Learning HTML 3.2 by Examples, section 4 Fundamental structures in HTML 3.2, with examples:

The recommended structure of a document

In addition to the obligatory structure, there are various structural features which are highly recommendable. There are various local recommendations at different sites, and you should study the applicable documents carefully.

Here we will simply emphasize that every HTML document should contain certain basic information about its origin. The local recommendations may specify in detail the form in which that information should be provided.

The importance of providing origin information becomes evident if we think how people find documents using search engines or link lists in an increasing amount. In such contexts the document pops up as such, in isolation, even if you may have intended that people find out following links which you have carefully designed so that they give background information. When a user has e.g. found your document using Google or AltaVista, he most probably wants to know what kind of document it is. Therefore, each HTML file should provide the very basic information (or link to information) about its origin and nature. For example, in a book-like document collection divided into small files, every file should contain at least a link to the "front page" of the "book".

At least the following origin information should be provided:

The following document presents, in the form of a skeleton sample, one way of implementing such information; please study the applicable local recommendations before adopting this or some other particular style.

Example skel.html:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>A sample HTML document</TITLE>
<LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:jkorpela@cs.tut.fi">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<H1>A sample HTML document</H1>
<P>
This is a sample HTML document exemplifying a suggested way
of presenting basic origin information.
</P>
<HR>
<P>
<A HREF="../">Jukka Korpela</A>,
<a href="mailto:jkorpela@cs.tut.fi">jkorpela@cs.tut.fi</a>
<BR>
This document belongs to the context of
<a href="index.html"><cite>Learning HTML 3.2 by Examples</cite></a>
<BR>
The URL for this document is
<KBD>
../HTML3.2/skel.html
</KBD>
<BR>
Created: 1997
</P>
</BODY>
</HTML>

Date of last update: 2010-12-16.
This page belongs to the free information site IT and communication, section Web authoring and surfing, by Jukka "Yucca" Korpela.