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Web Design in a Nutshell, eMatter EditionChapter 7Formatting TextCHAPTER 7
Formatting Text
Designers accustomed to desktop publishing programs are usually shocked to find
how little control HTML offers over the display of the page. Before you get too
frustrated, bear in mind that HTML was not developed as a method for dictating
presentation, but rather as a means of marking the structure of a document.
In fact, the tags that do provide specific display information (
example) are usually just bastardizations of the pure HTML concept. One day,
we’ll put all of our style and presentation information in style sheets and leave
HTML markup to work as originally designed. But that’s another story (one told in
Chapter 23,Cascading Style Sheets).
This chapter looks at the nature of text in web pages and reviews the HTML tags
related to the display of text elements.
Summary of Text Tags
This section is a listing of tags used for formatting text. It is divided into the
following subgroups:
- Paragraphs and Headings (Block-Level Elements)
- Text Appearance (Inline Styles)
- Spacing and Positioning
- Lists
Browser support for each tag is noted to the right of the tag name. Browsers that
do not support the tag are grayed out. Browsers that deprecate the tag are noted
with a superscript D. Tag usage is indicated below the tag name. A more thor-
ough listing of attributes for each tag, according to the HTML 4.0 Specification,
appears in Appendix A,HTML Tags and Elements.