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The Paragraph element indicates a paragraph. The exact
indentation, leading, etc. of a paragraph is not defined and may
be a function of other elements, Style Sheets, etc. Typically,
paragraphs are surrounded by a vertical space of one line or half
a line. With some browsers, the first line in a paragraph is
indented.
Example :
<H1>This Heading Precedes the Paragraph</H1>
<P>This is the text of the first paragraph.
<P>This is the text of the second paragraph. Although you
do not need to start paragraphs on new lines, maintaining this
convention facilitates document maintenance.
<P>This is the text of a third paragraph.
Included in the HTML level 3.2 specification is the ability to
align paragraphs
Basically, ALIGN=left|center|right attributes
have been added to the <P> element.
Example :
<P ALIGN=LEFT> ... </P>
All text within the paragraph will be aligned to the left side of
the page layout. This setting is equal to the default <P>
element.
<P ALIGN=CENTER> ... </P>
All text within the paragraph will be aligned to the centre of
the page.
<P ALIGN=RIGHT> ... </P>
All text will be aligned to the right side of the page.
<P> can also take the CLASS, ID and STYLE attributes to
allow style sheet definitions to be applied to it. For more
details of these attributes, refer to the Style Sheets topic.
The <PLAINTEXT> element can be used to represent formatted text. As such, it is similar to the <XMP> and <LISTING> element. However, the <PLAINTEXT> element should be an open element, with no closing element. Only Netscape supports this element according to any HTML specification. Internet Explorer and Mosaic will both allow the use of a </PLAINTEXT> closing element. Netscape will treat the closing element as straight text. Typically, it will render as fixed width font with white space separating it from other text.
The Preformatted Text element presents blocks of text in
fixed-width font, and so is suitable for text that has been
formatted on screen. The <PRE> element may be used with the
optional WIDTH attribute. The WIDTH attribute
specifies the maximum number of characters for a line and allows
the browser to select a suitable font and indentation. If the
WIDTH attribute is not present, a width of 80 characters is
assumed. Where the WIDTH attribute is supported, widths of 40, 80
and 132 characters should be presented optimally, with other
widths being rounded up.
Within preformatted text:
· Line breaks within the text are rendered as a move to the
beginning of the next line.
· The <P> element should not be used. If found, it should
be rendered as a move to the beginning of the next line.
· Anchor elements and character highlighting elements may be
used.
· Elements that define paragraph formatting (headings, address,
etc.) must not be used.
· The horizontal tab character must be interpreted as the
smallest positive nonzero number of spaces which will leave the
number of characters so far on the line as a multiple of 8. Its
use is not recommended however.
NOTE: Within a Preformatted Text element, the constraint that the
rendering must be on a fixed horizontal character pitch may limit
or prevent the ability of the browser to render highlighting
elements specially.
<PRE> can also take the CLASS, ID and STYLE attributes to
allow style sheet definitions to be applied to it. For more
details of these attributes, refer to the Style Sheets topic.