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Chapter 2: White Space
The term white space refers to characters that take up space in a document
but do not actually display. They are the space, the tab, and the new line,
which causes subsequent text to move to the next line (the new line is
sometimes called the line feed or carriage return). HTML handles white
space in content by ignoring it. Well, not quite--any white space is simply
converted to a single space. This is sometimes referred to as white space
normalization. The white space can be a row of 10 spaces, a pair of new
line characters, several tabs, or any combination of these, and the resulting
display will have just a single space in the content.
Let's see this in action. The following HTML will display as a single line,
with one space between words, just as you would expect:
<p>one two three four five</p>
Because of the way HTML handles white space, the following HTML
will display exactly the same way:
<p>one
two three
four
five
</p>
White space normalization in HTML has two practical consequences:
- You can use white space to format your HTML source code as you like, using new lines, tabs, and spaces to organize the code in a way that's clear and easy to read. It will have no effect on the final rendering of the document.
- You cannot use white space to format the content because it will have no effect. You must use HTML tags for this purpose.
CoffeeCup Software started in a real Coffee House 1996. Our first program was the HTML Editor. Over the last 10 years we have created a lot more Web Design & Flash Software. Our philosophy has always been to create software and services so you can make better Websites. We are dedicated to helping you by offering extraordinary support so we can succeed together. Consider us a partner and a friend, because we really are about Fresh Software and Warm People.
