Appendix B: Basic HTML Reference | Java & BAPI Technology for SAP

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HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the text-formatting language of the Web. This appendix explains to the beginning HTML user how the language works, and provides the basic syntax for the most commonly used commands as of version 4.0. HTML and the Web are evolving at a rapid rate, so a good way to get the latest information on them is from the WWW Consortium, which can be found at www.w3.org.

The quick evolution of this language as well as small differences in the way various browsers handle HTML commands can pose a problem for HTML page developers. This appendix attempts to be browser neutral. When developing your HTML pages, you should understand what kind of browser your audience will be using. If your Web page is going to be accessed inside a company that only uses brand XYZ browser, then you can safely use HTML commands specifically for that browser. If, however, your page will be accessed on the Internet, you must try to keep your HTML as generic as possible. You can test your HTML screens for compliance to the HTML standards by going to the W3C HTML Validation Service Web site at validator.w3.org.

Basics

The HTML language comprises elements and attributes to these elements. Some elements require both a start and an end tag, whereas others require only one tag.

An example of a typical HTML element follows.

<ELEMENT Attribute1="value" Attribute2="value">  text or other elements </ELEMENT>

Note

This appendix assumes that anything enclosed in angle brackets in HTML is a tag and that an element is all the tags associated with a command.

HTML elements may be contained within each other, but the closing tags must appear in the reverse order from the starting tags. Thus <A> . . . </A> is valid, but <A> . . . </A> would result in a syntax error.

Spaces are important in the HTML language. In general, HTML condenses all consecutive white spaces into a single white space. Also, in starting tags for elements, the element name must immediately follow the opening angle bracket (<). HTML is not case sensitive.

Note

Many HTML programmers and even some HTML authoring tools leave off the closing tag on some elements. They assume, for instance, that when the browser finds a (for new paragraph), it will know that the preceding paragraph has come to an end. But with the HTML language becoming more verbose, some browsers are becoming sensitive to the closing tag; therefore, it is a good idea to use closing tags regularly.

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