HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide, 6th Edition

Chapter 4. Text Basics

Any successful presentation, even a thoughtful tome, should have its text organized into an attractive, effective document. Organizing text into attractive and effective documents is HTML and XHTML's forte. The languages give you a number of tools that help you mold your text and get your message across. They also help structure your document so that your target audience has easy access to your words.

Always keep in mind while designing your documents (here we go again!) that the markup tags, particularly with regard to text, only advise—they do not dictate—how a browser will ultimately render the document. Rendering varies from browser to browser. Don't get too entangled with trying to get just the right look and layout. Your attempts may and probably will be thwarted by the browser.

Divisions and Paragraphs

Like most text processors, a browser wraps the words it finds to fit the horizontal width of its viewing window. Widen the browser's window, and words automatically flow upward to fill the wider lines. Squeeze the window, and words wrap downward.

Unlike most text processors, however, HTML and XHTML use explicit division (<div>), paragraph (<p>), and line-break (<br>) tags to control the alignment and flow of text. Return characters, although quite useful for readability of the source document, typically are ignored by the browser—authors must use the <br> tag to explicitly force a common text line break. The <p> tag, while also causing a line break, carries ...