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Author Topic: HTML Help System  (Read 278 times)
CaseyBee
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HTML Help System
« on: Thursday 10 November 05 22:58 GMT (UK) »
Does anyone know of a HTML Help system (preferrably on-line) that answers the question WHY? The only ones I have found so far answer the question WHAT (like 99.99% of IT Help Systems).

For example

A <div> tag defines a division/section in a document (as defined in w3schools). But WHY would I use one?

These help systems are great at defining facilities but always assume one knows what to use!

Frustrated
Keith Sad
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Smeed - Surrey, London

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gbaynes
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Re: HTML Help System
« Reply #1 on: Friday 11 November 05 07:08 GMT (UK) »
Hi CaseyBee

I've just had a quick look and like you say they don't give a reason for DIV.

The HTML markup language is based on boxes for presentation.

They talk about the "box model". The BODY tag is not a "box". If you start your BODY with a paragraph P then the validators will tell you that that is illegal. However all the browsers will display your page as you want it.

I think of the DIV as a box definer. It defines the size, shape, border, position of its contents. Because everything in the DIV will stay within that DIV wherever you put it.

The confusing bits come when you consider that each "box" has a margin area, a border area, and a padding area. Then you get the content.

Look at this page for a detailed explanation.

www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/box.html
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Berlin-Bob
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Re: HTML Help System
« Reply #2 on: Friday 11 November 05 07:22 GMT (UK) »
Hi gbaynes,

thanks for that link, very useful !!

Keith,

another use of DIV is different formatting.

using CSS styles sheets, you can give a "box" (a class) a name, with all kinds of properties (margins, colours, etc) and then give another box a diferent name and different properties.

in your HTML text you then have:

<div class="box1">
:
html lines
:
</div>

and then later:

<div class="box2">
:
html lines
:
</div>

By using CSS and <div> you can change the "look" of a web page, without changing the content - See also
Topic:  Introduction to CSS
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,102092.0.html  from gbaynes

It's mostly done with <div>-boxes and classes.

Bob
« Last Edit: Friday 11 November 05 18:53 GMT (UK) by Berlin-Bob » Logged
Searching for Coleman, Moore, Kallnung in London; Margulies, Remenyi in E. Europe;
Ancestors of Hessie Stevenson-Coleman-Baxter (Ireland, 1861)
and, of course, any other ancestors for my web-site http://boco.rootschat.net

All Census Data included in this post is Crown Copyright (see: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk)
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