HTML..XHTML.The.Definitive.Guide..5th.Ed.1002002 [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

4.8 Addresses

Addresses
are common elements in text documents, so there is a special tag that
sets addresses apart from the rest of a document's
text. While this may seem a bit extravagant addresses have few
formatting peculiarities that would require a special tag it is
yet another example of content, not format, being the primary focus
of HTML and XHTML markup.

By defining text that constitutes an address, the author lets the
browser format that text in a different manner and process that text
in ways helpful to users. It also makes the content readily
accessible to automated readers and extractors. For instance, an
online directory might include addresses the browser collects into a
separate document or table, or automated tools might extract
addresses from a collection of documents to build a separate database
of addresses.

4.8.1 The <address> Tag

The
<address> tag and its required end tag
(</address>) tell a browser that the
enclosed text is a snail-mail address (as opposed to an electronic
memory location). The address may include other contact information,
too. The browser may format the text in a different manner than the
rest of the document text or use the address in some special way. You
also have control over the display properties through the
style and class attributes for
the tag (see Chapter 8).

The text within the <address> tag may
contain any element normally found in the body of a document,
excluding another <address> tag. Style
changes are allowed, but they may conflict with the style chosen by
the browser to render the <address> element.

We think most, if not all, documents should have their
authors' addresses included somewhere convenient to
the user, usually at the end. At the very least, the address should
be the author's or webmaster's
email address, along with a link to their home page. Street addresses
and phone numbers are optional; personal ones usually are not
included, for reasons of privacy.

For example, the address for the webmaster responsible for a
collection of commercial web documents often appears in source
documents as follows, including the special
mailto: URL protocol that lets users activate the
browser's email tool:

<address>
<a href=">Webmaster</a><br>
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.<br>
Cambridge, Massachusetts<br>
</address>

Figure 4-20 displays the results, which are
identical for both Netscape and Internet Explorer in that, by
default, the body of the address gets displayed in italics.

Figure 4-20. The <address> tag in action

Whether it is short and sweet or long and complete, make sure every
document you create has an address attached to it. If something is
worth creating and putting on the Web, it is worth comment and query
by your readership. Anonymous documents carry little credibility on
the Web.

4.8.1.1 The dir and lang attributes

The dir attribute lets you advise the browser
which direction the text within the
<address> segment should be displayed in,
and lang
lets you specify the language used within that tag. [Section 3.6.1.1] [Section 3.6.1.2]

4.8.1.2 The class, id, style, and title attributes

Use
the style attribute to specify an inline style for
the <address> tag, or use the
class attribute to apply a predefined style class
to the tag. [Section 8.1.1] [Section 8.3]

You may assign a unique id
to the <address> tag, as well as a title,
using the respective attribute and accompanying quote-enclosed string
value. [Section 4.1.1.4] [Section 4.1.1.4]

4.8.1.3 Event attributes

As with most
other tagged segments of content, user-related events can happen in
and around the <address> tag, such as when a
user clicks or double-clicks within its display space. Many of these
events are recognized by the current browsers. With the respective
"on" attribute and value, you may
react to those events by displaying a user dialog box or activating
some multimedia event. [Section 12.3.3]