Block Quotes

The BQ element is used for extended quotations. The tag name has been abbreviated from HTML 2.0's BLOCKQUOTE to the more convenient BQ, and the content model extended to allow the source of the quotation to be credited.

Example:

<BQ>
<P>But now I shall shortly proffer him the strength and the
courage of the Geats in combat. He who has the right to it shall
go once more to the mead-drinking with confident heart, after
the morning light of another day, the sun clothed in ethereal
radiance, shines from the south upon the children of men.
<CREDIT>Beowulf replying to Unferth, from the Anglo-Saxon poem
"Beowolf", Cotton Vitellus A xv manuscript</CREDIT>
</BQ>

Note: If %html.recommended is active, the HTML 3.0 DTD expects you to enclose plain text in a block element such as <P>

Permitted Attributes

ID

An SGML identifier used as the target for hypertext links or for naming particular elements in associated style sheets. Identifiers are NAME tokens and must be unique within the scope of the current document.

LANG

This is one of the ISO standard language abbreviations, e.g. "en.uk" for the variation of English spoken in the United Kingdom. It can be used by parsers to select language specific choices for quotation marks, ligatures and hypenation rules etc. The language attribute is composed from the two letter language code from ISO 639, optionally followed by a period and a two letter country code from ISO 3166.

CLASS

This a space separated list of SGML NAME tokens and is used to subclass tag names. By convention, the class names are interpreted hierarchically, with the most general class on the left and the most specific on the right, where classes are separated by a period. The CLASS attribute is most commonly used to attach a different style to some element, but it is recommended that where practical class names should be picked on the basis of the element's semantics, as this will permit other uses, such as restricting search through documents by matching on element class names. The conventions for choosing class names are outside the scope of this specification.

CLEAR

This attribute is common to all block-like elements. When text flows around a figure or table in the margin, you sometimes want to start the block quote below the figure rather than alongside it. The CLEAR attribute allows you to move down unconditionally:

clear=left

move down until left margin is clear

clear=right

move down until right margin is clear

clear=all

move down until both margins are clear

Alternatively, you can decide to place the quote alongside the figure just so long as there is enough room. The minimum width needed is specified as:

clear="40 en"

move down until there is at least 40 en units free

clear="100 pixels"

move down until there is at least 100 pixels free

The style sheet (or browser defaults) may provide default minimum widths for each class of block-like elements.

NOWRAP

The NOWRAP attribute is used when you don't want the browser to automatically wrap lines. You can then explicitly specify line breaks using the BR element.