- XHTML Block Text Module

This module defines all of the basic text container elements, attributes, and their content models that are "block level". Note that while the concept of "block level" can be construed as a presentation aspect, in this case it is intended to only have a semantic meaning.

Element	Attributes	Minimal Content Model
address	Common	(PCDATA \| Inline)*
blockcode	Common	(PCDATA \| Inline \| Heading \| Block \| List)*
blockquote	Common	(PCDATA \| Inline \| Heading \| Block \| List)*
div	Common	(PCDATA \| Flow)*
h	Common	(PCDATA \| Inline)*
h1	Common	(PCDATA \| Inline)*
h2	Common	(PCDATA \| Inline)*
h3	Common	(PCDATA \| Inline)*
h4	Common	(PCDATA \| Inline)*
h5	Common	(PCDATA \| Inline)*
h6	Common	(PCDATA \| Inline)*
hr	Common	EMPTY
p	Common	(PCDATA \| Inline \| List \| blockcode \| blockquote \| pre \| table)*
pre	Common	(PCDATA \| Inline)*
section	Common	(PCDATA \| Flow)*

Note that the use of the words Block and Inline here are meant to be suggestive of the role the content sets play. They are not normative with regards to presentation since a style sheet might give any element within the Block content a display property of inline.

8.1. The address element

The address element may be used by authors to supply contact information for a document or a major part of a document such as a form. This element often appears at the beginning or end of a document.

content model of address element

The content model of the address element should be improved to improve its semantic processability.

Attributes

The Common collection: A collection of other attribute collections, including: Core, Events, I18N, Bi-directional, Edit, Embedding, Map, and Hypertext

Example:

<address href="mailto:webmaster@example.net">Webmaster</address>

8.2. The blockcode element

This element indicates that its contents are a block of "code" (see the code element). This element is similar to the pre element, in that whitespace in the enclosed text has semantic relevance. The whitespace should normally be included in visual renderings of the content.

Non-visual user agents are not required to respect extra white space in the content of a blockcode element.

Attributes

The Common collection: A collection of other attribute collections, including: Core, Events, I18N, Bi-directional, Edit, Embedding, Map, and Hypertext

The following example shows a code fragment:

<blockcode class="Perl">
sub squareFn {
    my $var = shift;

    return $var * $var ;
}
</blockcode>

Here is how this might be rendered:

sub squareFn {
    my $var = shift;

    return $var * $var ;
}

8.3. The blockquote element

Attributes

The Common collection: A collection of other attribute collections, including: Core, Events, I18N, Bi-directional, Edit, Embedding, Map, and Hypertext

This example formats an excerpt from "The Two Towers", by J.R.R. Tolkien, as a blockquote.

<blockquote cite="http://www.example.com/tolkien/twotowers.html">
<p>They went in single file, running like hounds on a strong scent,
and an eager light was in their eyes. Nearly due west the broad
swath of the marching Orcs tramped its ugly slot; the sweet grass
of Rohan had been bruised and blackened as they passed.</p>
</blockquote>

8.4. The div element

The div element, in conjunction with the id and class attributes, offers a generic mechanism for adding extra structure to documents. This element defines no presentational idioms on the content. Thus, authors may use this element in conjunction with style sheets, the xml:lang attribute, etc., to tailor XHTML to their own needs and tastes.

Attributes

The Common collection: A collection of other attribute collections, including: Core, Events, I18N, Bi-directional, Edit, Embedding, Map, and Hypertext

For example, suppose you wish to make a presentation in XHTML, where each slide is enclosed in a separate element. You could use a div element, with a class of slide:

<body>
    <h>The meaning of life</h>
    <p>By Huntington B. Snark</p>
    <div class="slide">
        <h>What do I mean by "life"</h>
        <p>....</p>
    </div>
    <div class="slide">
        <h>What do I mean by "mean"?</h>
        ...
    </div>
    ...
</body>

8.5. The heading elements

A heading element briefly describes the topic of the section it introduces. Heading information may be used by user agents, for example, to construct a table of contents for a document automatically.

Attributes

The Common collection: A collection of other attribute collections, including: Core, Events, I18N, Bi-directional, Edit, Embedding, Map, and Hypertext

There are two styles of headings in XHTML: the numbered versions h1, h2 etc., and the structured version h, which is used in combination with the section element.

There are six levels of numbered headings in XHTML with h1 as the most important and h6 as the least. The visual presentation of headers can render more important headings in larger fonts than less important ones.

Structured headings use the single h element, in combination with the section element to indicate the structure of the document, and the nesting of the sections indicates the importance of the heading. The heading for the section is the one that is a child of the section element.

For example:

<body>
<h>This is a top level heading</h>
<p>....</p>
<section>
    <p>....</p>
    <h>This is a second-level heading</h>
    <p>....</p>
    <h>This is another second-level heading</h>
    <p>....</p>
</section>
<section>
    <p>....</p>
    <h>This is another second-level heading</h>
    <p>....</p>
    <section>
        <h>This is a third-level heading</h>
        <p>....</p>
    </section>
</section>

These visual representation of these levels can be distinguished in a style sheet:

h {font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-size: 200%}
section h {font-size: 150%} /* A second-level heading */
section section h {font-size: 120%} /* A third-level heading */

etc.

Numbered sections and references
XHTML does not itself cause section numbers to be generated from headings. Style sheet languages such as CSS however allow authors to control the generation of section numbers.

The practice of skipping heading levels is considered to be bad practice. The series h1 h2 h1 is acceptable, while h1 h3 h1 is not, since the heading level h2 has been skipped.

8.6. The hr element

Remove or rename hr

It has been suggested that hr be removed or renamed to, for instance, <separator/>. The working group has not yet addressed this suggestion.

Attributes

The Common collection: A collection of other attribute collections, including: Core, Events, I18N, Bi-directional, Edit, Embedding, Map, and Hypertext

8.7. The p element

In comparison with earlier versions of HTML, where a paragraph could only contain inline text, XHTML2's paragraphs represent the conceptual idea of a paragraph, and so may contain lists, blockquotes, pre's and tables as well as inline text. They may not, however, contain directly nested p elements.

Attributes

The Common collection: A collection of other attribute collections, including: Core, Events, I18N, Bi-directional, Edit, Embedding, Map, and Hypertext

Example:

<p>Payment options include:
<ul>
<li>cash</li>
<li>credit card</li>
<li>luncheon vouchers.</li>
</ul>
</p>

8.8. The pre element

The pre element indicates that whitespace in the enclosed text has semantic relevance, and will normally be included in visual renderings of the content.

Note that all elements in the XHTML family preserve their whitespace in the document, which is only removed on rendering, via a stylesheet, according to the rules of CSS [CSS]. This means that in principle any elements may preserve or collapse whitespace on rendering, under control of a stylesheet. Also note that there is no normative requirement that the <pre> element be rendered in a monospace font (although this is the default rendering), nor that text wrapping be disabled.

Non-visual user agents are not required to respect extra white space in the content of a pre element.

Attributes

The Common collection: A collection of other attribute collections, including: Core, Events, I18N, Bi-directional, Edit, Embedding, Map, and Hypertext

The following example shows a preformatted verse from Shelly's poem To a Skylark:

<pre>
       Higher still and higher
         From the earth thou springest
       Like a cloud of fire;
         The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.
</pre>

Here is how this might be rendered:

       Higher still and higher
         From the earth thou springest
       Like a cloud of fire;
         The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.

8.9. The section element

Attributes

The Common collection: A collection of other attribute collections, including: Core, Events, I18N, Bi-directional, Edit, Embedding, Map, and Hypertext

The section element, in conjunction with the h element, offers a mechanism for structuring documents into sections. This element defines content to be block-level but imposes no other presentational idioms on the content, which may otherwise be controlled from a style sheet.

By representing the structure of documents explicitely using the section and h elements gives the author greater control over presentation possibilities than the traditional implicit structuring using numbered levels of headings. For instance, it is then possible to indicate the nesting of sections by causing a border to be displayed to the left of sections.

Here is an example

<body>
<h>Events</h>
<section>
    <h>Introduction</h>
    <p>....</p>
    <h>Specifying events</h>
    <p>...</p>
    <section>
        <h>Attaching events to the handler</h>
        <p>...</p>
    </section>
    <section>
        <h>Attaching events to the listener</h>
        <p>...</p>
    </section>
    <section>
        <h>Specifying the binding elsewhere</h>
        <p>...</p>
    </section>
</section>

8. XHTML Block Text Module

8.1. The address element

8.2. The blockcode element

8.3. The blockquote element

8.4. The div element

8.5. The heading elements

8.6. The hr element

8.7. The p element

8.8. The pre element

8.9. The section element