On Commenting

Here, I would like to provide some guidelines on commenting in this blog.

The comment form contains fields for name, e-mail, website, and text. All of them, except the text of the comment itself, are optional. That is, you may leave any or all of them blank. In order to avoid spam, I enabled comment moderation. So, comments will not be published immediately, but after I preview them.

As it is written in the comment form, it is allowed to use some HTML tags in comments: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <pre> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>. HTML tags make comment formatting richer. So, I would like to explain how to use them. I would be interested to know whether this instruction is useful for the blog visitors.

Please notice that it is not required to use HTML tags when you post a comment. It is completely optional. So, if you find it hard to learn how to use them, then, you just do not need to use them at all.

All the HTML tags are keywords preceded by “<” and followed by “>”. They usually come in pairs, that is, there is a start tag (an opening tag) and an end tag (a closing tag). A formatted text (a content) is put inside. The ending tag always has “/” after “<”. An HTML element is everything from the start tag to the end tag. It has format: <tag>Element content</tag>

HTML elements may have attributes. Attributes provide additional information about the element. They are always specified in the start tag. Attributes come in name/value pairs like: name="value"

1. <a href="" title="">
This tag inserts a hyperlink. It can be use with or without “title.” Suppose, you want to give a link to Example Site that has URL http://www.example.com/ In this case, HTML code will be: <a href="http://www.example.com/">Example Site</a> The result that you will see: Example Site If you want to add some additional information which will be displayed only when a mouse is over the link, use “title.” For example, if you want to add an inscription to the link above: “This is an example.” Then, the HTML code will be: <a href="http://www.example.com/" title="This is an example.">Example Site</a> The result will be: Example Site

2. <abbr title="">
This is a tag for an abbreviation if you want to add an explanation what the abbreviation means. This explanation will be displayed only when a mouse is over the link. The HTML code (an example): <abbr title="Hyper Text Markup Language">HTML</abbr> The result: HTML

3. <acronym title="">
This is a tag for an acronym if you want to add an explanation what the abbreviation means. This explanation will be displayed only when a mouse is over the link. So, it works in the same way as the previous tag. The HTML code (an example): <abbr title="Behavior, Information, Thought, Emotion">BITE</abbr> The result: BITE

4. <b>
This tag is used to make some text bold. The HTML code: <b>This is a bold text.</b> The result: This is a bold text.

5. <blockquote cite="">
This tag is used to insert a long quotation. It can be used with or without “cite.” The HTML code (an example): <blockquote>This text is a quotation.</blockquote> The result:

This text is a quotation.

“Cite” is used to give a reference (URL). However, no browser will display it.

6. <cite>
This tag is used to insert a citation. The HTML code (an example): <cite>This is a citation.</cite> The result: This is a citation.

7. <code>
This tag creates computer code text. The HTML code (an example): <code>This is a computer code text.</code> The result: This is computer code text.

8. <pre>
This tag creates pre-formatted text. Text inside a pre element is displayed in a fixed-width font (usually Courier), and it preserves both spaces and line breaks.
The HTML code (an example): <pre> This     text is     pre-formatted.
It will    be displayed   exactly     as inside   the   pre    tag.</pre>
The result:

 This     text is    preformatted.
It will    be displayed   exactly     as inside   the   pre    tag.

9. <del datetime="">
This tag is used for deleted text. It may be used with or without “datetime.” The HTML code (an example): <del>This text has been deleted.</del> The result: This text has been deleted. “Datetime” is used to define when the text was deleted. However, no browser displays it.

10. <em>
This tag is used for emphasized text. The HTML code (an example): <em>This text is emphasized.</em> The result: This text is emphasized.

11. <i>
This tag is used for italic text. Practically, <i> and <em> give the same result. The HTML code (a example): <i>This is an italic text.</i> The result: This is an italic text.

12. <q cite="">
This tag is used to insert a short quotation. It may be used with or without “cite.” The HTML code (an example): <q>This is a short quotation.</q> The result: This is a short quotation. “Cite” is used to give a reference (URL), but no browser will display it.

13. <strike>
This tag is used for strikethrough text. It gives the same result as <del>. The HTML code (an example): <strike>This is a strikethrough text.</strike> The result: This is a strikethrough text.

14. <strong>
This tag is used for strong text. Practically, it works in the same way as <b>. The HTML code (an example): <strong>This is a strong text.</strong> The result: This is a strong text.