All parts of this HTML guide for Everything2 include:
(all chapters)   |   Overview/Contents/Index   |   Tags and Starting New Lines   |   Character Formatting   |   Special Characters   |   Lists   |   Giving Credit Where Credit is Due   |   Miscellaneous Tags   |   EOF: Index and Information   |   Tables   |   (Quick Start)


6: Miscellaneous Tags

I'm not imaginative enough to figure out a better category name for the rest of the tags allowed on E2. (But if you can think of a better name, I would enjoy hearing it.)



6.1: Outlines using heading levels

In the chapter about lists, I showed how to create an (indented) outline by using multiple <ol> tags. That method works well if each level only has a sentence or two of text, but when the bodies become paragraphs, it becomes a little unwieldy. The heading tags are good for this, as their purpose was to serve as headers for larger bodies of text.

There are 6 levels of header tags, <h1> ... </h6> to <h6> ... </h6>, with <h1> being the highest level header. Unlike most other tags explained in this guide, the header tags should not go inside <p> and </p> tags (nor should paragraph tags be inside header tags) - paragraphs and headings are considered to be different things. Further, heading tags should not be "skipped" - for example, there should be no <h2> pair without a <h1> pair.

Here is an example of all 6 heading levels in use:

This has <h1> at the start, and </h1> at the end.

This is level 2. Before this text is <h2>, and after it is </h2>

You should be detecting a pattern by now. This line uses <h3> and </h3>.

As you guessed, <h4> and </h4> are in use here.

Yup, </h5> ends this, and <h5> starts this. (Hee-hee, I'm being tricky now.)
<h6> and </h6> is the lowest heading level.

You may want to use these tags to change font size. This is bad for several reasons, probably the most important for display reasons is that the heading tags end up on their own line. The tags created for changing font size, <small> and <big>, are created for just that task. So if you insist on using <h1>..<h6> to change the size, I'll have to smack you with a clue by four. (Just a friendly warning.)



6.2: Horizontal Rules

I will not make a joke about how being horizontal rules. Oops, too late.
The horizontal rule tag doesn't do any formatting, but rather puts a line across the page. The tag is simply a single <hr /> (with no closing tag).
The (usually gray) line below:


was created with simply:
          <hr />

Everything2 also allows this tag to have the width attribute, which sets the width of the line. The width can be specified in pixels (little fairy-like critters) or a relative width given as a percentage. Using the percentage form is better, since it will look consistent, regardless of the browser window's width.
For this line


of width 75 pixels, my HTML was as follows:
          <hr width="75" />
But that probably looks a bit lame. This line
is a width of 75 percent, which means it should have a width of 3/4 of the thing it is in.
However, E2 currently strips out the % , leaving you back to the line of 75 pixels wide. (This is a known bug that will very likely not be fixed any time soon, although it has been a known problem for many moons (*ahem* I'm talking about revolutions of the Earth's biggest natural satellite, I don't know what you're thinking of, sheash.).)



6.3: Saying Less

If you want to use a shorter form of a word or phrase, you would use an abbreviation or acronym. However, if your reader does not know what the full version is, they may end up confused. One way to solve the problem on Everything2 is create a link from the abbreviation or acronym. Of course, if there are multiple expansions, or there are no writeups on that topic yet, your reader may still be confused. The HTML solution is the <abbr> and <acronym> tags. Simply surround your shortened form with the appropriate tag, and set the title attribute to the full version.

Of course, an example helps:
          What is the predominant fs used on the LAN?
was created by:
          What is the predominant [fs|<abbr title="file system">fs</abbr>]
          used on the [LAN|<acronym title="Local Area Network">LAN</acronym>]?
Not all browsers display these tags any differently. Some do use a dotted underline, and many provide a "tool tip" that displays when you hover the mouse pointer over an abbreviation or acronym.

Now we get into E2-specific notes (booooo). Everything strips out everything after the first space, which means only the first word will display. (Which pretty much eliminates the point of using <abbr> and <acronym> in the first place.) You also will not see anything when you form a link — Everything2 adds the target node as the link title, which will usually override your abbreviation/acronym. So what should you do? I just form a link from the shortened version (as demonstrated above), and use the tags as normal, for two reasons: in case auto link titling is disabled and it allows the user to easily find out more detailed information.


previous: Chapter 5: Giving Credit Where Credit is Due     |     next: Chapter 7: EOF: Index and Information

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