The Compendium of HTML Elements is a reference manual of all HTML tags in general use. Each element page contains the tag, text on how it is used, an example of its use, where possible, and the acknowledged attributes and arguments that modify that tag. The pages are being expanded to include charts to show the history of the tag and which browsers support it. This page is the introduction to the Compendium. It includes a description of the features of this particular version, currently version 6. It also contains the links to the mirror site closest to you.

The Compendium of HTML Elements

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Revision 6.01
September 4, 1997.

www.htmlcompendium.org

formerly: www.synapse.net/~woodall/html.htm

Welcome to The Compendium of HTML Elements' latest offering, revision 6.0.

This revision is the most aggressive of the three year history of the Compendium. The changes reflect the suggestions and comments, positive and negative, from the readers. Some changes are quite subtle and others and quite dramatic. We trust you will find them useful (utility first please) and pleasing.

Advertising

The Compendium is now able to offer some of the best advertising space on the World Wide Web. The site serves well an organization wishing to increase their name recognition and those marketing products directly to the technically knowledgable and to those involved in the World Wide Web. Our advertising rates are competitive and our philosophy is flexible. Please e-mail us at nor@synapse.net for more details.

Updated

W3C has recently released the recommendations for HTML 4.0. This is now reflected in the Compendium with updated information pages due to be completed in the next few weeks. Cascading Style Sheets will be out shortly after.

Improved

Better explanations:: The Compendium has tried to maintain an historical approach to HTML rather than a teaching one. This committment continues. However, the explanations were always a sore point so many are rewritten to provide a better understanding of the element of focus.
More examples:: A picture is worth a thousand words so the thousand words are being replaced by the picture where possible. Word of warning. Turn images ON.
Faster loading:: Much experimentation has gone in to decreasing the processing needed to load some of the pages. As a result, table complexity has been reduced. The tables will remain until Cascading Style Sheets are more universally supported. This is to ensure clarity in the relationships between tags, attribues and arguments. However, several nested levels of tables have been removed so the pages should load and present faster to the reader's screen.
Compatibility charts:: The compatibility charts have been improved to show 4 states - supported, deprecated, obsolete and insufficient data. This should provide a more accurate picture of the tags and their potential use. More charts have now been added down to the argument level. These will be expanded as time allows to present a comprehensive usage and historical record of all elements.
Cascading Style Sheets:: Cascading Style Sheets have now been considered in the design of the pages. As CSS becomes more universally supported, this will expand to eventually replace the tables used for formatting. This should improve download and processing times even more.
Improved contrast:: The constrast between colours has been increased to allow better printing and easier viewing in 16.7 million colours.

New

New address:: The new address of the Compendium is now www.htmlcompendium.org. The old site will now point to this new address.
New logo:: The Compendium of HTML Elements greatly appreciates the assistance of Mr. Chris Sansom in the preparation of the new logo. The logo now serves as the link to the home page. From any point in the Compendium the logo will now serve as the direct link to the sitemap.
New layout:: The layout of the Compendium has been completely altered to remove much of the clutter of the older version. The design more closely reflects the traditional black on white that everyone is so familiar with.
New search engine:: A new search engine capability has been added that will allow searching for tags, attributes and arguments. It is now possible to search the entire Compendium for a specific tag, attribute or argument.
New download capability:: The Compendium continues to expand and this revision is no exception. To alleviate the demands for bandwidth, the Compendium can now be downloaded for use from your hard disk. Check back often, however, the Compendium is updated frequently.
New CSS types now added to tag pages:: The persistance of Cascading Style Sheets in the marketplace has allowed the Compendium to expand coverage to include CSS typing for most tags.
New Element Requirements Table:: A new table has been added to the masthead of each page that describes the tag usage. The new table will inform readers of the current HTML specification's requirement for opening and closing tags — whether they are required, optional or forbidden.

Our Thanks

The Compendium of HTML Elements wishes to thank all those readers who contributed by their comments and suggestions to this latest revision.

Ron Woodall
Ottawa, Canada, August 31, 1997.