HTML The Definitive Guide (85 page)

8.5 Directory Lists

Chapter 8

Formatted Lists

8.5 Directory Lists

The directory list is a specialized form of the unordered list. It has been deprecated in the new HTML

4.0 standard. We don't recommend that you use it at all.
[

, 8.1]


8.5.1 The

Tag (Deprecated)
The designers of HTML originally dedicated the tag for displaying lists of files. As such, the browser, if it treats and
differently at all (most don't), expects the various list elements to be quite short, possibly no longer than 20 characters or so. Some browsers display the elements in a multicolumn format and may not use a leading bullet.




Function:


Define a directory list


Attributes:


CLASS ONKEYUP


DIR ONMOUSEDOWN


ID ONMOUSEMOVE


LANG ONMOUSEOUT


ONCLICK ONMOUSEOVER


ONDBLCLICK ONMOUSEUP


ONKEYDOWN STYLE


ONKEYPRESS TITLE


End tag:


; never omitted


Contains:


list_content


Used in:












block


As with the unordered list, define directory list items with the

• tag. When used within a directory list, however, the
• tag may not contain any block element, including paragraphs, other lists, preformatted text, or forms.
  

  The following example puts the directory tag to its traditional task of presenting a list of filenames: The distribution tape has the following files on it:

  
  
  README
  Makefile
  main.c
  config.h
  util.c
  
  

  Notice that we use the tag to ensure that the filenames would be rendered in an appropriate
manner (see Figure 8.8).


  Figure 8.8: An example

  list
  8.5.1.1 The attributes
  

  The attributes for the

  tag are identical to those for
  and have the same effects.
  

  8.4 Nesting Lists
  

  8.6 Menu Lists