HTML 4.01 Specification

HTML 4.01 Specification
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HTML 4.01 Specification
W3C Recommendation 24 December 1999
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Latest version of HTML 4.01:
Latest version of HTML 4:
Latest version of HTML:
Previous version of HTML 4.01:
Previous HTML 4 Recommendation:
Editors:
Dave Raggett
dsr@w3.org
Arnaud Le Hors, W3C
Ian Jacobs, W3C
W3C
MIT
INRIA
Keio
), All Rights
Reserved. W3C
liability
trademark
document
use
and
software
licensing
rules apply.
Abstract
This specification defines the HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the
publishing language of the World Wide Web. This specification defines HTML
4.01, which is a subversion of HTML 4. In addition to the text, multimedia, and
hyperlink features of the previous versions of HTML (HTML 3.2
[HTML32]
and HTML 2.0
[RFC1866]
), HTML 4
supports more multimedia options, scripting languages, style sheets, better
printing facilities, and documents that are more accessible to users with
disabilities. HTML 4 also takes great strides towards the internationalization
of documents, with the goal of making the Web truly World Wide.
HTML 4 is an SGML application conforming to International Standard ISO 8879
-- Standard Generalized Markup Language
[ISO8879]
Status of this document
This section describes the status of this document at the time of its
publication. Other documents may supersede this document. The latest status of
this document series is maintained at the W3C.
This document specifies HTML 4.01, which is part of the HTML 4 line of
specifications. The first version of HTML 4 was HTML 4.0
[HTML40]
, published
on 18 December 1997 and revised 24 April 1998. This specification is the first
HTML 4.01 Recommendation. It includes non-editorial
changes since the 24 April version of HTML
4.0
. There have been some changes to the DTDs, for example. This document
obsoletes previous versions of HTML 4.0, although W3C will continue to make
those specifications and their DTDs available at the W3C Web site.
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 4.01 documents rather than HTML 4.0 documents. W3C
recommends that authors produce HTML 4 documents instead of HTML 3.2 documents.
For reasons of backward compatibility, W3C also recommends that tools
interpreting HTML 4 continue to support HTML 3.2 and HTML 2.0 as well.
For information about the next generation of HTML, "The Extensible HyperText
Markup Language"
[XHTML]
, please refer to the
W3C HTML Activity
and the list of
W3C Technical Reports
This document has been produced as part of the
W3C HTML Activity
. The goals of the
HTML Working Group
Members only
are discussed in the
HTML Working Group
charter
Members
only
A list of current W3C Recommendations and other technical documents can be
found at
Public discussion on HTML features takes place on
www-html@w3.org
archives of
www-html@w3.org
).
Available languages
The English version of this specification is the only normative version.
However, for translations of this document, see
Errata
The list of known errors in this specification is available at:
Please report errors in this document to
www-html-editor@w3.org
Quick Table of Contents
About the HTML 4
Specification
Introduction to
HTML 4
On SGML and
HTML
Conformance:
requirements and recommendations
HTML Document
Representation
- Character sets, character encodings, and
entities
Basic HTML data
types
- Character data, colors, lengths, URIs, content types,
etc.
The global
structure of an HTML document
- The HEAD and BODY of a
document
Language
information and text direction
- International considerations for
text
Text
Paragraphs, Lines, and Phrases
Lists
Unordered, Ordered, and Definition Lists
Tables
Links
Hypertext and Media-Independent Links
Objects,
Images, and Applets
Style
Sheets
- Adding style to HTML documents
Alignment,
font styles, and horizontal rules
Frames
- Multi-view presentation of documents
Forms
User-input Forms: Text Fields, Buttons, Menus, and more
Scripts
- Animated Documents and Smart Forms
SGML reference
information for HTML
- Formal definition of HTML and
validation
SGML Declaration of HTML
Document Type Definition
Transitional Document Type Definition
Frameset Document Type Definition
Character entity
references in HTML 4
Changes
Performance,
Implementation, and Design Notes
References
Index of
Elements
Index of
Attributes
Index
Full Table of Contents
About the HTML 4
Specification
How the specification is
organized
Document conventions
Elements and
attributes
Notes and examples
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments for the
current revision
Copyright Notice
Introduction to
HTML 4
What is the World Wide
Web?
Introduction to
URIs
Fragment
identifiers
Relative URIs
What is HTML?
A brief history of
HTML
HTML 4
Internationalization
Tables
Compound
documents
Style sheets
Scripting
Printing
Authoring documents with
HTML 4
Separate structure and
presentation
Consider universal
accessibility to the Web
Help user agents with
incremental rendering
On SGML and
HTML
Introduction to
SGML
SGML constructs used in
HTML
Elements
Attributes
Character
references
Comments
How to read the HTML
DTD
DTD Comments
Parameter entity
definitions
Element
declarations
Content model
definitions
Attribute
declarations
DTD entities in
attribute definitions
Boolean
attributes
Conformance:
requirements and recommendations
Definitions
SGML
The text/html content type
HTML Document
Representation
- Character sets, character encodings, and entities
The Document Character
Set
Character encodings
Choosing an encoding
Notes on specific
encodings
Specifying the character
encoding
Character references
Numeric character
references
Character entity
references
Undisplayable
characters
Basic HTML data
types
- Character data, colors, lengths, URIs, content types, etc.
Case information
SGML basic types
Text strings
URIs
Colors
Notes on using colors
Lengths
Content types (MIME
types)
Language codes
Character encodings
Single characters
Dates and times
Link types
Media descriptors
Script data
Style sheet data
Frame target names
The global
structure of an HTML document
- The HEAD and BODY of a document
Introduction to the
structure of an HTML document
HTML version
information
The
HTML
element
The document head
The
HEAD
element
The
TITLE
element
The
title
attribute
Meta data
Specifying meta
data
The
META
element
Meta data
profiles
The document body
The
BODY
element
Element identifiers:
the
id
and
class
attributes
Block-level and inline
elements
Grouping elements: the
DIV
and
SPAN
elements
Headings: The
H1
H2
H3
H4
H5
H6
elements
The
ADDRESS
element
Language
information and text direction
- International considerations for
text
Specifying the language
of content: the
lang
attribute
Language codes
Inheritance of
language codes
Interpretation of
language codes
Specifying the
direction of text and tables: the
dir
attribute
Introduction to the
bidirectional algorithm
Inheritance of text
direction information
Setting the direction
of embedded text
Overriding the
bidirectional algorithm: the
BDO
element
Character references
for directionality and joining control
The effect of style
sheets on bidirectionality
Text
Paragraphs, Lines, and Phrases
White space
Structured text
Phrase elements:
EM
STRONG
DFN
CODE
SAMP
KBD
VAR
CITE
ABBR
, and
ACRONYM
Quotations: The
BLOCKQUOTE
and
elements
Rendering
quotations
Subscripts and
superscripts: the
SUB
and
SUP
elements
Lines and Paragraphs
Paragraphs: the
element
Controlling line
breaks
Forcing a line break:
the
BR
element
Prohibiting a line
break
Hyphenation
Preformatted text: The
PRE
element
Visual rendering of
paragraphs
Marking document changes:
The INS and DEL elements
Lists
Unordered, Ordered, and Definition Lists
Introduction to
lists
Unordered lists
UL
),
ordered
lists
OL
), and list items (
LI
Definition lists
: the
DL
DT
, and
DD
elements
Visual rendering of
lists
The
DIR
and
elements
Tables
Introduction to
tables
Elements for
constructing tables
The
TABLE
element
Table
directionality
Table Captions: The
CAPTION
element
Row groups: the
THEAD
TFOOT
, and
TBODY
elements
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
Table rows: The
TR
element
Table cells: The
TH
and
TD
elements
Cells that span
several rows or columns
Table formatting by
visual user agents
Borders and
rules
Horizontal and
vertical alignment
Inheritance of
alignment specifications
Cell margins
Table rendering by
non-visual user agents
Associating header
information with data cells
Categorizing
cells
Algorithm to find
heading information
Sample table
Links
Hypertext and Media-Independent Links
Introduction to links
and anchors
Visiting a linked
resource
Other link
relationships
Specifying anchors and
links
Link titles
Internationalization
and links
The
element
Syntax of anchor
names
Nested links are
illegal
Anchors with the
id
attribute
Unavailable and
unidentifiable resources
Document relationships:
the
LINK
element
Forward and reverse
links
Links and external
style sheets
Links and search
engines
Path information: the
BASE
element
Resolving relative URIs
Objects,
Images, and Applets
Introduction to
objects, images, and applets
Including an image:
the
IMG
element
Generic inclusion: the
OBJECT
element
Rules for rendering
objects
Object
initialization: the
PARAM
element
Global naming
schemes for objects
Object declarations
and instantiations
Including an applet:
the
APPLET
element
Notes on embedded
documents
Image maps
Client-side image
maps: the
MAP
and
AREA
elements
Client-side image
map examples
Server-side image
maps
Visual presentation of
images, objects, and applets
Width and
height
White space around
images and objects
Borders
Alignment
How to specify
alternate text
Style
Sheets
- Adding style to HTML documents
Introduction to style
sheets
Adding style to
HTML
Setting the default
style sheet language
Inline style
information
Header style
information: the
STYLE
element
Media types
External style
sheets
Preferred and
alternate style sheets
Specifying external
style sheets
Cascading style
sheets
Media-dependent
cascades
Inheritance and
cascading
Hiding style data from
user agents
Linking to style
sheets with HTTP headers
Alignment,
font styles, and horizontal rules
Formatting
Background
color
Alignment
Floating
objects
Float an
object
Float text
around an object
Fonts
Font style
elements: the
TT
BIG
SMALL
STRIKE
, and
elements
Font modifier
elements:
FONT
and
BASEFONT
Rules: the
HR
element
Frames
- Multi-view presentation of documents
Introduction to
frames
Layout of frames
The
FRAMESET
element
Rows and
columns
Nested frame
sets
Sharing data among
frames
The
FRAME
element
Setting the
initial contents of a frame
Visual rendering
of a frame
Specifying target
frame information
Setting the default
target for links
Target
semantics
Alternate content
The
NOFRAMES
element
Long descriptions of
frames
Inline frames: the
IFRAME
element
Forms
User-input Forms: Text Fields, Buttons, Menus, and more
Introduction to
forms
Controls
Control
types
The
FORM
element
The
INPUT
element
Control types
created with INPUT
Examples of forms
containing INPUT controls
The
BUTTON
element
The
SELECT
OPTGROUP
, and
OPTION
elements
Pre-selected
options
The
TEXTAREA
element
The
ISINDEX
element
Labels
The
LABEL
element
Adding structure to
forms: the
FIELDSET
and
LEGEND
elements
Giving focus to an
element
Tabbing
Access keys
Disabled and
read-only controls
Disabled
controls
Read-only
controls
Form submission
Form submission
method
Successful
controls
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
Form content
types
application/x-www-form-urlencoded
multipart/form-data
Scripts
- Animated Documents and Smart Forms
Introduction to
scripts
Designing documents
for user agents that support scripting
The
SCRIPT
element
Specifying the
scripting language
The default
scripting language
Local
declaration of a scripting language
References to
HTML elements from a script
Intrinsic
events
Dynamic
modification of documents
Designing documents
for user agents that don't support scripting
The
NOSCRIPT
element
Hiding script data
from user agents
SGML reference
information for HTML
- Formal definition of HTML and validation
Document
Validation
Sample SGML
catalog
SGML Declaration of HTML
SGML
Declaration
Document Type Definition
Transitional Document Type Definition
Frameset Document Type Definition
Character entity
references in HTML 4
Introduction to
character entity references
Character entity
references for ISO 8859-1 characters
The list of
characters
Character entity
references for symbols, mathematical symbols, and Greek letters
The list of
characters
Character entity
references for markup-significant and internationalization characters
The list of
characters
Changes
Changes between 24
April 1998 HTML 4.0 and 24 December 1999 HTML 4.01 versions
Changes to the
specification
General
changes
On SGML and
HTML
HTML Document
Representation
Basic HTML data
types
Global structure
of an HTML document
Language
information and text direction
Tables
Links
Objects, Images,
and Applets
Style Sheets in
HTML Documents
Frames
Forms
SGML
Declaration
Strict
DTD
Notes
References
Errors that were
corrected
Minor typographical
errors that were corrected
Clarifications
Known Browser
problems
Changes between 18
December 1997 and 24 April 1998 versions
Errors that were
corrected
Minor typographical
errors that were corrected
Changes between HTML
3.2 and HTML 4.0 (18 December 1997)
Changes to
elements
New
elements
Deprecated
elements
Obsolete
elements
Changes to
attributes
Changes for
Changes for meta
data
Changes for
text
Changes for
links
Changes for
tables
Changes for images,
objects, and image maps
Changes for
forms
Changes for style
sheets
Changes for
frames
Changes for
scripting
Changes for
internationalization
Performance,
Implementation, and Design Notes
Notes on invalid
documents
Special characters in
URI attribute values
Non-ASCII characters
in URI attribute values
Ampersands in URI
attribute values
SGML implementation
notes
Line breaks
Specifying non-HTML
data
Element
content
Attribute
values
SGML features with
limited support
Boolean
attributes
Marked
Sections
Processing
Instructions
Shorthand
markup
Notes on helping search
engines index your Web site
Search robots
The robots.txt
file
Robots and the META
element
Notes on tables
Design rationale
Dynamic
reformatting
Incremental
display
Structure and
presentation
Row and column
groups
Recommended Layout
Algorithms
Fixed Layout
Algorithm
Autolayout
Algorithm
Notes on forms
Incremental
display
Future
projects
Notes on scripting
Reserved syntax for
future script macros
Current Practice
for Script Macros
Notes on
frames
Notes on
Notes on security
Security issues for
forms
References
Normative
references
Informative
references
Index of
Elements
Index of
Attributes
Index
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