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Compose tips

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <b> <blockquote> <br> <center> <dd> <div> <dl> <dt> <em> <font> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <hr> <i> <img> <li> <ol> <p> <pre> <span> <strong> <sub> <sup> <table> <td> <tr> <u> <ul>

    This site allows HTML content. While learning all of HTML may feel intimidating, learning how to use a very small number of the most basic HTML "tags" is very easy. This table provides examples for each tag that is enabled on this site.

    For more information see W3C's HTML Specifications or use your favorite search engine to find other sites that explain HTML.

    Tag DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
    Anchors are used to make links to other pages.<a href="http://www.kclibrary.org">Kansas City Public Library</a>Kansas City Public Library
    Bolded<b>Bolded</b>Bolded
    Block quoted<blockquote>Block quoted</blockquote>
    Block quoted
    By default line break tags are automatically added, so use this tag to add additional ones. Use of this tag is different because it is not used with an open/close pair like all the others. Use the extra " /" inside the tag to maintain XHTML 1.0 compatibilityText with <br />line breakText with
    line break
    No help provided for tag center.
    No help provided for tag div.
    Definition lists are similar to other HTML lists. <dl> begins the definition list, <dt> begins the definition term and <dd> begins the definition description.<dl> <dt>First term</dt> <dd>First definition</dd> <dt>Second term</dt> <dd>Second definition</dd> </dl>
    First term
    First definition
    Second term
    Second definition
    Emphasized<em>Emphasized</em>Emphasized
    No help provided for tag font.
    Header<h2>Subtitle</h2>

    Subtitle
    Header<h3>Subtitle three</h3>

    Subtitle three
    Header<h4>Subtitle four</h4>

    Subtitle four
    Header<h5>Subtitle five</h5>
    Subtitle five
    Header<h6>Subtitle six</h6>
    Subtitle six
    No help provided for tag hr.
    Italicized<i>Italicized</i>Italicized
    No help provided for tag img.
    Ordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ol> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ol>
    1. First item
    2. Second item
    By default paragraph tags are automatically added, so use this tag to add additional ones.<p>Paragraph one.</p> <p>Paragraph two.</p>

    Paragraph one.

    Paragraph two.
    Preformatted<pre>Preformatted</pre>
    Preformatted
    No help provided for tag span.
    Strong<strong>Strong</strong>Strong
    Subscripted<sub>Sub</sub>scriptedSubscripted
    Superscripted<sup>Super</sup>scriptedSuperscripted
    Table<table> <tr><th>Table header</th></tr> <tr><td>Table cell</td></tr> </table>
    Table header
    Table cell
    Underlined<u>Underlined</u>Underlined
    Unordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ul> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ul>
    • First item
    • Second item

    Most unusual characters can be directly entered without any problems.

    If you do encounter problems, try using HTML character entities. A common example looks like &amp; for an ampersand & character. For a full list of entities see HTML's entities page. Some of the available characters include:

    Character DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
    Ampersand&amp;&
    Greater than&gt;>
    Less than&lt;<
    Quotation mark&quot;"
  • Lines and paragraphs are automatically recognized. The <br /> line break, <p> paragraph and </p> close paragraph tags are inserted automatically. If paragraphs are not recognized simply add a couple blank lines.