Reference Section

Special characters:

It is often necessary to use 'special characters' which are not in the ASCII character set, but which modern communications require.  I mentioned the non-breaking-space ( ) right at the start of this piece, and I'll remind you here that to tell the browser that a special character is coming up, an '&' is used.  This is followed by the special character itself, and then a ';' tells the browser that the special character is finished.

Names and words in a non-English language often require accenting - and we have the choice of acute, grave and circumflex accents, plus the umlaut, tilde, ring, cedilla and those letters with a slash through them.  There are two methods of including these in your Web page.

Method 1:

In modern Irish, for example, the accent used is called a fada and is represented by a standard acute accent.  So, to write someone's name, John Murphy, say - whose Irish name is Seán Ó Murchú - requires the letters a, O, u to be given acute accents.  So you would type the code as Seán Ó Murchú.  The special character code, then, runs: & (on) - letter - accent (acute) - ; (off)

This would suffice for Irish, but should you need any others, here are all the possibilities - using a captial O as the letter to be accented:

Ó = O with an acute accent = Ó
Ò = O with a grave accent = Ò
Ô = O with a circumflex accent = Ô
Õ = O with a tilde = Õ
Ö = O with an umlaut = Ö
Ø = O with a slash through it = Ø
... and a few others, for interest's sake:
ß = German hard s = ß
Ç = C with a cedilla = Ç
å = a with a little circle above it = å
Æ = AE ligature = Æ
© = Copyright = ©
® = Registered = ®
> = Greater than = >
&lt; = Less than = <

Method 2:

An entirely different, more comprehensive - and I think better - way to do the same thing is to use the Alt Key sequences of your computer's keyboard.

There are 256 characters in the ANSI (American National Standards Intstitute) set which Windows uses, and each has a number.  Most are used for the upper and lower case letters, numbers and punctuation marks, etc, but the others supply the more common accented characters, fractions, symbols, bullets and other useful knick-knacks.  The Windows Character Map accessory (accessible via Start/Programs/Accessories/ System Tools) will tell you the Keystroke required to produce the character - first set it to display a fully specified Windows 'core font' like Arial or Times so that all the available characters are displayed.  It's a time-saver to make a list of the ones you're likely to use regularly - so, to save time, here's a fairly comprehensive one.

à = 0224       è = 0232       ì = 0236       ò = 0242       ù = 0249
á = 0225       é = 0233       í = 0237       ó = 0243       ú = 0250
â = 0226       ê = 0234       î = 0238       ô = 0244       û = 0251
ä = 0228       ë = 0235       ï = 0239       ö = 0246       ü = 0252
ã = 0227       ð = 0240       ñ = 0241       õ = 0245       œ = 0156
å = 0229       æ = 0230       ç = 0231       ÿ = 0255       ý = 0253
 
À = 0192       È = 0200       Ì = 0204       Ò = 0210       Ù = 0217
Á = 0193       É = 0201       Í = 0205       Ó = 0211       Ú = 0218
 = 0194       Ê = 0202       Î = 0206       Ô = 0212       Û = 0219
Ä = 0196       Ë = 0203       Ï = 0207       Ö = 0214       Ü = 0220
à = 0195       Ð = 0208       Ñ = 0209       Õ = 0213       Œ = 0140
Å = 0197       Æ = 0198       Ç = 0199       Ÿ = 0159       Ý = 0221
 
¿ = 0191       ¡ = 0161       © = 0169       ® = 0174       ÷ = 0247

Then, when you're writing something which requires special characters - anything at all in any Windows file, not just in a Web page ...

All right, it's not an ASCII, but an ANSI, character - so when you upload your page to your Website using your favourite FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program, make sure you set the transfer method to binary rather than ASCII, and then everything will work fine.

Some people prefer to use the former method - usually people who prefer to remember words rather than look up numbers, and/or who only use a few special characters regularly.  If you do need to include any unusual ones in your work I'm not at all sure how you find out the way to specify a ¥ or a Ð character!  Maybe the best approach is to use the former method for the ones you use frequently and can remember ... and look up the ones you can't, employing the latter method for them alone.

HTML version 3.2

Terms used in this Specification:
  URL  URL of an external file (or just file name if in the same directory)
  ?  Arbitrary number (i.e. <H?> means <H1>, <H2>, <H3>, etc.)
  %   Arbitrary percentage (i.e. <HR WIDTH="%"> means <HR WIDTH="65%">, etc.)   
  ***  Arbitrary text (i.e. ALT="***" means fill in with text)
  $$$$$$     Arbitrary hex (i.e. COLOR="#$$$$$$" means COLOR="#00FF1C", etc.)
  ,,,   Comma-delimited (i.e. COORDS=",,," means COORDS="5,20,50,40", etc.)
  |  Alternatives (i.e. align=left|right|center means pick one of these)

The Tags:
 
GENERAL (all HTML documents should have these)
Prologue <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
Document Type <HTML></HTML> (beginning and end of file)
Header <HEAD></HEAD> (descriptive info, such as title) - not always mandatory
Title <TITLE></TITLE> (must be in header)
Body <BODY></BODY> (bulk of the page)
 
STRUCTURAL DEFINITION (appearance controlled by the browser's preferences)
Heading<H?></H?>(the spec. defines 7 levels)
Align Heading <H? ALIGN=left|center|right></H?>
Division <DIV></DIV>
Align Division <DIV ALIGN=left|right|center|justify></DIV>
Block Quote <BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE> (usually indented)
Author's Address <ADDRESS></ADDRESS>
 
PRESENTATION FORMATTING (author specifies text appearance)
Bold <B></B>
Italic <I></I>
Underline <U></U>
Strikeout <STRIKE></STRIKE> (not widely implemented)
Strikeout <S></S> (not widely implemented)
Subscript <SUB></SUB>
Superscript <SUP></SUP>
Typewriter <TT></TT>(displays in a monospaced font)
Preformatted<PRE></PRE> (display text spacing as-is, in a monospaced font)
Width<PRE WIDTH=?></PRE> (in characters)
Center <CENTER></CENTER> (for both text and images)
Font Size <FONT SIZE=?></FONT> (ranges from 1-7)
Change Font Size <FONT SIZE="+|-?"></FONT>
Base Font Size <BASEFONT SIZE=?> (from 1-7; default is 3)
Font Color <FONT COLOR="#$$$$$$"></FONT>
Select Font <FONT FACE="***"></FONT>
 
LINKS
Link Something <A HREF="URL"></A>
Link to Target <A HREF="URL#***"></A> (if in another document)
 <A HREF="#***"></A> (if in current document)
Target Window <A HREF="URL" TARGET="***"></A>
Define Target <A NAME="***"></A>
Map <MAP NAME="***"></MAP> (describes the map)
Section<AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS=",,," HREF="URL"|NOHREF>
Client Pull <META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="?; URL=URL">
Embed Object<EMBED SRC="URL"> (insert object into page)
Object Size <EMBED SRC="URL" WIDTH=? HEIGHT=?>
 
GRAPHICS
Display Image <IMG SRC="URL">
Alignment <IMG SRC="URL" ALIGN=top|bottom|middle|left|right>
Alignment <IMG SRC="URL" ALIGN=texttop|absmiddle|baseline|absbottom>
Alternate <IMG SRC="URL" ALT="***"> (if image not displayed)
Dimensions <IMG SRC="URL" WIDTH=? HEIGHT=?> (in pixels)
Border <IMG SRC="URL" BORDER=?> (in pixels)
Runaround Space <IMG SRC="URL" HSPACE=? VSPACE=?> (in pixels)
Low-Res Proxy <IMG SRC="URL" LOWSRC="URL">
Imagemap <IMG SRC="URL" ISMAP>(requires a script)
Imagemap <IMG SRC="URL" USEMAP="URL">
 
DIVIDERS
Paragraph <P></P> (closing tag unnecessary)
Align Text <P ALIGN=left|center|right|justify></P>
Line Break <BR> (a single carriage return)
Clear Textwrap <BR CLEAR=left|right|all>
Horizontal Rule <HR>
Alignment <HR ALIGN=left|right|center>
Thickness <HR SIZE=?> (in pixels)
Width <HR WIDTH=?>(in pixels)
Width Percent <HR WIDTH="%">(as a percentage of page width)
Solid Line <HR NOSHADE>(without the 3D cutout look)
No Break <NOBR></NOBR> (prevents line breaks)
Word Break <WBR> (where to break a line if needed)
 
LISTS (lists can be nested)
Unordered List <UL><LI></UL> (<LI> before each list item)
Bullet Type <UL TYPE=disc|circle|square> (for the whole list)
 <LI TYPE=disc|circle|square> (this & subsequent)
Ordered List<OL><LI></OL> (<LI> before each list item)
Numbering Type <OL TYPE=A|a|I|i|1> (for the whole list)
 <LI TYPE=A|a|I|i|1> (this & subsequent)
Starting Number <OL START=?> (for the whole list)
 <LI VALUE=?> (this & subsequent)
Definition List <DL><DT><DD></DL> (<DT>=term, <DD>=definition)
 
BACKGROUNDS AND COLOURS
Tiled Bkground <BODY BACKGROUND="URL">
Bkground Color <BODY BGCOLOR="#$$$$$$"> (order is red/green/blue)
Text Color <BODY TEXT="#$$$$$$">
Link Color <BODY LINK="#$$$$$$">
Visited Link<BODY VLINK="#$$$$$$">
Active Link <BODY ALINK="#$$$$$$">
Colour names and RGB values:
"Black" = "#000000" "Green" = "#008000"
"Red" = "#FF0000" "Blue" = "#0000FF"
"White" = "#FFFFFF" "Yellow" = "#FFFF00"
"Maroon" = "#800000" "Navy" = "#000080"
"Purple" = "#800080"        "Teal" = "#008080"
"Fuchsia" = "#FF00FF" "Aqua" = "#00FFFF"
"Silver" = "#C0C0C0" "Lime" = "#00FF00"
"Gray" = "#808080" "Olive" = "#808000"
(More info at <http://werbach.com/web/wwwhelp.html#color>)
 
SPECIAL CHARACTERS (these must all be in lower case)
Special Character &#?; (where ? is the ISO 8859-1 code)
< &lt;
> &gt;
& &amp;
" &quot;
Registered TM&reg;
Copyright &copy;
Non-Breaking Space &nbsp;
(Complete list at <http://www.uni-passau.de/%7Eramsch/iso8859-1.html>)
 
TABLES
Define Table<TABLE></TABLE>
Table Border<TABLE BORDER></TABLE> (either on or off)
Table Border<TABLE BORDER=?></TABLE> (you can set the value)
Cell Spacing<TABLE CELLSPACING=?>
Cell Padding<TABLE CELLPADDING=?>
Desired Width <TABLE WIDTH=?> (in pixels)
Width Percent <TABLE WIDTH=%> (percentage of page)
Table Row <TR>
Alignment <TR ALIGN=left|right|center|VALIGN=top|middle|bottom>
Table Cell <TD> (must appear within table rows)
Alignment <TD ALIGN=left|right|center
<TD VALIGN=top|middle|bottom>
No linebreak <TD NOWRAP>
Columns to Span <TD COLSPAN=?>
Rows to Span<TD ROWSPAN=?>
Desired Width <TD WIDTH=?> (in pixels)
Width Percent <TD WIDTH="%"> (percentage of table)
Cell Color <TD BGCOLOR="#$$$$$$">
Table Header<TH> (same as data, except bold centered)
Alignment <TH ALIGN=left|right|center
<TH VALIGN=top|middle|bottom>
No Linebreaks <TH NOWRAP>
Columns to Span <TH COLSPAN=?>
Rows to Span<TH ROWSPAN=?>
Desired Width <TH WIDTH=?> (in pixels)
Width Percent <TH WIDTH="%"> (percentage of table)
Cell Color <TH BGCOLOR="#$$$$$$">
Table Caption <CAPTION></CAPTION>
Alignment <CAPTION ALIGN=top|bottom> (above/below table)
 
FRAMES (define and manipulate specific regions of the screen)
Frame Document <FRAMESET></FRAMESET> (instead of <BODY>)
Row Heights <FRAMESET ROWS=,,,></FRAMESET> (pixels or %)
Row Heights <FRAMESET ROWS=*></FRAMESET> (* = relative size)
Column Widths <FRAMESET COLS=,,,></FRAMESET> (pixels or %)
Column Widths <FRAMESET COLS=*></FRAMESET> (* = relative size)
Border Width<FRAMESET BORDER=?>
Border Color<FRAMESET BORDERCOLOR="#$$$$$$">
Define Frame<FRAME> (contents of an individual frame)
Display Document <FRAME SRC="URL">
Frame Name <FRAME NAME="***"|_blank|_self|_parent|_top>
Margin Width<FRAME MARGINWIDTH=?> (left and right margins)
Margin Height <FRAME MARGINHEIGHT=?> (top and bottom margins)
Scrollbar<FRAME SCROLLING="yes|no|auto">
 

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