HTML The Definitive Guide (34 page)

cp source-file  dest-file 

replacing the source-file with the name of the source file, and dest-file with the name of the destination file.

Figure 4.11: The tag typically appears in preformatted (

) computer code
Like the other computer programming and documentation-related tags, the  tag not only makes it easy for users to understand and browse your documentation, but automated systems might someday use the appropriately tagged text to extract information and useful parameters mentioned in your document. Once again, the more semantic information you provide to your browser, the better it can present that information to the user.
4.4.11 The class, id, style, and title Attributes
Although each content-based tag has a defined style, you can override that style by defining your own look for each tag. This new look can be applied to the content-based tags using either the style or class
attributes. [Inline Styles: The style
Attribute, 9.1.1]
[Style Classes, 9.2.4]
You also may assign a unique identifier to the content-based style tag, as well as a less-rigorous title, using the respective attributes and their accompanying quote-enclosed string values.
[The id attribute, 4.1.1.4]
[The title attribute, 4.1.1.5]
4.4.12 The dir and lang Attributes
The dir attribute advises the browser as to which direction the text within the content-based style tag ought to be displayed, and lang lets you specify the language used within the tag.
[The dir attribute, 3.5.1.1] [The lang attribute, 3.5.1.2]
4.4.13 Event Attributes
Things happen in and around a content-based tags' content, and with the respective "on" attribute and value, you may react to
that event by displaying a user dialog, or activating some multimedia event. [JavaScript Event Handlers, 13.3.3]
4.4.14 Summary of Content-based Tags
The various graphical browsers render text inside content-based tags in similar fashion; text-only browsers like Lynx have consistent styles for the tags.
Table 4.1 summarizes these browsers' display styles for the native tags. However, style sheet
definitions may override these native display styles.
Table 4.1: Content-based Tags
Tag
Netscape
Internet Explorer
Lynx

n/a
n/a
n/a
 n/a
n/a
n/a

italic
italic
monospace

monospace monospace
monospace

n/a
italic
n/a

italic
italic
monospace

monospace monospace bold monospace

monospace monospace
monospace

bold
bold
monospace

italic
monospace
monospace
4.4.15 Allowed Content
Any content-based style tag may contain any item allowed in
text
, including conventional text, anchors, images, and line breaks. In addition, other content-based and physical style tags can be embedded within the content.
4.4.16 Allowed Usage
Any content-based style tag may be used anywhere an item allowed in
text
is used. In practice, this means you can use the , , and other like tags anywhere in your HTML document except inside