Delimits the entire HTML document. HTML might be preceded by a <!DOCTYPE> declaration (optional?). In Newt's Cape, <HTML> signals the beginning of a new book, and </HTML> signals the end (and terminates any communication connection).
Location: beginning and end of document (required)
Example:
<HTML> <!-- entire document goes here --> </HTML>
<!DOCTYPE html...> may be at the beginning of a document before or instead of <HTML>. This may be the preferred construct for SGML-oriented parsers, but we prefer HTML.
Location: beginning.
Delimits the head section at the beginning of a document. Technically, it is an unordered collection of information. However, since NewtonScript expressions and initialization, may occur, Newt's Cape processes these definitions in order of occurrence.
Location: usually right after HTML (required)
Example:
<HEAD> <TITLE>the title</TITLE> </HEAD>
Required for every document. In a browser, TITLE might appear as the window label. In Newt's Cape, the title of the Newton book is a small header at the top of every page; it also appears in the Newt's Cape popup menu for HTML Notes, Inbox and Paperback entries. For Newt's Cape, TITLE should occur first, before any META elements for initialization purposes.
Although there is no length limit specified, from a practical point of view, the standard suggests that TITLE be fewer than 64 characters. If the TITLE is longer than ~40 characters, it will occupy more than one line at the top of each book page (and current book viewer seems to truncate after 63); if TITLE appears (illegally) after BODY, your mileage may vary. TITLE can contain character entities, but no tags. If no ISBN META element is specified later, Newt's Cape uses the first 14 chars of TITLE (or the filename portion); if no SHORTTITLE is specified, the first 9 chars of TITLE is used as a label in the Extras Drawer.
Location: inside HEAD, preferably first.
Default: Untitled
Example:
<HEAD> <TITLE>HTML -- the Real Story</TITLE> </HEAD>
Specifies a base address for current document to resolve relative URLs. Sets an ISBN based on the filename, if not already set. When using NIE, Newt's Cape automatically set the BASE of the document to its URL.
Location: inside HEAD
This is merged with any relative URL to create an absolute http: address when a local book does not exist (see A HREF). We usually include BASE to uniquely identify the document, especially via serial transfer, but usually within a comment to avoid accidental network connections in desktop browsers.
Allows user to search an index by giving keywords; it provides a simple default form, with a TEXT field and SUBMIT button
Location: inside HEAD?; currently not supported (to be integrated with Find?)
Attributes: PROMPT provides label (default: Keywords); ACTION URL provided via HREF attribute or document BASE URL
Specifies hyperlinks (authorship, indexes, glossaries, versions, style sheets, document hierarchy). Newt's Cape uses the REL attribute to provide a mechanism to combine multiple saved books or sources (Notes) into the current document, and fixes cross-references (HREFs) to work in the new book.
For example, this would include two saved books at the beginning of a new document:
<LINK HREF="introtoc.htm" REL=Include> <LINK HREF="hellowrl.htm" REL=Include> </HEAD>
This example would include the source from two Notepad entries:
<LINK HREF="Notes/foo-part1" REL=Include> <LINK HREF="Notes/foo-part2" REL=Include> </HEAD>
Any HTML fragment in the Notepad would begin with a matching LINK specifying its name. For lookup purposes (and so that names appear in the Notepad overview), NAME must currently precede REL.
<LINK NAME="foo-part1" REL=Include>
You can also use the same syntax to refer to any soup that contains entries of the form {name: "filename", text: "source-string"} via HREF="soupname/filename" REL=Includes. (discussion of Credits section).
Location: inside HEAD
Adds a meta element -- general document meta-information (name and value). Newt's Cape uses this mechanism to add information to the book: slots for the book reader (described below) and general NewtonScript slots and methods. You need to specify meta information only if you want to customize various package features -- it is not necessary for normal viewing.
Location: inside HEAD
Next, we'll outline the book slots, then return to how to specify these in actual META commands.
Newt's Cape currently uses Newton books as a container for HTML documents. In order to save a book as a package and in order to reference (link to) other saved books on the Newton, you need a unique ISBN (International Standard Book Number) string. If a book with the same ISBN already exists, Newt's Cape should ask you to confirm removal of it. An ISBN is limited to 14 characters, and although any characters are legal, to improve portability of HTML documents to other systems and browsers, we suggest using an 8.3-style filename, e.g., testdoc1.htm.
Default: first 14 characters of TITLE, or filename of BASE or Untitled.htm.
This string identifies the author(s) of the book. Note: multi-line string not possible -- book viewer filters/clips to a single line.
Default: your Newton's Name setting in Prefs:Personal
This string identifies your book in the Extras Drawer. To prevent highlighting anomalies, we recommend that it be fewer than 10 characters. You might abbreviate the long TITLE, or if you use a 8.3 style filename for the ISBN, you could use the 8-character name as the short title.
Default: first 9 characters of TITLE
This string is embedded in the book package as your "developer copyright".
Default: © current-year. Name in Prefs:Personal
This string contains the name of the publisher.
Default: Prefs:Personal:Name
This string contains an integer number of minutes since 1 Jan 1904. You can also specify a NewtonScript expression.
Default: current time.
This string is used as the package name. If you are distributing packages, you may wish to include your developer signature (which you typically register with Apple). For example, "MyBook:MacPress". This should probably be 7-bit ASCII chars -- no extended/Unicode chars.
Default: ISBN.
Note: if APPSYMBOL is different from ISBN, automatic thawing of frozen books for NOS 2.x will not work.
This specifies a Bitmap (not a PICT) graphic object via a graphics URL, e.g., "bitmaps/fooicon.gif", immediate value, or shadowed URL.
Default: a generic Newt's Cape book icon (or "?" help book icon).
If graphic not present/autoloaded, it appears in View:Load with Image menu.
Example: look at how this book appears in the Extras Drawer
If a server supplies a REFRESH META attribute, Newt's Cape will go to a different (usually absolute?) URL after a delay (in seconds), for example: <META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="5; URL=another url">
like REFRESH except it terminates parsing immediately before going to another URL. A general web page could redirect to a more Newton-friendly page (but only for Newt's Cape or other Newton-savvy browsers).
In order to specify a name and value, use the NAME and CONTENT attributes. Each attribute is followed by = and the value is usually surrounded by "".
Specifies the name of the meta information as a string. The HTTP-EQUIV attribute is equivalent in Newt's Cape, but generally this should be reserved for known server attributes, e.g., REFRESH.
Specifies the value of meta information, also a string.
For example, this document uses:
<META NAME="ISBN" CONTENT="head.htm"> <META NAME="AUTHOR" CONTENT="Steve Weyer, Greg Simon"> <META NAME="SHORTTITLE" CONTENT="NC Head"> <META NAME="COPYRIGHT" CONTENT="© 1995-99. S. Weyer, G. Simon. All Rights Reserved Worldwide">
META provides a mechanism to define implementation-specific information, such as scripts and shadow URLs -- ignored by desktop browsers but used by the Newton.
For example, for a new version of the Newt Application Tutorial (NewtATut), the same HTML source can be used to create a general (desktop) version that uses screen shots (.gif files) to show application development; on the Newton, the "URL" is a NewtonScript method that creates the application dynamically (see earlier NewtATut .htm and .pkg versions).
Used by hypertext editors? not supported.
Delimits the content (visible) portion of the document that contains headings, text, graphics, tables, and forms.
Location: after HEAD section. Example:
<BODY><H1>My First Heading</H1> <P>some text<P>The End</BODY>
This document (in all its formats) is © 1995-99. Steve Weyer, Greg Simon. All Rights Reserved Worldwide
Version 2.0. Last updated: Feb 1999