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Quotations

In this section, quotations, and the next section, generic elements, we will be introducing both a block and an inline element. This is because there are situations where you may either want to contain an entire text lbock or a fragment of a text block.

There are times when you are quoting a long source and want the quote separated from the flow of information, and there are other times you want to quote a source inline in a block of text. HTML 4.0 provides elements for both of these purposes: the <BLOCKQUOTE> element for long quotations, and the <Q> element for inline quotations.

The default rendering for a <BLOCKQUOTE> element is to create a small indent in both the right and left margin. Nesting these elements causes an even greater indent. Unfortunately, this rendering has caused this element to often be used for controlling text indents rather than specifying actual quotations. Instead of using the BLOCKQUOTE element to create indented text, the <P> element or appropriate block container should be used with an appropriate style sheet. For example, the following compares the blockquote to a paragraph that is indented with a style sheet.

Click on the correct way you should indent contents: ^{IE4 Only} (The first paragraph is indented using CSS where supported).

This is a standard paragraph with a margin-left and margin-right specified: <P STYLE="margin-left: 30pt; margin-right :30pt">

This is a blockquote, <BLOCKQUOTE> and should only be used to quote others.

The <Q> element defines a quote within a block. Currently, the <Q> element has no default rendering. HTML 4.0 recommends but does not require that language-sensitive quotation marks are added to quoted text. Internet Explorer 4.0 at this time does not add the quotations marks. Instead, how and the type of quotation marks to add is in the process of being defined by the W3C CSS working group. This is consistent with the recommendations of the HTML 4.0 specification.

Generic Containers...