Re: <p> ... </p>

At 12:53 19/12/95 +0000, you wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I seem to have started an argument over the definition of paragraphs - oops!
>
>However, nobody actually answered my query about where the <p> / </p>
>should be used, in relation to things like <ul>, <ol>, even <form> etc!

Have you looked at the charts HALSoft has prepared? For example, with the
2.0 DTD, http://www.halsoft.com/sgml/html-2.0/html-2.0-index.html , they show:

P

Required Parts 
     <P>characters... 
All Parts 
     <P>characters... <A> <IMG> <BR> <EM> <STRONG> <CODE> <SAMP> <KBD>
     <VAR> <CITE> <TT> <B> <I> </P> 
Allowed In Content Of... 
     <ADDRESS> <BLOCKQUOTE> <BODY> <DD> <FORM> <LI> 

>I try to use </P> generally, though I know it is optional - I might 
>start to omit it in order to make some documents smaller  (well its 
>four bytes shorter per paragraph!). However, its where it *is* needed 
>and where <p> should be used that confuses me.

One thing which confuses the issue is that certain popular browsers (eg.
Netscape) often render their display diffently depending on whether the </P>
is explicitly stated or is omitted. Sadly, pragmatic considerations confuse
the issue.

Another thought is that while the location of an implied </P> can be
determined, such a parser is hardly a trivial matter. I can envision a
number of applications where a prepass parser might insert all the implied
paragraph end tags. This "normalized" format could then allow much easier
subsequent manipulation.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Harold A. Driscoll                       mailto:harold@driscoll.chi.il.us
#include <std/disclaimer>      http://homepage.interaccess.com/~driscoll/

Received on Tuesday, 19 December 1995 15:18:55 UTC