Oracle WebServer User's Guide

Body Tags

The body tags specifically identify the body components in an HTML document. The body of an HTML document can contain links, text, and formatting information inside of the <BODY> and </BODY> tags.

Body Tag

The body of the document should be marked off with the <BODY> and </BODY> tags. This is the part of the document that is displayed as the page of text and graphics on your Web browser.

Heading Levels

When writing an HTML document, organize the text by heading levels to reflect its structure and organization. The first heading would be level 1, the next sub heading level 2, and so on. Most browsers recognize up to six heading levels, with six distinct styles. Heading levels above 6 are indistinguishable from one another.

The largest heading is a level 1 heading. The syntax of the head 1 is as follows:

<H1>Hockey Greats on Offense</H1>

Other headings can be created as follows:

<Hx>Text here</Hx>

where x is a number between 1 and 6 specifying the heading level. For example, if your next heading level is a level 3, the syntax would look like the following:

<H3>Hockey Defense </H3>

Paragraph Tag

Unlike most word processors, HTML usually ignores carriage returns. Word wrapping can occur at any point in your source file. Therefore, paragraphs must be separated with the <P> tag. If you do not separate your paragraphs with the <P> tag, your document will look like one long paragraph.

Preformatted Tag

The preformatted tag, <PRE>, allows you to present text formatted specifically to a screen. The preformatted text ends at the closing </PRE> tag. Within the preformatted text:

Line breaks move to the next line

The <P> tag is moved to the next line

Horizontal tabs move in multiples of eight

A fixed width font is used for all characters after the <PRE> tag.

Avoid using tags that define paragraph formatting, such as headings or address, within the <PRE> tags. They will have no effect.

Let's incorporate some of the previous examples to show what the document looks like with a title, a couple of heading level tags, and a few paragraphs:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>All the Hockey Greats</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<H1>All the Hockey Greats Before 1970</H1>
<H2>The Original Six Teams</H2>
This section deals with all of the hockey legends before the expansion.<P>
The game was very different for these players.<P>
There is no way New Jersey would have won the Stanley Cup. New Jersey just would not have had the talent to do it.<P>
Chicago would still be on top.<P>
All would be well.<P>
</BODY>
</HTML>

The result would display something like this:

All The Hockey Greats Before 1970

The Original Six Teams

This section deals with all of the hockey legends before the expansion.

The game was very different for these players.

There is no way New Jersey would have won the Stanley Cup. New Jersey just would not have had the talent to do it.

Chicago would still be on top.

All would be well.

Note: The title, "All the Hockey Greats," would not show within the document itself. On most browsers it would be displayed in the title bar.

Forced Line Breaks

The <BR> tag forces a line to break . The best example of the use of this tag is for formatting addresses, or some other sequence of lines where you don't want the browser to add extra spacing. For example:

Sandy's Super Sundaes<BR>
123 Main Street<BR>
Anytown, USA<BR>

BlockQuote

The <BLOCKQUOTE> tag is used to contain text quoted from another source. The quote will be indented approximately 8 spaces. For example:

My favorite hockey saying is<P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Today is a great day for hockey.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
But I'm not sure if Bob Johnson really said it like that.</P>

This would appear something like the following:

My favorite hockey saying is

Today is a great day for hockey.

But I'm not sure if Bob Johnson really said it like that.

Summary of Basic HTML Tags

The following table lists the basic HTML tags and their corresponding values:

Opening Closing Definition
<HTML> </HTML> An entire HTML document
<HEAD> </HEAD> The prologue of the document
<TITLE> </TITLE> Title of the document
<BODY> </BODY> Content of the document
<H1> </H2> First level heading
<H2> </H2> Second level heading
<H3> </H3> Third level heading
<H4> </H4> Fourth level heading
<H5> </H5> Fifth level heading
<H6> </H6> Sixth level heading
<P> Paragraph
<PRE> </PRE> Preformatted text
<BR> Forced line break
<BLOCKQUOTE> </BLOCKQUOTE> Text quoted from another source

The previous section provides all you need to know to get started with HTML. At this point you can write a simple document in HTML. However, the following sections show you how to enhance your HTML pages to present information in many different fashions.

*Opening*	*Closing*	*Definition*
<HTML>	</HTML>	An entire HTML document
<HEAD>	</HEAD>	The prologue of the document
<TITLE>	</TITLE>	Title of the document
<BODY>	</BODY>	Content of the document
<H1>	</H2>	First level heading
<H2>	</H2>	Second level heading
<H3>	</H3>	Third level heading
<H4>	</H4>	Fourth level heading
<H5>	</H5>	Fifth level heading
<H6>	</H6>	Sixth level heading
<P>		Paragraph
<PRE>	</PRE>	Preformatted text
<BR>		Forced line break
<BLOCKQUOTE>	</BLOCKQUOTE>	Text quoted from another source