized into a table with rows and columns.

tBody

Designates rows as the body of the table.

td

Specifies a cell in a table.

textArea

Specifies a multiline text input control.

tFoot

Designates rows as the table's footer.

th

Specifies a header column. Header columns are centered within the cell and are bold.

tHead

Designates rows as the table's header.

title

Contains the title of the document.

tr

Specifies a row in a table.

tt

Renders text in a fixed-width font.

u

Renders text that is underlined.

ul

Draws lines of text as a bulleted list.

var

Defines a programming variable. Typically renders in an italic font style.

wbr

Inserts a soft line break into a block of NOBR text.

xml

Defines an XML data island on an HTML page.

xmp

Renders text used for examples in a fixed-width font.

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This rather big list can be split into 'type', for example, those effecting the text style -

Logical Styles
<DFN> for a word being defined. Typically displayed in italics.
<EM> for emphasis. Typically displayed in italics.
<CITE> for titles of books, films, etc. Typically displayed in italics.
<CODE> for computer code. Displayed in a fixed-width font.
<KBD> for user keyboard entry. Typically displayed in plain fixed-width font.
<SAMP> for a sequence of literal characters. Displayed in a fixed-width font.
<STRONG> for strong emphasis. Typically displayed in bold.
<VAR> for a variable, to filled specific information. Typically displayed in italics.

Physical Styles
<B> bold text 
<I> italic text
<TT> typewriter text, e.g. fixed-width font. >

... and so on. If that type of division helps you remember and understand the list, then look for site that gives you that ...

When using objects, be aware that Dynamic HTML (DHTML) extends every object by providing these additional properties:

align classid code codeBase codeType data form height name object recordset type width

HTML, particularly DHTML, in the client, can be generated using javascript - On to java page ... good HTML help is important ... like -
http://www.htmlhelp.org/reference/html40/special/object.html with help like
<quote>

OBJECT - Embedded Object

Syntax <OBJECT>...</OBJECT>
Attribute Specifications
  • DATA=URI (object data)
  • CLASSID=URI (location of implementation)
  • ARCHIVE=CDATA (archive files)
  • CODEBASE=URI (base URI for CLASSID, DATA, ARCHIVE)
  • WIDTH=Length (object width)
  • HEIGHT=Length (object height)
  • NAME=CDATA (name for form submission)
  • USEMAP=URI (client-side image map)
  • TYPE=ContentType (content-type of object)
  • CODETYPE=ContentType (content-type of code)
  • STANDBY=Text (message to show while loading)
  • TABINDEX=NUMBER (position in tabbing order)
  • DECLARE (do not instantiate object)
  • ALIGN=[ top | middle | bottom | left | right ] (object alignment)
  • BORDER=Length (link border width)
  • HSPACE=Pixels (horizontal gutter)
  • VSPACE=Pixels (vertical gutter)
  • common attributes
Contents PARAM elements followed by block-level elements and/or inline elements
Contained in HEAD, inline elements, block-level elements except PRE

The OBJECT element is used to include objects such as images, videos, Java applets, and VRML worlds. OBJECT is intended to replace the more specific IMG and APPLET elements, as well as the proprietary EMBED and BGSOUND elements, though a lack of browser support and severe bugs in supporting browsers make the other elements a better choice for the time being.

OBJECT's DATA attribute specifies the URI of the embedded object. Relative URIs are interpreted with respect to the CODEBASE attribute if it is given.

and following the BGSOUND link leads to MSDN -
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/objects/BGSOUND.asp

</quote>

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checked by tidy  Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional