WebHints: Lexical Structure

HTML Character Set

HTML assumes the ISO Latin-1 character set. This is an 8-bit, 256-character character set that is an extended form of ASCII. Most browsers support it. However, it is safest to stick to 7-bit printable ASCII if possible.

Just four characters are special in the HTML syntax: <>&". These can be escaped as follows:

• < &lt;
• > &gt;
• & &amp;
• " &quot;

Spacing

HTML is a free-form text language that treats any run of whitespace characters (spaces, tabs, newlines) into a single space. By default, all text is "paragraphed".

• Use <P> to start each paragraph.
• Use <BR> to forcibly end a line.
• Use <HR> to draw a horizontal rule.
• Multiple, adjacent spacing elements tend to cancel (e.g. <P><P>==<P>).

Comments

Comments in HTML code are delimited by <!-- and -->. For example:

<!-- This is a comment in some HTML text. -->
<!-- This is a second comment line. -->

Comments don't nest. Formally, comments are allowed to span multiple lines, but some browsers can't cope with multiple-line comments.

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